Disarm • Stark

"Were you out of your mind, Tony? Seriously," Pepper ranted, both flustered and angry as she walked side by side with Tony. He had checked out the electric man's tech and gone to talk to him, and now he and Pepper were headed toward the plane, where Happy and Mazzy were waiting for them. "I mean, going out there in the first place was just..." Pepper let out a huff as they reached the steps that led up to the plane. "Mazzy is horrified by what you did. Horrified," she said.

"Dad!" Mazzy exclaimed as Pepper and Tony stepped onto the plane. "Did you see him in jail? Did you beat him up?" she asked excitedly.

Tony glanced over at Pepper, raising his eyebrows. "Really? She doesn't look horrified," he muttered to her. Pepper rolled her eyes frustratedly, taking a seat on one of the chairs.

"Jeez, Dad. You have a big black eye," Mazzy said as she stared at the bruise under his eye like it was the coolest thing she had ever seen. "Did you beat him up good, Dad?"

"Yeah, Maz. I beat him up good," Tony assured her, sitting down on the seat across from Pepper's. Mazzy sat down right next to him and began poking at his bruise. He didn't hesitate to swat her hand away. "Cut it out, will ya?" he said, dodging her finger. Mazzy giggled and tried to poke him again, but missed.

"Tony," Pepper interrupted. She wasn't in such a great mood, and Mazzy could tell by the tone of her voice, so she sat back in her seat and held her hands together in her lap. Tony leaned back in his seat, too, but he let out a big sigh. He didn't want to deal with this. "What are you not telling me?" Pepper asked him.

Tony looked out the window for a moment, and then he glanced at Mazzy, and then, finally, he looked back at Pepper. He thought about it. He thought about telling her the truth. Telling her and Mazzy what was going on with him and simultaneously scaring them half to death. He didn't want either of them to worry about him. That was the last thing he needed. So, "I don't wanna go home," he settled on saying. "At all."

"Me neither," Mazzy said, nodding her head in agreement. Going home meant her dad's birthday party, and her dad's birthday party meant a whole bunch of people in her house. She did not want that. Unless Rhodey was one of those people. Rhodey was always fun. Mazzy hadn't seen him for a little while because he was always busy doing "army stuff".

"Let's cancel my birthday party and... uh, we're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. Mazzy couldn't remember what he was talking about, but she was all for a vacation.

"Oh, yes," Pepper said, a smile finding its way onto her face.

"It's a great place to... be healthy," Tony told her.

"I don't think this is the right time," Pepper replied. Mazzy frowned and slouched down in her seat. "We're in kind of a mess."

"That's why we should go," Mazzy insisted, raising her eyebrows, just like her dad. Maybe Natalie Rushman could come to, she thought.

"I'm sorry, honey. I think, as the CEO, I need to show up," Pepper said, giving Mazzy a sympathetic look. Pepper always hated it when Tony did things like this in front of Mazzy. It was common knowledge not to make big, fun plans in front of little kids because then they'd get their hopes up and have to be let down if things fell through, which they almost certainly would in this situation.

"As CEO, you are entitled to a leave," Tony argued.

"A leave?

"Yeah. A leave." Mazzy nodded.

"A company retreat," Tony said.

"A retreat? During a time like this?" Pepper asked, shaking her head. She and Tony each had their own, very different ways of running a company. Pepper actually wanted to run the company and do a good job at it, while in juxtaposition, Tony just did whatever he wanted. Clearly.

"Well, I'm just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out."

"Not everybody runs on batteries, Tony," Pepper reminded him.

It was quiet for a few minutes after that. Mazzy settled into her seat, pulling her knees up to her chest and fiddling with her shoelaces. "Daddy," she said after a few minutes. Tony glanced over at her. "I don't want a ba-jillion people to come to your birthday party."

Tony chewed on his lip for a moment before sighing as he said, "We really gotta work on your math."

Pepper gave him a glare and Mazzy furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head away.

