Briana Stark

"The notary's here! Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?" Mom asks, typing on her phone.

"I'm on Happy time," Dad waves her off, still bouncing around the boxing ring with Happy as his punching bag. "Sorry."

I sit on the outside of the ring as I watched dad and Happy continue to spar in the ring.

I was about the age of seven and dad helps me put the gloves on my hands while Happy puts the padding on. Dad had me wear my leggings and my violet short-sleeve shirt for this. When dad is finish, he brings me closer to him and lets his fingers tickle my stomach which makes me giggle and squeal as I squirm around in his grip.

"You sure about this, Tony?" Happy ask, watching me squirm around in dad's grip. "She's only seven."

"And I'll be the seven-year-old to kick your butt." I sassed.

Dad smirks, "See, Happy? She'll be fine. I'll be here to help her if she needs it." He turns to me, "Ready, munchkin?"

I nodded wildly, "Ready, Daddy!"

Dad nods and shows me a few easy moves first then lets me copy after him. We continue this for a few minutes till the real fun begins.

"Tony, what's going on?" I hear mom ask.

I turn around and glance over to see mom coming into the room. Dad and mom are talking and I give mom one of my goofy smiles.

"Hi, mommy!" I said, giving her one of goofy smiles.

Happy gently taps me on the back of my head bringing my attention back to him, "Lesson one. Never take your eye off the target."

I smirk and promptly give Happy a hard punch in the stomach, which makes Happy launch back against the pole with a grunt. I hear dad snickering and then he walks over and picks me up.

"Nice job, munchkin." Dad says before he calls it. "I'm calling it. We got a new champion over here."

I giggle as dad puts me down so I could go see mom, I go over to her and once I reach her, I smile and throw my arms around her for a hug.

The gloves then suddenly stopped hitting the padding which snaps me back to my attention and I follow dad's and Happy's gaze to find a red-haired woman standing there. She's wearing those too tight shirts that dad would never let me wear. She looked at them before slowly walking down the steps in her heels and making her way over to where mom stands beside me.

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company," mom announces as she starts to fill things out that the other redhead hands her.

Happy taps him on the back of his hooded head, "Lesson one. Never take your eye off,"

Dad promptly gives Happy a hard kick in the stomach. Happy launches back against the pole with a grunt. They continue for a few minutes before dad calls it.

He then points a glove out to the redhead, "What's your name, lady?"

"Rushman," she answers him confidently, "Natalie Rushman."

Dad drinks some of his water bottle and lifts the ropes of the boxing ring, "Front and center. Come into the church."

I look in annoyance, "Really, Daddy?"

"No. You're seriously not gonna ask," mom shakes her head.

"If it pleases the court, which it does," Dad answers, waiting patiently to be obeyed.

Natalie Rushman quickly assures mom, "It's no problem."

"I'm sorry. He's very eccentric," mom sighs.

I roll my eyes as dad and Natalie stare at each other. Finally, dad makes his way over to mom and squeezes onto the chair while Natalie and Happy chat.

"Peps, who is she?" Dad asks.

"She is from legal. And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that." Mom says.

"I need a new assistant, boss."

"Yes, and I've got three excellent potential candidates," mom informs. "They're lined up and ready to meet you."

"I don't have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it's her."

"No, it's not." Mom dismisses him.

"How do I spell your name, Natalie?" Dad calls out.

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N," she answers back.

"What, are you gonna google her now?"

Dad slides through Natalie's resume, "Wow. Very, very impressive individual."

Mom narrows her eyes at him, "You're so predictable, you know that?"

"She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin." Dad lists off before pulling a face. "Who speaks Latin?"

"No one speaks Latin," mom says. "It's a dead language."

Dad keeps jabbering on until suddenly Natalie completely takes Happy out. Mom gasp in shock, dad cheers, and I'm laughing at Happy. Natalia quickly gets back up to her feet, smoothly dusting herself off in the process. I'm trying not to laugh anymore but I can't stop the snickers from coming out.

"I just slipped," Happy quickly defends.

"You did?" Dad replies in a mocking tone.

I snickered. "Sure you did, Happy."

"Yeah," Happy holds his back.

Dad clinks against a metal pole to make a ringing noise, "Looks like a TKO to me."

Natalie suddenly goes up to him and holds out a folder for him, "Just, um, I need your impression."

Dad begins to list off how he sees her, "You have a quiet reserve. I don't know, you have an old soul."

Stop, just stop, dad.

"I meant your fingerprint."

"Right,"

Mom steps up, "So, how are we doing?"

"Great. Just wrapping up," dad finishes pressing his thumb on and signing the papers before looking up at mom, "Hey. You're the boss."

Natalie closes the folder and smiles, "Will that be all, Mr Stark?"

"No,"

"Yes,"

"Thank you very much," mom adds as the woman nods and walks away.

