In which Tony stark arrives in a cave with nothing and comes out with everything.
Leida, a young girl with pink hair and superpowers to match, is held captive in the same cave Tony Stark finds himself trapped in. Leida can't remember anything about...
Leida did in fact enjoy the cheeseburgers; so much so that Tony had ordered two more for the road.
But much more important things went down inside the Burger King. As of ten minutes ago, Leida was officially adopted and an American citizen. Rhodey had pulled together the paperwork and done what limited research he could to see if she actually did have parents, but came up empty handed. Tony hadn't let the grin drop from his face since he'd signed the adoption papers and Leida had immediately tackled him in a hug.
Happy parked the car right out in front of stark industries and a bald man with a white beard opened the car door for them. Tony exited first and Leida tumbled out after him, still holding her cheeseburger.
"You wanna wear that hunny, or did you forget you had it on?" Tony turned to the girl who still wore her Burger King crown that Tony insisted she put on. Leida giggled as she chucked it back in the car. "You sure? Cause you definitely can. I think it has personality." Tony added and Leida shook her head at his antics.
"Look at this! Tony. We were going to meet at the hospital." The older man stated, clapping his large hand on Tony's shoulder.
"No, I'm fine." Tony replied simply.
"And this is the the little girl I've heard so much about huh?" The older man asked, smiling at the girl who began to feel uncomfortable.
"Yup. Leida this is Obadiah Stane." Tony introduced them and Leida nodded in greeting, standing closer to Tony now.
"You two just had to have a burger, yeah?" Obadiah laughed, seeing the pair both holding onto their food.
"Well, come on." Tony prompted, itching to get his press conference started. "You get me one of those?" Obadiah asked, looking right at Tony's cheeseburger.
"There's only one left. I need it." Tony stated as he held Leida's hand and started to walk to the doors of the building. Leida quickly finished her food before they entered.
Happy stuck closer to Leida as per Tony's request. Tony was worried that Leida wouldn't enjoy being around so many people at the conference, so he explained that Happy was going to be personally guarding them both to make sure nothing happened, which had calmed Leida's anxieties immensely. She liked Happy, he reminded her of the big teddy bear she saw in a store window on the way back from Burger King.
"Hey, look who's here! Yeah!" Obadiah riled up the crowd of reporters as he walked Tony up to the podium. Leida hesitated about going to stand next to Tony but he waved her up eagerly.
"Well, let's get this started, uh..." Obadiah started but was cut off by Tony.
"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?"he asked as he sunk to the floor. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... A little less formal and..." Tony cut himself off by taking a bite of his burger.
Leida sat next to him, legs going crisscrossed as she watched the room full of reporters sink to the ground as well.
Tony looked to Obadiah, his mind going too fast for him. He slowed it down and said what he'd forgotten with the hectic environment "Good to see you."
"Good to see you." The man echoed.
"I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father." Leida grabbed Tony's hand to comfort him. She couldn't imagine not getting to say goodbye to Tony should something happened. "There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."
"Mr. Stark!" A reporter called out, ready to ask his question. "Hey, Ben." Tony greeted, familiar with the newsman.
"What happened over there?" He asked, curiosity barely held back.
"I had my eyes opened." Tony stood, helping Leida up as he moved them both behind the podium. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be."
The room exploded in a flurry of murmurs as pens scribbled furiously against note pads
"I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers." Obadiah chuckled, standing beside Tony, which ended up blocking Leida a bit. That only lasted for about a second before Tony nudged her back in front.
Tony continued his statement saying,"What direction it should take, is one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."
As the reporters realized Tony had finished his speech, Leida was deafened by the shouting of questions and shocked by the sea of raised hands.
"Please, please, one at a time." Tony called before pointing to a reporter with their hand raised. "You, go ahead."
"Mr. Stark, we've all heard stories that the young lady next to you was present at the time of your escape from captivity; who is she?" The reporter asked.
Tony looked at Leida, making sure she was okay with sharing her story. She nodded at the man, knowing that Tony would need to explain it at some point.
"During my time in captivity I was held in a cell inside of a cave, in that cave I discovered a little girl." Tony stated, holding Leida's hand in comfort. "She was severely malnourished, deathly frightened, and due to the torture she sustained she couldn't remember anything but her own name, which she told me was Leida." Leida clutched her necklace with her free hand as Tony continued.
"I hadn't known then, but the cave I was kept in had been her home for a very long time. Over the months I was in captivity Leida kept me from giving up hope. She is an excellent listener and loyal to a fault. I wanted to get her out of that prison even more than I wanted it for myself. Without her I can assure you, I wouldn't have returned home. She deserved more than that place, which is why as of 30 minutes ago I have adopted her. I would like to introduce you all to Leida Stark."
As Tony finished his speech the roar of flashing cameras and the flurry of voices were astonishing. Leida froze a little at all of the noise but as Tony placed a hand on her shoulder she smiled. "Leida would you like to say anything?" Tony asked.
Leida nervously moved her head closer to the microphone. She didn't quite know what to say, so she settled on "Hello."
"Simple. I love it." Tony complimented as he walked her down through the crowd, Happy making sure no one got too close to the father and daughter.
"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up." Obadiah spoke loudly through the microphone, trying to calm the reporters who were now in a frenzy.
"I think that went well." Tony smiled.
••••••••••••
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Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed today's chapter! If you did please vote or leave a comment.
Tried to take my dog out this morning and he spent 20 minutes licking the morning dew off the ground. Anyone else's dog do that or is mine just weird?
