Disarm • Stark

While Tony was tasked with looking through his father's old belongings, Mazzy was tasked with spending the day with none other than Pepper Potts. Unfortunately for Pepper, while also watching Mazzy, she had to work, like it was any other day. But everything was already busy and problematic with all the stunts Tony had pulled in the past few days. 

That was why Mazzy was huddled up in the corner with a clipboard, a piece of paper, and a pack of crayons. First, she folded the paper in half- hamburger style, as Pepper called it when she helped Mazzy make a Father's Day card for Tony a few months back. But this time, Mazzy had to make the card herself because Pepper couldn't help make her own thank-you card.

Once the paper was folded, Mazzy got to work. In her best handwriting, which was still quite messy, she wrote out the words, THANK YOU PEPPER, and drew some balloons around the sides of it. She also drew a cake on the bottom of the cover, even though it wasn't a birthday card. Mazzy just wasn't sure what else she was supposed to draw on a thank-you card. 

As soon as the cover was finished, Mazzy opened up the card and drew a picture of her and Pepper in a park together. She finished it off with a little note. 

Deer Pepper, 

Thank you, Pepper. I am glad you have to babysit me becuase you are funny and nice but I am sorry my dad made everything busy. He is dum. I don't have a thank you prezent for you so I drew a picture of us insted. You are very nice and sometimes I love you so much I wish you were my mom. Thank you Pepper!!!

Love, 

MAZZY STARK

It was annoying that Pepper was on the phone during all of this card-making because that meant that Mazzy couldn't ask how to spell the words she was unsure about. She was a pretty good writer and speller for being only six years old, being the daughter of Tony Stark the genius, but she still made her fair share of spelling mistakes. 

Just as Mazzy got up to go over to the desk and wait patiently for Pepper to finish her phone call, the door to the office swung open. That was very weird, considering no one was supposed to interrupt Miss Potts' important phone calls (which was a rule Mazzy was informed of by the secretary as soon as she stepped foot into the office building).

When the door opened, in stepped the secretary Mazzy had walked past on her way up there. The woman looked nervous as she peeked her head in. "Miss Potts?" she interrupted quietly. 

"Relax," another voice said from behind the woman. Mazzy knew that voice to be her father's. He was supposed to be at home going through things, from what Mazzy had been told. 

"Mr. Stark is here," the secretary lady announced. "He refuses-"

"I don't. It's fine," Tony said, shooing the secretary lady off. "I'll just be a second."

Hesitantly, the secretary lady closed the door, leaving Tony in the office. 

Mazzy ran up to her father and tugged on the bottom of his pail blazer. He turned around to look at her with his eyebrows raised. Mazzy cupped her hands around her mouth as she whispered, "You aren't supposed to interrupt Miss Potts' important phone calls."

Tony's eyebrows pinched together. "'Miss Potts'?" he echoed with confusion. Since when did Mazzy refer to Pepper as Miss Potts? "What have they been teaching you here?" he murmured. 

"Shhh!" Mazzy shushed him, her pointer pressed against her lips.

Although rolling his eyes, Tony complied and stayed quiet. 

His silence only emphasized the voice of the man rambling about Stark Industries on the television, though. "When Mr. Stark announced he was indeed Iron Man, he was making a promise to America. We trusted that he would look out for us. But he obviously did not. And now we learn that his secretary, a woman named Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, has been appointed as CEO of Stark Industries. What are her qualifications?!" 

As soon as Mazzy heard that, she rolled her eyes just like Tony would, and she quickly added an extra note at the bottom of Pepper's thank-you card. 

P.S. The news guy is DUM!

"Miss Potts is doing nothing to manage this terrible situ-" 

Before the newsman could go on, Tony muted the TV. 

With a container of strawberries in his hand, Tony began looking through the boxes that were stacked in the corners of the office- all of his stuff that Pepper didn't want. "I'll get this stuff outta here," he said. Mazzy shushed him once more and Pepper just ignored him. Tony just kept looking through everything. 

Eyeing the container of strawberries in her dad's hands, Mazzy tried to snag one, but Tony swatted her hand away before she could get one. 

