𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐗
𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒚

❛ I'd love you even if it meant
misery was our enemy ❜

𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐘, 𝕴t wasn't like Aurora Stark was asking for misery. Truly, she wasn't one to provoke misery and call it a day. Misery just always seemed to find her when she least expected it, like she ( misery ) was her ( auroras ) never ending shadow that grew bigger under the sun. Aurora knew misery was her partner from beginning to end considering the life she lived ( specifically that of being a child of the gods, I mean, look at what happened last year. she had to hold up the sky for gods sake ) but that never meant she went out and searched for the misery's company. It was far too painful just having her hover, imagine being her friend.

After six months in her new school, being the youngest to have ever attended, misery was nowhere to be seen. And for a while she was thankful, with her only companions being her father, Nate, Happy, and Pepper. She didn't mind them being around a lot, instead it made her happy—gave her a reason not to think about missing camp so much as the day approached to return, knowing she wasn't going back this time around. All four knew how disappointed she was and nonetheless visited her as many times as they could ( with her father almost making M.I.T shut down due to the many people so eager to get a picture with the billionaire and his Iron Man suit ) nonetheless the company was appreciated. More so from her father. From the moment she enrolled, he'd gotten oddly clingy—but she blamed it on his parental instinct: seeing his only daughter go away to school and seeing her less often while he himself was busy with the Stark Expo.

                         Speaking of the expo, in between school and homework, she worked on attractions herself—Influenced by her own legacy to create mechanisms that could benefit the world. That much being said, the expo now carried a few of her projects. And from what the critics were saying, they loved it.

"Dad!" She called as she noticed the man fiddling with one of her blueprints adorning her wall. "Can you please behave? Besides, shouldn't you be at the Expo? It's opening day."

                         Her father only sniffed and reluctantly sat on her bed cringing at the squeaks, "Left early, thought I'd spend the rest of the day with my kid," he watched as she continued to use a wrench on the half mechanical body in front of her and mumbles "at least I'm trying to."

"I saw you yesterday," she said as she lifted the goggles from her face. "What's this really about?"

                         "Why do you always assume the worst?" Tony questioned. "Seriously, it's rather hurtful coming from my own—"

Aurora only rose her eyebrows to which he sighed. Knowing he wasn't going to get away with changing the subject.

"I might've been served with a subpoena."

                "You've been what?!"

               The clanging of tools falling to the ground almost made him flinch. But it was the way his daughter was gawking that reeled him back in. Along with the sound of frantic footsteps

                         "Aurora! Is everything—" Nate came bursting through her room door, in only a towel. Freshly out the shower.

                         Aurora screamed in surprise and covered her eyes while her father followed her lead.

                         "Nate!"

                         "Okay, that's an image I did not need in my head."

"Sorry," he frantically ran away. "Sorry!"

"Oh, god. I'm gonna have to wash my brain with soap," her father said as he stood up. "Anyways, I'm ordered to appear in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee in about—" he lifted his sleeve which showed his watch. "Nine hours. You coming?"

Aurora sighed and picked up her fallen tools before placing them on her table, "Dad. I have schoolwork to do. I can't just—" she watched as his face fell and couldn't help but bite back her words. "Fine. When are we leaving?"

"Now."

────────────

Washington D.C. would be beautiful to visit and experience if you weren't under the obligation to show up, Aurora thought. The architecture was something she knew her best friend would be incredibly fond of despite knowing it wasn't her ( auroras ) personal taste, she was more of a Frank Lloyd Wright gal herself, but she obviously wasn't going to tell her best friend that.

                         The room she found herself in was surrounded by media personnel, the occasional flash of light indicated someone snapping a picture of her father who had his head in his hand appearing bored out of his mind despite the glares he was receiving from the men in front of him.

                         On occasion he'd have a surge of energy and crack a witty joke or enhanced his sarcastic attitude which the media were eating up. Laughing at everything the billionaire had to say, all while Aurora and Pepper rolled their eyes.

Knowing this was televised didn't exactly help Aurora's attitude. She'd blamed her nerves on the thought of her friends and siblings back at camp tuned in to see what their resident glamour girl was up to. Or at least she tried to, every time she thought of camp a familiar pair of ocean green eyes sent a blush crawling up her cheeks. It made her caress the ring on her finger a little more, a habit she'd adapted when she was nervous. Like Percy himself was going to jump through the ring and flash her that damned boyish grin she loved to see, the same one that now made her aura flash a deep red.

                         Just the thought of it alone sent her mind reeling.

                         Senator Stern gaveled trying to get everyone's attention while also breaking Aurora from her thoughts, "Mr. Stark, could we pick up now where we left off? Mr. Stark. Please."

Her father turned around. "Yes, dear?"

