Book Four; The Next Leg of Her Journey

C H A P T E R 3

BOOK FOUR; THE NEXT LEG OF HER JOURNEY -- A MARVEL FANFICTION
CHAPTER THREE

Upon their arrival, the four Potts children groaned when they saw who was waiting for them and their class. "What? What is it?" MJ asked, trying to look to see what was going on. Peter and Harley shared a look, seeing as they remembered but refused to tell their younger siblings, and made a silent agreement to each other that they would keep Renesmee and Rosalice, mainly Renesmee, as far away from Stark as they possibly could.

"Just Stark. He's waiting for us, like he usually does." Harley responded, sending a knowing glance towards Ned, MJ and Flash. They immediately understood why they didn't trust Tony anymore, especially when the two older brothers to four looked towards Renesmee, who was still at the back of the bus.

"We'll protect her, I promise." Flash promised quietly, receiving thankful looks from Peter and Harley as everyone got off the stereotypical yellow school bus. What is it with yellow school buses? Like, someone explain that to me, please!

Anyway. As they got off the bus, you could see Peter and Harley visibly flinch when they saw the man. "Pete? Harls? Can I talk to the two of you? Please?" Tony asked, looking everywhere but his foster kids. Well, who used to be his foster kids. They weren't his anymore, he had to keep reminding himself of that.

"No." The two replied, keeping an arm around both of their younger siblings. Tony sighed, looking at them directly now. Through his eyes, you could see the pain the man was in. "You forfeited the right to talk to us since that night back in November. How could you do that to us? We were happy, Stark!"

"I know, I know. Do you think I've been able to live with myself after what I did?"

"You seem perfectly fine whenever we see you. Got yourself a new girlfriend, eh?" Peter asked, pushing Renesmee behind him when Tony approached them. Happy, who was just coming out of the door to get their class, quickly walked forward and stepped in between his ex-boss and his nephew.

"Step away from them." He growled, which was very uncharacteristic for the man who always seemed to be grumpy which was a major contrast to his name; Happy Hogan. Tony didn't move. "I said," Happy growled again, taking a step closer. "Step. Away From. My. Nephews. And. Nieces."

"No. I'm your boss, so I can order you around. Not the other way around, Hogan." Tony spoke, a smug smirk on his face.

"Did you not hear? I quit. I quit the night you hurt the family we had all come to love; I quit the night you broke them; I quit the night you ruined everything. I quit, and got hired by Pep. Yeah, I got hired by your ex-wife and your CEO. She hired me on the grounds that I am to protect them."

"From who?" Tony asked, but he already knew the answer. Him.

"You." With that, Happy quickly ushered everyone away from the man who had turned horrible in, what felt like, a blink of an eye to Peter and Harley Potts.

"Harls? What does Happy mean, 'protect them from you'? Who is he protecting? And why from Stark? He can't do anything, right?" Renesmee asked, messing with her hands. Peter sighed, glancing at Harley who shook his head slightly so that only Peter could pick it up, before kneeling down in front of his little sister.

"Happy protects us from Stark," the girl's older brother explained, moving some of her fringe out of the way. This answer confused the girl even more.

"Why?"

"Stark's a bad man, he's done bad things. Do you remember that story Mom told us, back when we were in Middle School?" Renesmee nodded. "That was Stark. He did that to those kids, that's why Happy protects us. Mom doesn't want Stark to do that to us, so Uncle Hap-Hap has to protect us. He doesn't need to go to our school because Mom knows D-Stark won't come after us there, he wouldn't dare."

"What were you going to call him?"

"Hm?"

"You said 'D-Stark', what were you going to say?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does. What were you going to call him, Peter?"

Taking a deep breath, Peter looked into his younger sister's hazel brown eyes that he knew were going to be filled with pain in the next minute or so. Looking down at the ground where his knees dug in, Peter braced himself for the denial Renesmee would speak. "I was going to call him Dad."

Peter flinched. There it was, out in the open. Anthony Edward Stark was their father. Iron Man was their father. "No. No, you're lying! Harley, tell me Peter's lying to me! It's not true! Mama would never fall for such a man, never! You're lying, Peter! You're lying!" Peter could hear the tears in his sister's voice and, as he glanced up, he was thankful Happy took his class to them museum already.

"I'm sorry, Nessie, but he's not lying. I wish he was, I wish Stark was never our father, I wish Mom never married that vile man, but she did and he is. Legally, on paper, he's our father." Harley spoke gently, as if talking to a petrified animal. Renesmee let out a single sob, before her eyes filled with pain. After seeing the pain in her eyes, Peter embraced his younger sister as she sobbed.

"Please, please, make it stop. Please!" She begged, holding tightly onto her older borther as he, too, cried, but not for himself. No, Peter didn't cry for him. But cried for the fact that his baby sister had to remember, had to remember what the man that was supposed to be their father did to them. It hurt, more than he ever thought could be possible.

Harley soon joined the hug, not noticing Tony Stark watching them from the other side of the room. He had done that, he had caused the family he had so much pain. And now they hardly remembered him. But when they did? All they had in their eyes was pain. Guess fifteen-year-old Renesmee from his dream all those months ago was wrong. Unless he did something worse. But what could that possibly be? What could possibly make this any worse? He's lost everything; his wife, his kids, his teammates, the respect he had from low-ranking, mid-ranking and high-ranking SHIELD agents. When was enough enough for him? I guess his needs never stop, do they?

"I'm sorry, i miei bambini. I am so, so sorry. I hope you can forgive me one day." And with that, Tony left the scene. He had to prepare for being pushed to the side like he was everyday at the Avengers Compound. He always was.