chapter xvii.
(   iron man 3   )

and  everything   is  blue  for   him
and himself and everybody around
'cause he ain't  got nobody to listen
blue da ba dee ─── eiffel 65

switzerland
december 31, 1999
(   lisa's point of view   )

I think I may have made a mistake. Well, if you want to be really logical about it, it's not completely my mistake. It was his mistake too! Partly, well, mostly, or maybe not, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure this was all just a mistake. I mean, at this point, that should be blaringly obvious. Why is it obvious? What did I, or we, do? It doesn't matter; it happened and now we're dead. Yep, we're definitely dead. We're screwed. Bring in the body bags! Oh, God, I think I should just-just start again. I need to back up a little. Let's start at the beginning.

The very beginning.

Bern, Switzerland, New Year's Eve, 1999

My little Converse wearing feet swung back and forth, bumping repeatedly against the bar's counter. The room was dimly lit while large posters covered the walls, celebrating the tech summit we were attending. On New Year's Eve. I was so angry that Pepper had made me come. It had just been over two weeks since Grandma and Howard died. Dad had done a wonderful job at completely withdrawing from me and now I had to spend an entire month with him and Happy alone in Switzerland.

Oh joy.

With a very serious expression, a woman with long dark hair blew a noise-blower in my father's newly facial hair covered face. His thick dark hair was covered in one of those New Year's plastic hats and he was wearing those big-rimmed sunglasses again, even though it was night and we were inside. My patience with him was wearing very, very thin. Dad grinned and chuckled as the noise-blower bumped into his upper lip and she laughed too.

I rolled my eyes and heaved a sigh. Happy, still rocking his mullet, was sitting next to me on the bar and trying to keep me company.

He called to Dad and the woman, "Half hour till the ball drops."

Oh good, that meant we could almost be done.

Dad leaned into the woman, starting quietly, "Hey, do you wanna,"

A sudden man rushed in, nearly bumping me off of the counter. My hands flailed around and my face crinkled into a scowl after I caught myself. Everyone ignored me to look at the annoying man.

"Tony Stark?!" he said in happy disbelief, "Great speech, Man!"

Dad barely glanced over at him after that, mumbling, "Thanks."

Happy slid away from me to move the man away, "I got you, Pal,"

Dad looked around to Happy as he took the woman's hand, "I gave a speech? How was it?"

I scoffed.

He was too drunk to even remember. Or, at least, he was pretending to be.

How typical.

"Edifying," Happy sarcastically answered over his shoulder.

He looked over at the woman as she said with a small laugh in her voice, "Unintelligible."

They started walking away and I scrambled to hop off the counter and follow them. I didn't even make it up to their hips so I quickly snatched to the corner of Dad's scarf that he was wearing over his suit, praying to not lose sight of him.

"Really?" he stretched the word out.

"Mm-hm," she hummed back.

I tripped over my shoes and my fingers gripped tightly to the scarf's material.

"It's my favorite kind. A winning combo."

Suddenly Dad was saying something gross and creepy so I just heaved a sigh and tried to cover my ears with my one free hand. He felt my tug on his scarf, glanced back at me, and pursed his lips. His hand swatted at mine, trying to make me let go of him. My eyes blinked back the hurt and a frown took over my face as I obeyed his wishes. He continued along, holding the woman's hand and going after Happy who cleared our path.

"Mr. Stark," a tall, Middle Eastern man with glasses moved over to us quickly, "Ho Yinsen."

Dad shook his head and quipped rudely, "Ah, I finally met a man called 'Ho'."

The man, the man who would later save our lives in a small cave in Afghanistan, just laughed humorlessly, trying to guide Dad over towards a few new faces. Dad saw the woman standing off to the side so he quickly reached out to her, actually bumping me out of the way.

He took her hand, "Come here."

Yinsen motioned to a man standing nearby, "I would like to introduce you to our guest, Doctor Wu."

"Oh, this guy," Dad shook the Asian man's hand, "Hey."

Dad got all creepy again about the lady and I let out a tired sigh as the two other men made awkward faces.

Dad smirked as he turned from the two polite men, and the woman called, "Bye!"

"Perhaps another time?" Yinsen called as Happy led them away.

I gave him a shy, apologetic smile before running after my group that was leaving me behind. I cut through the crowd to find my father's suited back in the crowd. He was laughing with the woman as they walked through the bright lobby. The whole place was full of people yelling and screaming in idiotic glee. As I trailed along behind Happy, Dad, and the woman, people drunkenly bumped into me. Women in very short dresses stumbled around and I dodged to avoid them. Cameras flashed in my blue eyes and I winced as they burned.

It started in Bern, Switzerland, 1999. The old days. Who would have ever thought those would come back to bite us? Why would they? Oh God, I'm rolling my eyes right now.

A limping man walking up behind me called, "Mr. Stark!"

My group finally paused at the elevator as Happy stopped to make sure I was still with them. Groaning, I rested my head against his thigh and he sympathetically patted my hair. Dad and the woman leaned in towards each other.