As Pepper finally began to wrap up her phone call, Tony pulled up a chair to the other side of her desk. Eager to give Pepper her thank-you card, Mazzy grabbed the paper and climbed up onto her dad's lap, simultaneously trying to keep the card out of Pepper's eyesight. 

Finally, Pepper hung up the phone and placed it back in its spot on the desk. 

"Got a minute?" Tony asked, placing the strawberries down on the desk. 

"No," Pepper deadpanned. 

"Come on, you just got off the phone. You're fine. Thirty seconds," Tony said.

"Thirty seconds," Mazzy echoed, nodding her head in agreement. 

Pepper sighed, looking down at the watch strapped around her wrist. "Twenty-nine, twenty-eight..." she began counting. 

"Ok, I, um... I was just driving over here, and I thought I was coming to basically apologize, but I'm not," Tony started to ramble. Mazzy huffed, giving him a glare. He was already doing a bad job at this. 

"Oh, you didn't come here to apologize?" Pepper asked, giving him an incredulous look. 

"Look, that goes without saying-"

"No, it doesn't," Mazzy said, shaking her head and pressing her lips together. 

"Yes, it does. And I'm working on that. But I haven't been entirely upfront with you," Tony said. 

"Oh, I know. Mazzy told me all about it," Pepper said, annoyance laced in her voice. 

His mouth slightly open, Tony gave his daughter a stern look. "That was top-secret shit, Maz," he said, his eyebrows raised. He wasn't sure all of what Mazzy had told Pepper, but he hoped it wasn't any of the super-top-secret things. Luckily for Natasha, Mazzy had kept Not-Really-Natalie's secret. Unluckily for Tony, Mazzy had mentioned her dad 'being sick'. 

Mazzy held her hands out at her sides. "Nobody told me it was top-secret shit," she argued. 

Repressing a laugh, Tony shook his head. "That is a bad word. You don't say that word," he told her. 

"You said it."

"Ok, hold on. Can I move this?" Tony suddenly changed the subject completely, shifting everyone's attention to the spinning decoration on top of Pepper's desk. "This- this is crazy. It's like a Ferris wheel going. I'm trying to get some..."

"No," Pepper answered, her eyes narrowed at him. 

After letting out a big, dramatic huff, Tony rolled Mazzy and himself over to the other side of the desk, as far from the spinning decoration as he could get. "Do you know how short life is? And if I never got to express... And by the way, this is somewhat revelatory to me. And I don't care... I mean, I care. It would be nice. I'm not expecting you to... to..."

"Dad," Mazzy said, looking at him with her eyebrows pressed together. He had already passed his thirty seconds a little while ago, and now he was just rambling. 

"Ok. Look, here's what I'm trying to say. I'm just gonna say it," Tony decided. 

And just as he was about to say it, "Lemme just stop you right here, ok? Because if you say 'I' one more time, I'm gonna actually hurl something at your head, I think," Pepper interjected. Tony tried to share an amused look with Mazzy, but Mazzy only mimicked Pepper's look; she narrowed her eyes at him. Pepper leaned in closer. "I am trying to run a company. Do you have any idea what that entails?" she asked. 

"Yes."

"People are relying on you to be Iron Man and you've disappeared, and all I'm doing is putting out your fires and taking the heat for it, all while babysitting your daughter for free" Pepper ranted. Mazzy decided not to be offended by that last part because Pepper was already stressed out by everything else going on. "I am trying to do the jobs that you were meant to do," Pepper said. 

Tony sighed, leaning his head on his hand with his elbow resting on the desk. 

"Did you bring me strawberries?" Pepper then asked, filling the deafening silence. Hesitantly, Tony nodded. Mazzy watched the two of them carefully, unsure of where this was going. "Did you know that there's only one thing on Earth that I'm allergic to?"

"Allergic to. Strawberries. Mhm," Tony murmured, eyeing the box on the desk. 

"Does that mean I can have one now?" Mazzy asked her dad. He blew air out of the side of his mouth and nodded. Mazzy gladly took a strawberry from the container. 

"This is progress, Pepper. I knew there was a correlation between you and this," Tony said, gesturing between Pepper and the strawberries. 