After he watches her go, he turns to mom and says, "I want one."

"No." Mom and I said.

•••

We finally land in Monaco, it feels as if we're already up and running. We just stop by the hotel to fresh up and change, and then we're supposed to meet up in the suite's living room so we can go again. Dad is naturally wearing a suit while mom wears a pretty, but professional dress. Mom and dad has a violet mixed with a tiny bit of pink dress for me to wear.

Dad throws the peace sign as we exit the car as the rest of us move away from the shouting crowd. Cameras flash and I simply follow my parents, trying not to go blind because of the cameras.

As we enter the doors, dad leans over to mom and mumbles, "Whatever happens within the next twenty minutes, just go with it."

"Go with it? Go with what?" Mom asks.

Why is he acting weird? Well weirder than normal.

"Mr Stark?" A familiar redhead appears before us.

"Hey," dad tilts his head at her with a smile.

Remember how I say that both of my parents are blind? Well now it feels like they keep getting blinder by the second.

Natalie continues to stand professionally, "Hello. How was your flight?"

"It was excellent," he answers. "Boy, it's nice to see you."

I'm this close to setting you and mom up and having the two of you kiss, dad.

"We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind. Okay?" Natalia says, carefully positioning me between mom and dad for the photo.

I smile for the reporter.

Mom mumbles over as she smiles for the reporters, "When did this happen?"

"What? You made me do it."

"I made you do what?"

The camera flashes and takes the picture. Mom shakes her head and mumbles to dad, "You are so predictable. That's the amazing thing." Mom goes to talk to someone else.

What just happened? What's with them today? And why is dad acting so weird today? It's like he's drifting away from me and mom, and I don't want that to actually happen.

Natalie motions to dad and me, "Right this way."

He leaves my side so he can walk by her, "You look fantastic, by the way."

Seriously? What am I, invisible? I wish he would just say what's bothering him instead of drifting away. It wouldn't hurt him so much. But this is hurting mom, and it's hurting me.

•••

"Anthony! Is that you?" Justin walks over to where I stand with mom and dad by the bar.

"My least favorite person on Earth," dad mumbles before shaking his head and looking at mom, "Help."

"Hey, pal, how you doing?" Justin pats a hand on my father's back, "You're not the only rich guy here with a fancy car," he motions behind him, "You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair. You guys know each other?"

I see that ugly woman walking towards us with a smile. I force a smile on my face to be polite.

"Yes, hello." Mom speaks for the three of us.

Justin points at mom and leans to Christine as if he has the inside details, "BTW, big story. The new CEO of Stark Industries."

"I know," Christine holds her hands in front of her as she nods. "My editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our 'Powerful Women' issue. Can I?"

Still being polite, mom nods. "Sure,"

I walk to the table that Dad chose and sit down, bored out of my mind. Soon mom comes over and sits down as well. Suddenly I hear a voice yell, "Tony!"

"Tony, I love you!"

"Tony!"

I look at the TV screen where I see dad walking in a blue racing jumpsuit with the 'Stark' written on it. He's walking through a crowd of people signing autographs and accepting cheers. Dad gracefully jumps over the guardrail towards the formula one vehicle.

"Well, what's the use of having and owning a race car if you don't drive it?" Dad says.

The audience cheers.

Mom is going to kill him, if he doesn't kill himself first.

"Mommy?" I ask, my eyes not leaving the screen.

"Natalie!" Mom hurriedly waves the other redhead over.

Natalie hurries over, "Yes, Miss Potts?"

"Did you know about this?" Mom asks.

"This is the first that I have known of it," she answers.

Mom breathes heavily, "This, this cannot happen."

"Absolutely. I understand. How can I help you?"

I stare at the screen as mom tells Natalie to get Happy. Dad hops into a seat and pulls the helmet, making a face as he does. Dad looks at the camera and points to it. Dad's meaning is clear: he's mocking his "competitor."

"Unbelievable, unbelievable," mom scowls.

Dad revs the car up and gives a thumbs up. His eyes narrow in determination as the lights begin to change. The cars take off, and I'm worried. The cars continue to speed around the track.

Suddenly a man in an orange jumpsuit walks right onto the racetrack. He throws the helmet off and continues to waltz right down the middle of the track. The announcer is freaking out as the man keeps going. The man rips open his jumpsuit and my eyes widen at what I see on his chest. I look down at my chest to see the arc reactor glowing through my dress before I look at the screen again.

"Arc reactor...he has an arc reactor." I whisper to myself.

It's white and it's strapped across his body with metal and black leather. He drops his hands and metal whips shoot from his sleeves. They spark and flash with electricity. The top half of his jumpsuit burns away as the machine strapped to his body comes to life. Just as a car rounds the corner, the man raises his whip and snaps it down across it. The car slices it in half and flips over as the man easily slides to the side.

