𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 [𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

A week had passed and Madison spent most of her time tucked away inside of her room. She had been researching everything she could about Nemesis, not being able to close her eyes and sleep because her nightmares were increasing. She thought it was because of what happened, so she figured that if she could stop Nemesis then she could finally sleep and not be terrified of her own mind.

Madison was spending every hour she could on trying to figure all of it out, and she found a lot. She found out that Nemesis was experimented on the same time Wanda was. She was one of the test subjects that had survived, but she had escaped before Madison and Tony had ever found that facility with the rest of the Avengers. It made sense since Wanda's power came from the mind stone that hers did too. Nemesis could manipulate people's worst fears.

However, even with all of this information, Madison still did not understand why Nemesis wanted to hurt her so badly. Madison had no idea what her motive was, and that left her at a loss. She just wanted to know what she had done in order for this to happen. Madison hoped that if she found out why then she could talk to Nemesis is she ever tried to attack her again.

And she needed to put a stop to all of the robberies Nemesis was pulling off. It was mainly big facilities that had a lot of metals inside of huge companies. But Madison wanted to know why Nemesis was stealing all of these parts.

A knock then came from her bedroom door. Without looking up Madison called out, "Come in."

"Hey, Princess," Tony greeted as he entered the room. Madison spun around in her chair and looked at her father.

A smile crept onto her face as she saw two mugs in her father's hands, and Madison knew that they contained hot chocolate. Tony also had a smile on his face as he walked over to the desk and handed Madison her coffee mug.

Madison took a sip of her drink and then she gave a small sigh, "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem, Princess," Tony replied as he sat on Madison's bed, "So are you gonna tell me what you have been doing in here for the past week?"

"I've been researching her, Dad," Madison answered as she took a drink from her cup.

Tony tilted his head to the side in curiosity, "And why are you doing that?"

The girl gave a shrug, "Because I want to stop her. What she is doing is wrong."

"I'm sure the FBI can stop her sweetheart," her father replied, leaning forward from where he was sitting.

Madison shook her head, "If they could stop her then they would have by now. Someone else has gotta do it."

"What is this really about, Princess?" Tony asked with a sigh, "Is it because she is your mother?"

The younger Stark looked down at her mug, staring at the chocolate liquid that was sitting inside. She knew the answer to that question, but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. So instead, Madison just slowly nodded her head in response.

"Princess, it's not your responsibility," Tony stated.

Madison didn't look at her father as she said, "Yes it is. She went after me. That makes it my responsibility. I have to stop her."

Tony placed his hand on Madison's shoulder, "Princess, look at me."

The girl then looked at her dad as he continued to speak, "I get why you feel like you have to do this. I get why you have cut yourself off for about a week now, but you don't have to do this alone. So promise me that if you are going to do this you will let us help you."

"Okay," Madison whispered, not wanting to make the promise but feeling as if she had to.

She felt as if she had to. Truly she did. Madison felt as if she owed that to her father. She felt that she owed that to Peter, Pepper, and Rhodey as well. She felt that she owed them the promise of her not trying to get herself killed. Even if it might happen, but that has been happening since Madison was seven years old. Since her father had been kidnapped and they both gain spectacular abilities.

Tony placed down his mug and took away Madison's. He then pulled his daughter into a hug and held her close. Madison embraced him as well as she listened to the sound of his heartbeat. Madison loved her father's hugs. Ever since she was a little girl they would always make her feel safe.

The two held each other for a long while before Tony spoke, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for not telling you about your mom. I'm sorry you had to have met her that way. I'm sorry that you have been through all of these things and you're just a kid. You're my baby, and I feel as if I am failing at protecting you."

"Dad, you are the best parent that anyone could ever ask for," Madison replied as she hugged her father tighter, "Everything that has happened is for a reason. We can't stop it. We just have to try and fix it when it gets broken. And you do protect me, because if you didn't then I would probably be dead by now."

Tony let out a small laugh as he placed a kiss on Madison head. Tears started to form in the girl's eyes as she looked up at her father who also had wet eyes. Madison stared into her fathers eyes and was thankful for him. If she didn't have her dad she had no clue what she would do with her life.

"I love you, Dad," Madison smiled.

Tony pulled her back into a hug and kissed the top of her head once more, "I love you more, Princess. With all of my heart, and there is nothing in this world I won't do for you."