As she began eating some strawberries, Mazzy looked back over to the TV, curious to see if they had moved on from the Tony Stark and Pepper Potts story. Unfortunately, they hadn't yet. 

"I need you..." Pepper began. 

"I need you, too. That's what I'm trying to say."

"... to leave. Now."

The door to the office opened once again, and this time, Natasha and Happy walked in. Natasha was dressed like Natalie once again, so Mazzy knew not to call her Natasha. She felt a little bit excited to be included in such a big, important secret, but she was a little scared that she would accidentally let it slip. 

"Miss Potts?"

"Hi, come on in," Pepper said. 

"Wheels up in twenty-five minutes," Natalie announced, eyeing both Mazzy and Tony as she walked into the room. 

"Thank you," Pepper said, closing up a file on her desk.

Mazzy decided that now was an appropriate time to give Pepper her thank-you card. She placed the card on the desk. "I made you a thank-you card, Pepper," she said, smiling wide. 

Pepper returned the smile, taking the card from Mazzy and opening it up. And despite the stress of the day, the card did lift her spirits a little. It was good to know that, 1. she was appreciated, and 2. Mazzy was still polite and sweet despite the bad influence of her father. 

"Thank you, Maz. That's very sweet," Pepper said, putting her hand on Mazzy's. Mazzy smiled wide again, proud of herself for making Pepper feel better. Pepper came around to the other side of the desk and kissed the top of Mazzy's head before leaving the office to go catch her flight. Happy followed along behind her. 

When Mazzy turned to wave to Pepper and Happy one last time, her eyes latched onto the TV.

"I'm surprised you can keep your mouth shut," Natasha said as soon as the doors to the office shut. 

"Boy, you're good. You are mind-blowingly duplicitous. How do you do it? You just tear things- You're a triple imposter! I've never seen anything like you. Is there anything real about you? Do you even speak Latin?" Tony rattled off very quickly. 

Natasha replied in Latin, but Tony didn't have a clue what she said. 

"Which means...? Wait. What? What did you just say?" Tony asked. 

"It means you can either drive yourself home or I can have you collected," Natasha answered. Mazzy's eyes were still latched onto the television, and usually, when Natasha was in the room, Mazzy was enamored and impressed by her, but right now, that was not the case. Mazzy didn't even say goodbye when Natasha started toward the door. It didn't go unnoticed. Just as she got to the door, Natasha turned to look at Mazzy. "Are you alright, Mazzy?" she asked, slightly concerned. 

For a moment, Mazzy didn't give an answer. Tony tugged affectionately on a strand of her hair. "Maz, what's up with you, huh?" he asked. 

Mazzy pointed at the TV screen. "I'm trying to read her lips, but I can't," she said. 

Both Natasha and Tony turned to look at the TV. It looked like any other woman speaking to them, so why was Mazzy trying to read her lips? 

"Why?" Natasha asked. 

"I know her. She was at the party. She helped me," Mazzy explained to the two of them. 

All three of them, Tony, Mazzy, and Natasha, watched the TV screen for a moment. Nothing seemed odd about it until a picture of Mazzy herself popped up on the screen. Tony's eyebrows furrowed. Mazzy was usually left out of the news. The only time she was talked about a lot was when she had gotten 'sick'. Maybe the woman was just talking about her experience at the party. 

"Unmute," Tony said aloud. 

The audio on the TV turned on. The pouty-lipped woman from the party was speaking with the news anchor. She was dressed quite a lot more professionally than she was at the party, but it was her. Mazzy knew it was her. 

"-to the party, I didn't even expect her to be there. She was looking for Tony Stark so I told her where he was. But when everything went bad, she fell and got cut by a bunch of shards of glass," the pouty-lipped woman was explaining. 

"And where was Tony Stark at this time?" the news anchor asked. 

"Fighting Colonel Rhodes in Iron Man suits. But that isn't the point, sir," the pouty-lipped woman said. Her voice was high. She might have been nervous about the whole thing, whether it be her first time on the news or the fact that she was talking about what she saw at that party. 

"What is the point, then, Miss Zahn?" the anchorman asked. 