•

Mazzy slammed her pencil down onto the paper, leaving a dark, deep dot on the white page. She rubbed her eyes, keeping her eyebrows furrowed, and shifted her position to sit on her knees. Pepper leaned over and gave her arm a squeeze, but Mazzy didn't feel much better from just that. Both Pepper and Natalie were sitting there, talking with important people over the phone and typing on their laptops, while Mazzy was sitting at the coffee table, trying to add fractions.

It felt impossible. She couldn't focus. Tony seemed so sure that she could do it when he gave her the notebook. He insisted that she was just as smart as he had been at her age and that she just needed to practice more. But it felt impossible to Mazzy. She felt stupid. Her head was foggy and she couldn't think. She couldn't even think of the lowest common denominator for 5/6 and 2/4.

"I can't do it," Mazzy insisted, her voice wobbling up and down.

Pepper lowered her phone from her ear for just a moment. "Yes, you can, sweetheart. Just take your time," she said before going back to whoever was on the phone.

But Pepper didn't understand. Mazzy just couldn't. She couldn't do it. Not now, at least. She wanted her mom, but she didn't even know who her mom was. Even if she asked about her, Tony would always tell her it didn't matter. It was frustrating. Everything was frustrating.

She could not do it. So Mazzy threw her pencil down and picked up the paper before storming out of the room. Pepper tried catching her arm as she stomped past, but she just missed her. As Mazzy got to the stairs, Rhodey walked into the room.

"Hey, kid," Rhodey said to her, ruffling her hair. But Mazzy just kept walking because she was too frustrated to talk. She began walking down the stairs to her dad's lab and Rhodey trailed behind her. "What's going on with you?" he asked, but received no reply. Rhodey grabbed her arm, turning her around to face him. "What's wrong?"

Mazzy rubbed her teeth over her lips, trying to hold herself back from crying. She felt unbelievably frustrated and she wanted to tell her dad that she was stupid and she was never going to be as good as him at math or anything at all. She knew he wanted her to be smart, but she just wasn't. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't be as smart as him.

Rhodey looked at the paper in her hand and it told him all he needed to know. This wasn't the first time Mazzy had felt overwhelmed and discouraged by the work that Tony gave her. In Rhodey's opinion, Mazzy should have been put in regular school. Maybe in the gifted program or maybe in some fancy private school- but a school at least. Tony refused. She wasn't going anywhere without him, Happy, or someone else he trusted. He wasn't going to make the same mistake over again. So he insisted on homeschooling Mazzy, which really just meant giving her worksheets and occasionally helping her through them.

"Look, kiddo," Rhodey said, taking the worksheet from her hands. "Your dad's really busy right now, and I have to talk to him. How about you go play and I'll help you with this math garbage later. Alright?"

After taking a deep breath, Mazzy chewed her lip some more as she nodded. While Rhodey went into the lab, Mazzy moped her way back up the stairs. Just as she was about to get to the top, though, she looked back down through the glass. Rhodey was talking to her dad. The look on her dad's face made her stomach hurt. Maybe things were getting much worse than she had thought. She quickly turned her head away and continued up the stairs.

Everything was frustrating. Something was going on with her dad and she didn't know what. Mazzy felt like she didn't know anything. She just couldn't remember certain things. She couldn't remember her mom's face. She couldn't even remember her mom's name. She couldn't remember her dad becoming Iron Man. He was Iron Man for as long as she knew. Doesn't matter, Maz. That was always the answer she received when she asked about things like this. All she wanted was to know.

"Pepper," Mazzy said as she stepped back into the living room. She was going to tell Pepper that something was wrong with her dad, but Pepper didn't give her the chance to.

Pepper looked up from her laptop and lowered the phone from her ear. "Go pick out a dress for the party tomorrow night, Mazzy. And then get your butt to bed," she said.

Mazzy groaned, tossing her head back in complaint. "Why are we still having that dumb party?" she asked. With everything that was going on, it made more sense to cancel. Tony didn't look to be in a party mood, in Mazzy's opinion. But who was she kidding? When was Tony not in a party mood?

"I know it's dumb, but it's what your dad wants. So, tomorrow, put on a dress and be polite. Please? For your dad's birthday," Pepper asked, raising her eyebrows and giving Mazzy a sort of pleading look.

