Swallowed in Flame

Chapter 5

I was working in my room on something to help with the whole 'you can't drink water because it damages your body' thing. I was getting really close on finishing it when I heard music from downstairs. It vibrated the whole house. What the actual hell was happening down there? I set down my... thing... I'll come up with a name for it later. I stand up and go to see what was going on downstairs that I was not invited to. I make it into the main living room. I knew dad was having his birthday party but I said I would come down a little late. So what was going on. 

I make it downstairs in my pajama pants and a gross old sweatshirt and there is a whole freaking party happening. There is loud music, drinks, and of course, girls in skimpy dresses. The whole place reeks of alcohol and sweaty people. I look around and find Pepper and Rhodey talking. I squeeze through the crowd and try not to let anyone step on my feet. I mean they had heels on and I had socks. That would be unpleasant for someone to step on my feet right now.

I make it over to them and look to see what they were looking at and see dad stumbling around drunkenly. "This is ridiculous. I just stuck my neck out for this guy," Rhodey exclaims angrily. "I know. I know. I get it. I'm gonna handle it," Pepper soothes. I don't hear what Rhodey says because I'm making my way through the crowd to where dad is.

"You know, the question I get asked the most often is, 'Tony how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?" dad announces through the microphone. There's a pause and dad makes a weird face then says, "Just like that." The crowd cheers. Dad leans over and starts laughing as I get up onto the stage. I grab the mic from dad while he's hunched over laughing. "Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?"I ask into the mic trying to get somewhere. The crowd cheers loudly. Dad hunches over to talk into the mic and says, "I love you." At first I'm slightly shocked but tell myself it's not real. "Oh, wow! Unbelievable! Thank you so much. Dad we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night," I say trying to get the crowd out, "And we're gonna say good night now and thank you all for coming." "No, no, no, we can't... wait, wait, wait," dad tells me quickly and I pull the mic down so we can have a more private conversation, "We didn't have the cake. We didn't blow out the candles." "You're out of control, okay? Trust me on this one, okay?" I tell dad. He just responds with a drunken, "You're out of control, gorgeous." I sigh deeply trying not to explode, "It's time to go to bed. I'm tired. You're tired. It's time." "You're not going to be happy about this in the morning, okay? You just peed in the suit it's not cool," I tell dad. "I know. It has a filtration system. You could drink that water," dad assures me. "Just send everybody home, okay? Please?" I ask nicely, "It's time to." "If you say so," dad tells me and grabs the mic from my hand.

"Hailey Stark," dad starts and a few people cheer in the back, "She's right. The party's over." I sigh in relief but then he continues, "Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after-party starts in 15 minutes." The party guests cheer loudly. Dad then says, "And if anybody, Hailey, doesn't like it there's the door." Dad points to the door and accidentally shatters the whole window wall. Dad walks back up to the front and yells, "Yeah!" 

I look over to Pepper and Rhodey for help. I tried. I couldn't stop him. They both look furious. Dad shoots a glass one lady threw in the air and I duck to avoid the spray of glass. I see Rhodey leave down to the lab. The lady throws another glass and dad shoots it looking through the metal of a plate. The lady then finds a watermelon, god knows where, and throws it into the air. Dad shoots it with the middle repulsor beam. 

I walk off to the back of the crowd. This was just chaos. Rhodey comes up from downstairs in the Mark II suit. "I'm only gonna say this once," everyone looks back at him, "Get out." The party guests go scrambling to the exit. I stay in the spot I was in. I ain't gonna leave my house. It's my own damn house.