"Oh, wow! Hey, Tony!" the man gushed, staring at my father with wide and excited eyes.

He wasn't overly pretty looking. He had a pair of those weird glasses, long messy hair, yellow and uneven teeth, and his skin was covered in a very bad rash.

Dad and the woman looked over at him, disinterestedly.

"I-I'm a big fan of your work," he oozed.

"My work?" the woman asked in a slightly higher voice, surprised.

"Who isn't?" Dad responded arrogantly before trying to explain to the woman, "He means me."

The man continued to laugh giddily as he stuttered, "Well, of course, b-but, Miss Hansen, my organization's been tracking your research since year two of MIT."

Dad and the woman slowly backed up into the elevator. Dad rested his hands on the elevator's railing with a bored expression as the woman tried to push the balloons out of the way, still watching the excited but desperate man. Happy pulled me into the elevator, making sure I squeezed in. Scrunching up my nose, I pulled my face from being buried in some lady's butt and turned so that I could watch the situation unfolding before me.

"Yeah, we're full," Happy tried to make the man stay off the elevator by holding up an arm and turning away.

The energetic man ducked under Happy's arm and slid in, squishing beside me.

"Oh!" I pulled my head back in surprise.

Happy turned back to him with an irritated frown as Dad slid around, moving closer to the woman and trying to catch her attention once more.

"Oh, wow, he made it," Dad said sarcastically and very rudely, "He made the cut."

Happy agreed with that same amount of mean sarcasm before turning to the man, "What floor you going to, Pal?"

"Well, now, that is an appropriate question," he was still too giddy.

I raised an eyebrow at him while Happy continued to stare down at him intimidatingly.

The man didn't seem to notice as he went on, "The ground floor, actually, of a proposal I'm putting together myself. It's a privately funded think tank called Advanced Idea Mechanics," he held out two business cards towards Dad and the woman.

"Uh, she'll take both," Dad said, looking down at him through his sunglasses, "One to throw away and one, to, not call."

The woman held out one of the cards towards him and, when he looked away, she rolled her eyes.

"Advanced Idea Mechanics or AIM," the man pointed at his shirt quickly with a wide smile, "for short. Do you get it?"

I moved around so that I could look at his chest, seeing the letters sprawled out in blue font over the white material.

That was catchy.

AIM.

"Mmhm, see that, Lees?" now he decides to talk to me? "Well, we can all see that 'cause it's on your T-shirt," Dad said with a snarkism that wasn't funny, just mean.

"Ah!" the man scoffed and laughed in embarrassment.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened on the tenth floor.

"Ladies, follow the mullet," Dad announced, nodding to Happy who walked out of the small room, "Ladies first."

"Thank you. I'll call you," the woman held up the card to the man, nodding and leaving after Happy.

All of the ladies poured out as Dad put his hand up on the elevator door, stopping it from closing and simultaneously blocking the man inside. As all of the ladies rushed out and talked excitedly, they pushed me back and back and back until my body bumped into the wall of the elevator. Grumbling, I moved to leave once all of them left, but then Dad released the door, moved from his previous place, and stepped right in my way. I huffed and threw my hands out in disbelief.

"I'm titillated by the notion of working with you," Dad said seriously.

I squinted up at him suspiciously.

"Yeah?" the man asked in shock.

"Yeah, I'll ditch these clowns," Dad's voice was low as if he were sharing a secret, "I'll see you up on the roof in five minutes," he started to leave, "Just gonna try and get my beak wet real quick."

Dad punched a button on the wall and walked out of the small box just as the doors began to close.

"You know what I'm talking about?"

Nope. I had no idea and I didn't think I wanted to either.

"I-I'll see you up there," the doors closed just after the man finished saying it.

I stood in the middle of the elevator with wide eyes. He literally just left me behind! Like, I was in the elevator and he was in the elevator, and then he wasn't and I still was. My hands clenched at my sides and my foot stomped. The man whirled around in surprise and he gave an awkward laugh when he saw me.

"Oh, y-you're,"

"Lisa," I told him, grumpily.

"Stark! Lisa Stark!" he was still gushing as he crouched lower to be at my height, "Wow, it's really amazing to meet you! Nobody ever gets to meet you! Your dad is so, so," he just blew air out of his mouth and motioned with his hands.

Protective?

Ha.

Not anymore.

My scowl gave way and I handed him my best three year old smile, "Thanks."

The elevator doors opened and a cool breeze filled the room. I immediately shivered as he limped with his cane out onto the roof. Biting my lip, I moved to the edge of the small room and glanced out.The whole roof was empty, but the sky was beautiful as the fireworks lit up the darkness. Snow flurries came down and I shivered again. I considered going back downstairs, but Dad did say that he was coming up in a few minutes anyway. I gave a shrug and then followed the man out onto the roof. He leaned against the wall near the fire escape and I stood by him, staring up at the sky.