"The point is what I saw her do. I helped her pull the glass out of her hands and knees, and as soon as we got the glass out, her skin... it just- it healed so quickly. I watched it with my own eyes. I swear to you, her body just healed itself in seconds. Like it was nothing," the woman- Miss Zahn, apparently- rambled anxiously. 

Tony's heart dropped down to his feet.

"And you're sure that this is what you saw?" the news anchor asked. 

Miss Zahn nodded adamantly, obviously a bit shaken. "I know, it's hard to believe. But I know what I saw, and I know I might get in trouble for speaking- for speaking out about this, but I'm worried for that little girl," she explained to the public.

"Worried how? Why?"

"Well, obviously it isn't normal for skin to fix itself in seconds like hers did, and with her father being Tony Stark and all, I'm just worried that- like, what if he's done or is doing experiments on his own daughter? With Mr. Stark's reckless behavior lately, I don't even know what to think. What if he's treating that poor girl like a lab rat?"

"Dad, why're they acting like that?" Mazzy asked, looking at her father with her eyebrows pinched together. She didn't understand any of it. She knew not everyone could do that, but she didn't think it was so uncommon that it would catch the attention of the press. It couldn't have been that strange, could it? Her dad would tell her if it was. Right?

"So, what you're telling me is that you believe Tony Stark may be trying to make a superhuman out of his six-year-old daughter," the newsman asked for confirmation. 

"I'm saying that what I saw was not normal. Something is wrong. They must be keeping a secret," Miss Zahn insisted. 

"Thank you for coming on here and being willing to speak out about this, Miss Zahn."

"Of course. I didn't have any other choice. That little girl deserves to have a normal life, despite who her father is," Miss Zahn replied. 

"I appreciate your bravery. It's not easy speaking out against someone as famous as Tony Stark," the news anchor said, a sincere look on his face. 

"Thank you for having me, sir," Miss Zahn said, a small smile on her lips. 

Finally, the newsman nodded and Miss Zahn was off of the television. The news anchor looked right into the camera. "Well, there you have it folks. Tony Stark's six-year-old daughter, Mazzy Stark, has inhuman abilities. Did he give those abilities to her? Was it mother? Is her mother even in the picture at all? We'll do our best to answer those questions after this commercial brea-"

"Mute," Tony said, his voice weak. 

"Daddy, what are they saying? Why are they acting like there's something wrong with me?" Mazzy asked her eyebrows pinched together. She didn't understand any of it. She didn't think anything about her, aside from her last name, was newsworthy. But there she was, right on the news. 

"There's nothing wrong with you, Maz," Tony said firmly, rubbing his hand over his mouth. 

"She said I'm not normal," Mazzy reminded him, her voice wobbling with her words.

"Nobody's normal. There's no such thing as normal," Tony muttered, unsure of what else to tell his daughter. 

How do you explain to a six-year-old that she was taken away as a child, that her mother had created her with Tony Stark with intentions only to use her as a soldier, and that she was experimented on in a different country? How do you explain to a six-year-old that she has killed people before? 

Sweet, little Mazzy with blood on her hands. 

"Why don't you go ask the secretary for one of those candies she has on her desk? I need to grab a few things," Tony said. Really, he just needed to talk to Natasha alone.

Hesitantly, Mazzy slid off of his lap and left the room.

The door clicked shut and Tony stood up to face Natasha. 

"Fury said you knew. Do you know?" he asked, his expression stoic. 

"I do. I might know even more than you do," Natasha answered solemnly. 

"So what's Fury's plan on this, then? Huh? He said she'll stay out of it," Tony said, obviously frustrated. He was taking his anger out on the wrong person, though. Who he really needed to take his anger out on was already dead. He had killed her himself. 

"I mean, we can do our best to get it out of the media, but we can't erase it now, Tony," Natasha explained to him. She wanted it out of the media just as much as Tony did. Mazzy didn't deserve any of what happened to her, and she didn't need to hear about it on the TV 24/7.

"So we can- what if- what if we pay the girl to shut up about it? Or make her admit to lying or something," Tony rambled, pressing his fingers into his eyes. 

"You haven't told her?" Natasha asked.

"What? Told Mazzy?"

"You haven't told her what happened to her," Natasha said. 

"No. I haven't told her. And I'm not gonna tell her, either," Tony confirmed.