The entire room except for the senators erupted in chuckles. Amused at her father's humor.

"Can I have your attention?" Senator Stern forced out. His jaw was clenched and everyone could tell he was only playing nice because of the thousands of cameras in the room.

"Absolutely."

Senator Stern leaned forward in his chair, glaring at Tony. "Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?"

Tony shook his head, "I do not."

Stern looked like he wanted to strangle her father a look she saw cross Peppers face on a multitude of occasions, "You do not?"

"I do not. Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon."

"The Iron Man weapon."

At the mention of Iron man, cameras shuttered obnoxiously loud and silence passed over the entire room. No one talked, anxious to hear more about Iron Man.

Tony shook his head. "My device does not fit that description."

Senator Stern sighed. "Well . . . How would you describe it?"

"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator."

Aurora's eyebrows shot up.

"As?"

"It's a high-tech prosthesis," Everyone in the room erupted in laughter beside the Senators and of course Aurora and Pepper, the younger girl facepalmed. "That is . . . That's actually the most apt description I can make of it."

"It's a weapon," The Senator sighed while trying to fight back a scowl. "It's a weapon, Mr. Star-."

Her father himself was growing agitated, and Aurora understood why. It was his suit. That suit has done so much for him and here the government was wanting to take it away all for their own gain, this had nothing to do with wanting to turn the weapon to the American people and more about making the government stronger, something both Aurora and her Father hated the idea of, "Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen—"

          Stern cut him off as well, "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

"Well, you can forget it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in," People laughed. "You can't have it."

"Look, I'm no expert—"

"In prostitution? Of course not. You're a senator," He slammed his hand on the table and flourished at the sound of people laughing. He turned and sent a peace sign to the crowd. "Come on."

When he turned towards his assistant and daughter. The former had a glare on her face and the latter had her head in her palm, completely embarrassed at her father's actions. Pepper shook her head at Tony signaling for the older male to cut the bullshit.

"I'm no expert in weapons. We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I'd now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor."

The name alone made Aurora tense when she remembered a couple of months ago. When a large sleek black helicopter with the name HAMMER Industries aimed missiles at her and her friends. Granted she never liked the man to begin with, but the thought of him working with her enemies didn't really surprise her, but this meant he could either see through the mist or was a demigod himself but seeing as she'd never heard of him prior to him making weapons, she believed he likely was just able to see through the mist.

It took one glance at her father to notice how angry he was at the man. He was never a fan of Justin Hammer but when Aurora told him what she saw a couple of months ago, her father was rightfully livid. So now he's making it his life's mission to destroy Justin Hammer and light his company on fire as well.

                         Aurora watched as her father glanced back at her, a lingering question in his eyes and Aurora knew what he was asking: Are you okay?

                         The girl's lips twitched up and only nodded but her father wasn't going to let him get away with anything.

                         "Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."

                         Aurora snickered at her father's statement. Sometimes both of them would buy Hammer equipment just to dismantle it and laugh at the pathetic system set up when she was younger—quality father and daughter time for the two.

                         Everyone in the room murmured at the Starks remark, but her father shrugged it off nonchalantly.

                         Justin Hammer sat down at the corner of the table right in front of the tv, he forced out a chuckle. "Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony," He pointed at her father. "You're the wonder boy. Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad. Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion. We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, he insists it's a shield. He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr. Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America."

                         The only applause came from the Senate Armed Forces Committee. Everyone else just glanced around not entirely liking the man and his speech.

                         Aurora rolled her eyes at the man and his speech.

                         "That is well said, Mr. Hammer. And I'd like to thank you again for being here. It's my understanding that you just suffered a major loss in your life, and as a father myself, I send you many prayers."

                         Aurora furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at her dad who looked as confused as she felt—hell, the entire room looked absolutely bewildered at the statement. Justin Hammers had a child? This was news to everyone.

Pepper must've noticed the look on Auroras face because she leant down and whispered in her ear, "From my research, he had a daughter and kept her hidden from the public. It wasn't until she died that it was revealed."

Aurora frowned, as much as she didn't like the man no parent should ever experience the loss of a child. The circle of life was meant so no parent should, but the gods know just how unpredictable the world was and how it longed to see people suffer, "So . . . How did she? . . ."

"Die?" Pepper asked but she too was fighting a frown on her face. "A freak accident. But I'm not sure."

"Thank you, sir," Justin Hammer said as he wiped an imaginary tear from his eyes and made eye contact with both Tony and Aurora. "I hope no father ever understands the pain of losing their child," he turned back to the Senators, "Thank you for allowing me to continue."

The senator nodded, "Of course, now," he turned to the double doors behind Aurora, "The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber."