Five minutes passed. Twenty minutes passed. The new year came and went as the fireworks continued to go off. The man looked at his watch and I began to understand. Dad was not coming. For the man or for me. Another hour passed and then the man moved from my side, stumbling over towards the edge of the roof. I stared at him curiously and my palms began to sweat despite the cold. He was too close to the edge and I quickly realized that was the point. I had been on the edge of a roof before. It wasn't worth it.

"Wha-What are you doing?" my little voice asked as he looked down upon the city that was still erupting with celebration of the new century.

He didn't answer.

I licked my lips and I crept slowly towards him.

All of the words seemed jumbled and confused in my head as I said in a shaky voice, "A-Are you, um, uh, what is it? Um, are you gon-gonna commit suicide?"

His face was contorted as he looked down at the ground so many hundreds of feet below, "Nobody would care. Nobody would know really."

My heart was pounding as my mind fully grasped what was going on, "I-It doesn't matter."

"You're right," he agreed, stepping closer to the edge.

"No!" I shrieked, grabbing onto his arm, "That-That wasn't what I meant! W-What I meant was that it doesn't matter if nobody knows you. You know you, right? Maybe that-that's gotta be enough sometimes."

He stayed quiet for a long time until a strange look passed over his face, "Anonymity."

"Huh?"

That was another word I didn't know and I would have to remember to look up later.

"They need a face. They always need a face. Like your father," his voice grew forceful and strong in a way I hadn't heard from him before and his eyes grew wild with thought.

I squinted up at him in confusion before I shivered again.

"But that doesn't mean anything, does it?" he went on, questioning me as if I actually knew what was going on.

"No?" I said it as a question.

He turned and stared down at me, beginning to gush again, "Thank you, Lisa Stark. One day, one day I-I'll repay you."

"S-so you're not going t-to j-jump, right?" my voice dropped to a whisper.

He smiled and ruffled my hair before walking away. I frowned at his retreating form as I fixed my hair, brushing it back from my face. He finally reached the elevator and then he was gone. My eyes fell back down to the city beneath me and I slowly moved back from the ledge. I curled up in a ball back by the wall and rested my cheek against the tops of my knees. As the wind continued to blow and the fireworks went on erupting, I slowly fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of shouting.

"If she's not up here, I swear I'm going to throw myself off of this building, you understand?!" Dad's voice barked.

"Where was the last place you saw her?!" Happy's voice demanded.

"God, I don't know! She kept tugging on me down at the party, after that I don't know," Dad yelled with exasperation.

"The party? The last time you saw her was at the party? Tony, even I saw her after that! She got onto the elevator with us!"

"Oh," Dad got quiet.

"Lisa!" Happy yelled, "Hey Kid!"

My neck and back both felt horrifically sore and stiff from the position I had slept in. Not to mention how crazy cold I was. Outdoors Switzerland during December/January in the middle of the night was not advisable to sleep in. I rolled onto my hands and knees, groaning and crawling around the corner so that I could meet them.

"Kid!" Happy saw me first and jogged towards me.

I watched as his mullet blew in the wind and, if I hadn't been so exhausted, I'd have probably giggled.

"Mmm," I grumbled.

Dad pushed past him and tore me off the ground, scowling at me, "What did you think you were doing?!"

I irritatedly squinted at him, unanswering.

"You are in so much trouble! You can't just wander around without telling anyone where you're going! That's so not cool!" Dad was still yelling, "You get that if someone had taken you, we'd probably never find you, right?! If someone takes you, it's not to be nice to you!"

Happy just stared at him.

"You left me."

That phrase meant so much more than just him leaving me the night before. He had left me ever since Grandma and Howard died. He hadn't been there. I was all alone.

I mumbled out, "And you didn't come. It's morning now, Daddy, and you never even came."

The blood drained from his face and guilt tore into his eyes. His mouth opened, but no words came out for a long moment. Finally, he pulled me against his chest and his hand touched the back of my head. He turned us away from Happy as if he was embarrassed. Happy nodded and left, heading back towards the elevator.

"I'm sorry, Lees," he muttered, "Sorry. I know I still haven't really come back, but I promise I'll always come. I'll always come find you."

So what's the point in my overly long flashback sequence that I've just given you?

Why am I telling you this?

Because I had just created a villain, and I didn't even know it.

So that was just kind of an introduction chapter, but I REALLY wanted to open it like the movie did and so here we are. Interesting plot addition with the roof situation, huh? If you remember in the first part of the first book, I mentioned how they spent New Year's Eve in Bern and how she got separated from Tony, spending it with a stranger. Welp, it had to come into play sometime and it did, so excited 'cause that's very important.

Also, I also wanted to tell you all to go check out @Ariadoney's stories because dang it, they're super duper good! I'm serious, she has written some of the best Marvel's daughters OCs I have ever read (Captain America and Loki (awesome, right?)! I'm doing this for your benefit, my dear readers. Okay! Onward!

Anyways, next chapter provides another kinda plot twist so yay! Tell me what you think! Did you like it? Now, do the usual: vote, COMMENT, and follow!

Funny Thingamabob:

This is so great!