Mom suddenly leads me by my arm out of the restaurant and we're running after Happy. Me and mom climb into the back of the car just as soon as Happy starts the car and speeds away.

I squeezed my eyes shut as Happy speeds down the road. I soon open my eyes as Happy slams down on his horn and dad leaps onto the fence, hoisting himself up. Our car crashes into the man, slamming his body between us and guardrail.

His torso drops down onto the hood, unmoving. His whips stop glowing and dad lets out a deep breath and then jumps down from the fence. I'm staring and blinking at the man lying on the hood in shock.

Happy leans out the window and yells, "Are you okay!?"

"Yeah," dad answers tiredly before stumbling toward us, "Were you heading for me or him?"

"I was trying to scare him!" Happy quickly defends.

"Cause I can't tell!" Dad yells back angrily, shaking his finger at him.

Mom also leans out the window and screams furiously, "Are you out of your mind!?"

"Better security," dad says.

Mom keeps screaming more intensely than I have ever heard. "Get in the car right now!"

"I was attacked!" Dad shouts slowly before ranting on, "We need better security."

"Get in the car!" Happy demands.

I look at the hood of the car and see the man who seems to be twitching. I felt my breathing get caught in my throat as I stare at him.

Dad grumbles as he heads for my side of the car and opens the door. "First vacation in two years."

Suddenly the door is exploding in half and part of it is in dad's hand while I scream as the man smiles through bloody teeth.

The tires screech back and the man straightens. Happy then slams the car into the man's body again.

"I got him!" Happy shouts, pulling back once more.

"Hit him again. Hit him again!" Dad commands.

Happy yells again as he moves to hit the man, "I got him!"

The half of what's left of the door keeps closing, making it nearly impossible for dad to get to the case.

"Give him the case! Give him the case!"

Suddenly the airbag goes off in Happy's face. I watch as the man's arm lifts and then the whips are sizzling down onto the car's roof. I scream again, trying to stay clear of the zapping wires. The man brings down the whip again, slicing off part of mom's side of the vehicle.

Dad claps his hands and demands, "Give me the case! Please! Come on!"

Mom hurls the case out to dad who activates it. He steps into the case as the suit slowly climbs up his body. When the mask encloses over his face, he gives the car a firm kick and sends us away from the man. We skid to a stop and watch as the man moves towards dad. Dad tries to power up his thrusters in order to shoot at him. Before he can though, the man snaps his whips at him and sends him off flying. I squeezed my eyes shut and I can hear grunts, punches, slams, and throws. I hear something land on the ground and open my eyes to see dad easily stepping over, Dad digs his hand into the man's chest and rips the arc reactor out.

The whips stop zapping and he lays there as the police run over to arrest him. Seeing that he won, I jump out of the car and run over to dad, throwing my arms around the suit, burying my head halfway into it. I feel dad wrap his free metal arm around him while he looks down at the reactor in his other hand. The police try to pull the man away and when he reaches an upright position, he spits blood onto the ground which makes dad put me somewhat behind him protectively, keeping his arm around me as the man begins laughing.

"Y-you lose. You lose," he's still laughing as he's carried away, "You lose, Stark!"

He lost?

I thought he won.

The man just got arrested.

How could he have lost?

Dad glares back down at the glowing reactor in his hand and then he crushes it.

•••

"He should be giving me a medal. That's the truth." I slowly peek in to see mom and dad sitting across from each other, dad puts a plate on the tray in front of mom. I make sure they can't see me as I listen in on them.

"What is that?" Mom asks.

"This is your in-flight meal." Dad says, showing mom the omelet he cooked for her.

"Did you just make that?" Mom asks.

"Yeah. Where do you think I've been for three hours?" Dad asks.

Dad leans back in the seat and mom leans forward a bit to look at him seriously.

"Tony, What are you not telling me?" Mom asks.

Dad looks at her, "I don't want to go home. At all. Let's cancel my birthday party and...We're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?"

"Oh, yes." Mom says.

"It's a great place to be healthy, Briana will love it there." Dad says.

I sigh quietly as I listen. Say what's bothering you, please dad. I can't help if I don't know.

"I don't think this is the right time. We're in kind of a mess." Mom says.

"Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time. Cause then we..." Dad starts.

"Well, I think as the CEO, I need to show up." Mom says.

"As CEO, you are entitled to a leave." Dad says.

"A leave?"

"A company retreat."

"A retreat? During a time like this?"

"Just a ride. Well, I'm just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out." Dad says.

"Not everybody runs on batteries, Tony." Mom tells him.

Dad doesn't say anything and it's silence in there for the rest of the ride home. I lean against the wall and slide down to the ground, sitting. I'm worried about him but,

Why do I get the feeling that it's not over yet?

Iron Man 2 belongs to Marvel

Briana belongs to me