"Fine," Mazzy huffed, turning to make her way up the stairs and to her bedroom.

"Goodnight, Maz."

"Goodnight, Pepper. And Natalie, too," Mazzy said.

"Goodnight, Miss Stark.'"

The best part of the whole house, in Mazzy's opinion, was her very own bedroom. Her bed was just about the comfiest bed in the entire world, and she had the most beautiful butterfly sheets that anyone had ever seen. If it weren't rude and impolite, Mazzy might have hidden in her bedroom throughout the entire length of the party. She couldn't, though, because she had a present tucked away beneath her bed that she had to give to her dad. She just hoped he would cheer up enough to enjoy the party, so that way it wouldn't be a complete and total waste.

After picking out a pink dress- because the dress Natalie had worn in Monaco was pink- Mazzy put on her pajamas and tucked herself into bed. For a little while, she just sat there in bed, fiddling with her stuffed animals, hoping that maybe Tony would pull himself away from the lab and say goodnight to her.

About ten minutes later, she decided he wasn't coming, so she turned over and pulled her blanket over her shoulders. And just as she did that, there was a soft knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in," she called. She hoped it was her dad.

Sitting back up again, Mazzy watched Rhodey step into her bedroom. "Hey, kid," he greeted her.

Mazzy pretended not to be disappointed that it wasn't her dad. She put on a small smile. "Hi, Rhodey," she said.

"Your dad's not feeling good. He told me to come say goodnight for him," Rhodey told her. Mazzy hoped he was telling the truth. At least Tony had a reason not to say goodnight other than just work. Work, work, work. Hopefully, there'd be less of that now that Pepper was running the company.

"Is he really sick?" Mazzy asked, her eyebrows pinched together. She didn't necessarily want him to be sick, but she did want him to have a reason not to be there.

"He's not feeling good, but... he'll be alright," Rhodey assured her.

"Ok," Mazzy said, quietly sighing.

"I'll see you tomorrow for your dad's party, alright?" Rhodey said, ruffling her hair. Mazzy nodded, smiling a little. "Get some sleep."

As Rhodey left the room, Mazzy took off and turned off her hearing aids and placed them on her nightstand before switching off her lamp and closing her eyes.

•

Mazzy watched out her large bedroom window as a line of cars trailed down the road, all of them heading for her home. She could already hear loud music playing downstairs. Clearly, Tony had gotten over whatever funk he was in last night because now he was up and ready to party like crazy. Pepper was going to hate this, Mazzy thought.

But maybe it could be fun. So, with her hopes high, Mazzy made her way downstairs. There were already plenty of people there. A lot of women wearing swimsuits, which, again, Mazzy didn't understand. Why would they wear something like that to a party that wasn't even a pool party? It didn't make sense.

"Excuse me, miss," Mazzy said, tapping one of the women on her arm.

The woman turned to look at her. She had a fancy glass in her hand and a lot of lipgloss on her lips, even after some of it had rubbed off onto the glass. "Awww. Look, girls," the woman cooed, getting the attention of the other women around her. She had her lips pouted outward, like she was talking to a little puppy dog. "You're just adorable. Aren't you, sweetheart?" she said.

"Why are you wearing a swimsuit?" Mazzy asked, raising her eyebrows to emphasize her confusion. The group of women all laughed at that, giggling and giving each other funny looks.

"It's not a swimsuit, honey. It's just clothes you can wear when you get older," the woman with the pouty lips explained.

"But aren't you cold?" Mazzy asked, slightly concerned.

"Only a little," the woman replied.

"Well, I can get a blanket or a sweater, if you want," Mazzy offered. She didn't want the woman to freeze.

Again, all the women started giggling with each other. "No, that's ok, sweetheart. Thanks," the pouty-lipped woman said with a laugh.

"Oh. Ok," Mazzy said, nodding her head. She looked around the room, her eyes searching for Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, or Natalie. She couldn't see any of them, and she could hardly hear any voices over 2Pac's California Love blasting through the speakers. After trying and failing to find her favorite people, Mazzy turned back to the pouty-lipped woman and tapped her arm again. "Do you know where my dad is?" she asked. The pouty-lipped woman nodded and pointed to the front of the room. If Mazzy stood on the very tips of her toes, she could just barely get a glimpse of her dad's Iron Man suit by the DJ booth. "Thank you," she said.

