Tony Stark was a lot of things to a lot of people. He was the billionaire, he was the genius, the philanthropist, and the notorious playboy in his younger years. Most notably, however, was that he was Iron Man. He was marveled at by the entire world, him and the group of heroes that stood beside him; the Avengers, as they called themselves. To you, however, he was your father.
A terribly overprotective one, at that.
Of course, this was only to be expected of a father, even a foster one, but the lengths the man went to in order to keep his only daughter out of whatever he deemed trouble were rather extensive. You rarely ever left the Avengers tower, and if you did you were accompanied by a team of people you could only describe as rip off Secret Service men. Sometimes, Natasha would replace them, or Steve, but that was a rare occurrence. You were homeschooled by the best tutors his money could pay for- this particular move was less about refining your education and more about keeping you away from any boy in the five boroughs.
You chose to spend majority of your time reading in your room and training, always wary of anyone who approached you about being a friend. Your surname meant everything to people, especially the girls that wandered around Manhattan desperate to become the bestie of the daughter of the richest man in New York. You loved your dad with all your heart, but the stigma that ran with the Stark name would never stop irritating you.
That, and the impromptu plans he threw at you on a regular basis.
"Miss Stark, your father is requesting access to your room. He knows you hate it when he barges in." Vision drifted into your room without warning, making you jump. You yanked your earbuds out of your ears, giving him a look.
"I hate when anyone barges in, Vision. That includes you, too." You pushed your chair away from your desk, placing your pen on the desk and shutting your notebook. "Tell him he can come in if he lets me become an Avenger." You raised your voice at this, knowing he would hear you.
"He says that he'll consider it if you let him in."
You raised your eyebrows. "Touché." You motioned for the door to open, and your father walked into the room, immediately taking his pristinely polished shoes off and lying down on your bed. You stared at him."Dad, it's not cool to wear sunglasses inside. You look lame."
Tony Stark rolled his eyes at you. "It's called a look, sweetheart." You laughed, pretending to nod in agreement. He placed his hands behind his head as you spun your chair back around to your desk. "What are you working on?"
"Something for Bruce," you muttered, pen cap between your teeth as you continued to jot down important points from his numerous lab reports. You were going to have to hand in a full analysis of his findings for your end of term science paper, and he was more than willing to aid you. "Science report."
"My daughter, beautiful and intelligent, my flesh and blood," Tony declared proudly.
"Dad, I love you to the death, but I'm still not your biological kid," you smiled all the same, though, and he knew behind the tough exterior you were happy to hear his expressions of admiration.
"Who needs a biological kid when I've got this great, wonderful adopted one right in front of me."
Not looking up from your notebook, you said, "You're really laying it on thick today. I'm all of those things, obviously, but I know you want something. So, what is it?" You paused, then said, "Thank you, by the way."
"You sure we're not related?" He sat back up, clasping his hands together. "What do you say about Germany?"
"Nice enough place I guess, interesting history, why?"
"I kind of need you to go there for two weeks with me."
With a groan, you dropped your pen and held your face in your hands. "Another surprise trip? Dad, I have school. I have homework! Do you see this?" You held up the thick stack of reports from Banner's lab, waving them around. "This is gonna be, like, my life's work."
Tony shook his head. "Kids these days and their homework. Seriously. When I was at school I would have taken any opportunity to shirk my responsibilities."
"You did do that."
He waved his hand. "Technicalities. Anyway, as you know the Avengers have been disassembled. Sokovia Accords and all that bullshit. I assume you've been keeping up?"
"Hard not to." It was true. Anything in the news was about the great split of the infamous team, Captain America vs Iron Man. It was impossible to turn on the television without hearing about it. And, considering you lived underneath the same roof as half of them, it was quite literally not an option to be ignorant to what was going on.
"Good," he grinned proudly again. If there was one emotion that the man felt whenever he was around, it was proud. Nearly everything you did made him beam with pride, and if you had been placed into an actual high school, there was no doubt in his mind that the person at the top of every single class would be you. You excelled no matter the circumstances. "So, to sum up, there's gonna be a big showdown in Germany. Western style, naturally. Guns blazing and everything."
Your eyes lit up and you nearly flew out of your chair, rushing over to him. "Oh my god, are you finally gonna let me fight? You've seen my training, right? I'm getting so good. I'm like, practically Natasha level good. She's been showing me that move where I can snap people's necks with my thighs and-"
"First of all, your thighs are not going around anyone's neck, so jot that down," he interrupted. Your enthusiasm visibly deflated. "I need you to kind of watch over this kid who's coming with us. He's from Queens. You love Queens."
"You're making me babysit?" You flopped down on your bed, staring up at the ceiling. "C'mon, dad, I'm sixteen. That's practically an adult. I think I should be allowed to fight this time. I'm Avenger worthy."
"Practically an adult is not the same as literally an adult, as in over eighteen." You groaned again. "Don't call it babysitting, anyway. He's your age. Well, he's a few months younger, but that doesn't matter. Just call it... hanging out with a good kid that's fighting for your dear old dad and making sure he doesn't get into trouble in Germany or annoy Happy too much." He patted your knee, standing up. "We leave in the morning, kiddo, so pack up."
"How come he gets to fight if he's younger than I am?"
"'Cause he's not my daughter. Goodnight, light of my life." He kissed your forehead before leaving, giving you another encouraging smile.
"Goodnight, pain my ass," you grumbled as he left. He popped back in, a stern expression on his face. "If I watch your new protégée can I become an Avenger?" Tony rubbed a hand over his eyes. Teenage girls were exhausting.
"We'll talk about it."
