Avery didn't know where to go from here. She was only trying to find a channel with Pixar movies when she accidentally saw the news. Tony Stark had defeated her dad three days ago. Her dad was dead. She wasn't quite sure how to feel. Her father was a horrible man but he was still her dad and he had loved her once. She was sure of it. Avery started to panic, wringing her hands together and pacing around the room.
What the fuck do I do? Nobody even knows about me.
Avery thought. Her body started to get hot and her throat burned. She knew what it meant but she had to keep it down. She couldn't cause another accident just because she couldn't control her stupid emotions. She ran to the bathroom and drew an ice cold bath, quickly getting in. Her body temperature started to go back to normal and her throat stopped burning as bad.
Fuck, dad died. Holy fucking shit, dad died.
As Avery sat in the cold water, she thought about her next move. She obviously needed somebody to take care of her, but who would be willing to take care of an experiment who couldn't even control her abilities? She had been on her own before, but her dad had always come back to give her the necessities she needed to live eventually.
Tony Stark. He killed dad, maybe he would feel bad enough about that to take care of me. I could go talk to him.
She immediately got started on her plan to talk to Stark. She got out of the tub and got ready, dressing in her nicest clothes -which weren't all that nice - and headed out the door. She started walking through the city towards Stark Industries. It may have been late but she wasn't going to let that stop her.
As she was walking, she started to consider how she would go about this. She couldn't just barge in and demand to talk to Tony Stark, she had to be nice about it. She would just ask to see him, that's all.
Avery pulled her thin jacket closer to her, praying nobody thought she was homeless after seeing her in her scraggly clothes. She didn't need any pity.
I'm an orphan, not homeless. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I lived on the street once but not anymore- I'm getting off track. Focus on the main goal.
She reached the tall building nearly half an hour later, immediately walking in and going to the secretary who looked her up and down, raising a single eyebrow at her in question.
"I need to talk to Tony Stark, now please." Avery told the woman behind the desk.
"Mr. Stark doesn't have time for fangirls today, I guess you haven't seen the news." The secretary snarked at Avery. When she noticed the girl hadn't moved, she sighed and looked back at her. "I'm sorry but I can't let you in, kid. I'm under strict orders to not let anyone upstairs."
"What if he knew the person who needed to see him was the daughter of the man he just killed?" Avery asked her, feigning innocence. The blonde's head whipped towards her so fast Avery worried her head would roll onto the floor.
Ha. Gotcha.
Avery knew she was going to get her way when she saw the secretary scrambling for the phone and immediately dialing in a number. Whoever was on the other end made her wait before picking it up.
"Hello, this is Janice, we have a sort of emergency down he-"
She got cut off, she looked terrified. Avery guessed whoever was on the other end was pretty pissed at being interrupted.
"This kid is saying she's Dr. Killian's daughter. What do you wa-"
A beat of silence as the person on the other end talked.
"Yes, okay."
Avery looked at the woman with curious eyes. She was a little worried that nobody important had answered the call, she wouldn't let that stop her. She needed help, and she needed it from someone who could take care of her.
"Someone will be down soon, please go sit down over there." Janice explained to Avery, clearly still in shock over the information that was revealed.
Avery said nothing back and just walked over to the seats along the wall. Her hands were getting clammy and her throat started to feel hot again, she began doing her breathing techniques to calm her heart.
In- one- two- three- four. Out- one- two- three- four.
As she waited she looked around the lobby, she couldn't help but think about how spoiled this Stark guy had to be to have such a big space for only the lobby. Most people never even got farther than this and it was already the nicest place she had ever been.
She heard the elevator ding and immediately looked over, seeing the doors open to a woman with strawberry blonde hair walking out and over to her. The woman had a strange look on her face as she sat next to the brunette girl.
"Are you Dr. Killian's daughter?" She asked in a gentle tone. At Avery's nod, she got a surprised look on her face. "Oh... okay. I'm Pepper Potts. I'm going to try to help you, okay?"
"I saw your face on the news. My dad hurt you, didn't he?" Avery questioned her, she was sure it was the same woman and if it was, Avery felt sorry it had to be her who had to come down and deal with her.
Ms.Potts nodded her head. She saw the panic on the young girl's face and quickly put her worries to rest.
"But it's okay, I'm better now. It's been a few days since your fathers death, are you only just hearing about this?" The strawberry blonde asked, she didn't look like she believed Avery was Aldrich's daughter, but was still going to try and get answers.
"Yeah, I was on the TV and saw the news. It said Tony Stark killed him after he tried to hurt him." Avery told the blue-eyed woman. Ms. Potts looked concerned, like Avery might've been dangerous. "I'm sorry, Ms. Potts. I shouldn't have come here like this, I just didn't know where else to go. I have no family other than my dad and well-"
Another stupid idea, Avery. Get your shit together.
"I should go- this was stupid. I'm- I'm sorry." Avery said, getting up to leave but when she was halfway turned, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Ms. Potts looking at her like she was completely fragile, though that same worry was still there. She was being cautious, smart.
"Hey, It's okay, what's your name?" Ms.Potts asked the girl, motioning for her to sit back down. Avery listened to what she silently told her, wringing her hands and trying her best to breathe the heat out of her body.
"I'm Avery, Avery Killian." She told the woman, a bit cautious to tell the woman her name despite her having been nothing but nice to her. A name was a dangerous thing to know, Avery was well aware of that.
"Why are you here, Avery?" Ms. Potts asked the small girl. Avery was afraid to tell this woman anything, she hardly knew her, but they were sort of the same so she answered Ms. Potts' question.
"I don't really have any family, as I said before, and well Mr. Stark- Mr. Stark defeated my father, and I was hoping maybe he could help me. I would understand if- if maybe he didn't want to, I mean my dad- he just hurt you not even a week ago." Avery said, knowing her voice was shaking and that she probably looked uncomfortable but she said it anyways, she needed this help.
"It's okay, Avery. We're going to figure this out okay? I'll do my best to help you, I promise." Ms. Potts told her, looking the girl in the eyes so Avery knew she was being genuine about it. "Now, let's go upstairs and meet Mr. Stark."
Well, here goes nothing.
____________________________________
A very special thank you to Charlie, for beta reading this chapter :))) Ily Charlie :))
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Keeping The Light On
FanfictionHe never told anyone but, Aldrich Killian had perfected his experiment before Tony Stark stopped him. He especially never told anyone that it was his daughter he perfected it on. Avery Killian had never expected to find a family in Pepper Potts and...