"You be safe, honey," the woman said as Mazzy began to make her way to the DJ booth.

When Mazzy reached the DJ booth, the first thing she saw was her dad, in the Iron Man suit, playing with the DJ's turntables and bobbing his head to the beat. He began dancing after that, and Mazzy couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Mazzy!" Tony exclaimed when he saw her. "Come on up here. Look at your dress!"

"Do you like it?" Mazzy asked, smiling wide as she stepped up to stand next to her dad.

"Yes. Yes. You look like cotton candy, Maz," Tony told her, patting the top of her head. He let out a bubbly sort of laugh-burp that made Mazzy cringe away from him.

"You're drunk!" Mazzy exclaimed, bursting out into laughter.

"What?! I am not," Tony argued, raising his eyebrows.

"Pepper's gonna be sooo mad at you, Daddy," Mazzy said, sort of finding the whole situation hilarious, but also sort of dreading the argument that would happen after.

"You know what Pepper is?"

"What?"

"Pepper is a party pooper," Tony said. Mazzy pressed her lips together, willing herself to glare instead of laugh. Pepper the Party Pooper. But maybe Pepper wouldn't have to be a party pooper if Tony could grow up and have a little responsibility. "Hey, everyone," Tony shouted into the microphone, waving his arm around to grab the attention of everyone in the room. "You know, the question I get asked most often is, 'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?'" He paused and inhaled a deep breath. After waiting a beat, he let out a sigh and said, "Just like that."

Now, that joke, Mazzy found more disturbing than funny, but she didn't get the chance to tell her dad that because before she could, Pepper pulled her away by the arm. With a fake smile on her face, Pepper made her way over to Tony, keeping a firm grip on Mazzy's arm in order to keep her right by her side.

Pepper took the microphone from Tony's hand. "Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?" she said. The crowd of people cheered.

"I love you," Tony slurred into the microphone.

"Wow. Unbelievable! Thank you so much. Tony, we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night. And we're gonna say goodnight now, and thank you all for-"

"The party barely even started," Mazzy whispered to Pepper as the audience groaned. Pepper just squeezed Mazzy's arm to silently tell her to be quiet and let her handle it.

"No, no, no, no, no. We can't- wait, wait, wait. We didn't have the cake. We didn't blow out the candles," Tony said quickly, stumbling over his words.

"You're out of control, ok? Trust me on this one, ok?"

"You're out of control, gorgeous," Tony murmured, moving his face closer and closer to Pepper's.

"You're out of control, Dad," Mazzy told him.

"It's time to go to bed. It's time," Pepper insisted.

"Give me another smooch," Tony slurred, closing his eyes and leaning in close. Pepper moved her head away. "Come on, you know you want to."

"You just peed in the suit," Pepper reminded him.

"You peed in the suit, Dad," Mazzy repeated.

"I know. It has a filtration system," Tony reasoned. "You could drink that water."

"It's not sexy," Pepper said, shaking her head.

"Sexy?" Mazzy asked, scrunching her face up with both disgust and confusion.

"Just send everybody home, ok? It's time to," Pepper pleaded.

"If you say so," Tony murmured. Mazzy let out a sigh of relief. She hoped they wouldn't argue anymore after the guests were gone, but they probably would. Pepper gave the microphone back to Tony, who took it gladly. "Pepper Potts. She's right. The party's over," he announced to everyone. Mazzy was very surprised that he was actually listening to Pepper. He almost never did that. "Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after-party starts in 15 minutes!"

The crowd cheered like it was the best thing they'd ever heard.

"Oh, brother," Mazzy huffed. She looked up at Pepper, and then across the room to Rhodey, who was standing stunned by the entrance. Neither of them looked happy.

"And if anybody- Pepper- doesn't like it, there's the door," Tony said. He held his arm out to the side and accidentally blasted a shot through the glass window, making it shatter into a million little pieces. Pepper pulled Mazzy behind her protectively as the crowd cheered and Tony let out a strange yell.