Aurora's eyes widen in surprise at the mention of her Uncle—So many bombs were dropping it was hard for her to keep up. She turned her head towards the end of the aisle that was right next to her. Her Uncle walked up next to her and ruffled her hair, completely ignoring the whispers throughout the room.

"Hey, kid"

"Not the hair, Uncle Rhodey!" Aurora stated while running her hands through her hair.

"Rhodey? What?" Tony stood up and walked towards his best friend while pulling him in a hug.

"Hey, buddy. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Look, it's me, I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on."

"I just-"

"Drop it." Her Uncle stated sternly.

"All right, I'll drop it." Her father nodded and abruptly sat back down in his original spot.

"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, complied by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?" Senator Stern asked.

"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?" His eyebrows shot up in question.

Senator Stern nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner."

"I understand. A lot of things have changed today. So if you could just read—"

"—You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summery of my final-"

"Just read it, Colonel," the Senator said sharply. "I do. Thank you."

Rhodey hesitantly nodded and glanced at his best friend. "Very well," He looked down at the packet in front of him with a sigh, " 'As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests.' I did however, go on to summarise that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities and that it would be in our interes-"

"That's enough Colonel"

"to fold Mr. Star-"

"That's enough"

"into the existing chain of command, Senator."

Aurora rolled her eyes and sighed. "This is going well."

"I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defence, if you ask nice," The room continued to erupt in laughter at her fathers comment "We can amend the hours a little bit."

Senator Stern sighed, "I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report."

Rhodey looked at the man in disbelief, "I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time."

"With all due respect, Colonel, I understand. And if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful.

"Let's have the images," Rhodey clenched his jaw, nodded, and pointed at the television. A photo pulled up over a factory. It made Aurora knit her eyebrows together. "Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of Mr Stark's suit. This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground indicating that these suits are quite possibly, at this moment, operational."

Her father suddenly leaned forward a Stark Industries device in his hand. "Hold on a second buddy. Let me see something here," He connects the device to the Television and a WELCOME, MR.STARK was present. It took Aurora a good couple of minutes to figure out what it said because of her dyslexia. "Boy, I'm good. I commandeered your screens. I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on."

Senator Stern now looked worried, "What is he doing?"

"Something he was meant to do a long time ago," Aurora muttered under her breath, now understand what her father was up to.

Tony smirked. "If you will direct your attention to said screens, not you Aurora," He gave his daughter a pointed glare. "You're a bit queasy when it comes to blood."

Aurora rolled her eyes but nonetheless turned away.

"I believe that's North Korea."

Aurora heard the sound of multiple bullets being shot and by the look on the faces around her she could tell that what North Korea was making, did not work out. The sudden screaming and splatter made her clench her eyes shut. She could guess what happened.

"Can you turn that off? Take it off." The Senator demanded.

"Iran."

People erupted in gasps and Aurora assumed Iran's version wasn't any better than North Koreas.

"No grave threat here. Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?"

Aurora grew intrigued at her father's words and turned back around. She was met with the sight of Justin Hammers, and other military personnel surrounding a devastating looking suit. The arms were too bulky which would result in almost no smooth movement. Aurora could tell from one glance that their targeting system was off by about five and a half inches.

"Justin, you're on TV. Focus up."

Justin did his best to find a way to turn off the television, but everything he tried didn't seem to work.

"Okay, give me a left twist. Left's good. Turn to the right." The man in the suit turned to the right, but as the young girl expected they turned but at an unnatural angle with a crack. Aurora winced and cringed. The people around the man all rush away in horror. Just in the nick of time, Justin unplugged the television resulting in the screen going black.

"Wow. Yeah, I'd say most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries, twenty."

Aurora pursed her lips "From their scopes, likely fifty."

Tony sent his daughter a wink.

"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived." Justin confidently stated.

"I think we're done is the point that he's making. I don't think there's any reaso—"

Her father shrugged."The point is, you're welcome, I guess"

Senator Stern scoffed. "For what?"

"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favor," He suddenly stopped and turned to the crowd. "I've successfully privatised world peace," He threw peace signs up as everyone in the room stood up. "What more do you want? For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns."

Aurora rolled her eyes and shook her head in disappointment, but stood up to follow her dad out.

"Fuck you, Mr. Stark. Fuck you, buddy. We're adjourned. We're adjourned for today."

Hands pressed against her ears and it didn't take a second to figure out it was her father, "Not in front of my kid, Senator," aurora brushed her curled hair back as she followed her father through the chaos of the reporters who were loving the action. "My bond is with the people. And I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there's one thing I've proven it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself."

                         Aurora seriously hoped no one from camp was watching, much less the boy that forever lived rent free in her head.

— NAT TALKS !

SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!! works gotten to me! Here's a little update! Enjoy the perora crumbs!!

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