One of the women in the crowd grabbed a wine bottle and held it up in the air, grabbing Tony's attention. She tossed it up and Tony blasted it to bits, making shards of glass scatter around the room. But Pepper and Mazzy jumped, turning away from the glass.

"Dad, stop it!" Mazzy shouted, peeking out from behind Pepper's back.

But another woman threw another bottle into the air and Tony didn't hesitate to shoot at that one, too. And he just kept repeating the action, with bottles and watermelons alike. Pepper picked Mazzy up and began pushing her way through the crowd, trying to find Rhodey who had suddenly disappeared.

"I'm only gonna say this once," Rhodey's loud voice came from the back of the room. Pepper and Mazzy both looked over to see him wearing one of the older models of the Iron Man suit. It was silver and shiny, and it looked good on Rhodey. "Get out," Rhodey commanded, letting the mask lower over his face.

People began to rush out of the room and Pepper placed Mazzy down on the ground. "Go. Be careful. Happy's outside. Go with him. I need to find Natalie," she said, ushering Mazzy out of the room.

Mazzy nodded and began rushing with the crowd. Things were already chaotic and they were only going to get worse. As she was running, though, she tripped over someone else's foot and stumbled to the ground. Glass shards embedded themselves into her hands and knees and she let out a pained cry. She stood back up and began trying to pick the glass out of her hands, trying not to let the tears fall from her eyes. She couldn't help it, though. It hurt badly.

"Oh, sweetheart, are you ok?!" a familiar voice asked. Mazzy looked up when someone put their hands on her shoulders. It was the pouty-lipped woman from earlier.

"It's in my hands," Mazzy whined, holding her palms out in front of her to show the woman. The woman took Mazzy's hands and looked at them for just a second, but then more glass shattered behind them as Rhodey and Tony began to fight. Mazzy let out a shriek.

"Oh, my God. Come on. Outside," the pouty-lipped woman said, guiding Mazzy through the panicked people until they were all outside in the driveway. As soon as they were out of the house, the woman knelt down in front of Mazzy and began helping her pick the glass out of her hands. With each little piece of glass that the woman picked out, the little cuts that they caused on Mazzy's hands seemed to heal up in a matter of seconds. "What the hell?" the woman breathed out, watching with wide eyes as Mazzy's skin mended itself back together.

They both jumped when Rhodey and Tony came crashing through the floor inside the building. They were fighting each other in front of everyone. While Happy rushed to get Pepper outside, Mazzy glued herself to the pouty-lipped woman's side, watching her dad fight his best friend.

"You want it? Take it!" Tony shouted, slamming Rhodey onto the ground. He landed a punch to Rhodey's masked face, and Rhodey returned it. They went back and forth like that for a few seconds before Tony finally slammed Rhodey down through the counter, breaking it in half. When he was done, he turned back to the crowd and stared back at them.

Mazzy was suddenly grabbed away from the pouty-lipped woman. She panicked at first, only to realize that it was Happy who had grabbed her. A moment later, Tony let out a loud yell and the crowd ran off, including the pouty-lipped woman.

Out of nowhere, Rhodey suddenly stood back up and slammed a piece of the counter against Tony's side, knocking him into the fireplace. Tony tore himself free and turned back to Rhodey, raising a hand up. Rhodey raised his hand, too.

"Put your hand down," Rhodey said.

"You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?" Tony asked, keeping his hand up. Mazzy wished he would just stop. It had gotten way out of hand. He was just making everything worse, especially after what happened in Monaco.

"We don't have to do this, Tony."

"You wanna be the War Machine, take your shot," Tony spat.

"Put it down!"

"You gonna take a shot?"

"Put it down!"

"No!"

"Drop it, Tony!"

"Take it!"

"Stop it!" Mazzy shouted. But just as she did, the two men took their shots, blasting beams of fiery white light right at each other. The beams met in the middle, head-on, and grew into an orb of glowing energy that just kept growing and growing until it exploded. Glass shattered and Mazzy was thrown to the ground, her body shielded by Happy's.

Everything was silent.