Disarm • Stark

Mazzy sat in the backseat of a car, right next to Pepper, while Happy drove and Natalie- Mazzy still wasn't allowed to call her Natasha yet- took the passenger seat. 

Tony had insisted that Mazzy couldn't be home while he was working on his new project because it was just too dangerous. He was attempting to rediscover a new element that would be a suitable replacement for the palladium in his chest. With everything his father had left behind with SHIELD, Tony actually had hope of finding something better. Mazzy wished he would hurry up and figure it out so she could go home again. 

Everything was suddenly different since Mazzy saw herself on the TV. During the car ride, Pepper, Happy, and Natalie had all been reminding her of how to behave at the expo. She was supposed to turn her hearing aids off until they got their seats so that she couldn't hear any of the things people were going to shout at her. She was supposed to stay right by Pepper's side. She was supposed to stay silent unless she was talking to Pepper, Happy, or Natalie. She was supposed to try to keep her head down so less people would take pictures of her. 

"Maz, are you listening?" Pepper asked, nudging Mazzy's shoulder. 

Really, though, Mazzy wasn't listening. She just wanted everything to go back to normal and she didn't understand why they couldn't. She felt extremely confused about a lot of different things and it didn't feel fair. Why did they get to tell her exactly how to act? Why couldn't she be like any other kid? What was so different about her?

"How come I can't remember being three or four or five?" Mazzy asked Pepper, her eyebrows furrowed. Everyone always told her it was normal not to remember being those ages, but her dad would sometimes tell stories about being that young, whenever he was talking about his mom. He didn't talk about his dad too much, though. 

Pepper sighed, making eye contact with Happy in the rearview mirror. "Because you were too little to remember," she said quickly. She didn't like lying to Mazzy, but she didn't have much of a choice at that point. "Now, Mazzy, I really need you to listen to me. You have to follow these rules now if you want to be safe."

"How come they put me on the news?" Mazzy asked next. The news people were saying she wasn't normal, which was really weird because, well, Mazzy felt pretty normal. How she was was all she could ever remember being. 

"Mazzy, that isn't important right now. You can ask your dad another time, but right now I need you to listen to me," Pepper said sternly. 

Mazzy let out a huff, crossing her arms and slouching down in her seat. "It's not fair! I should be allowed to know stuff about myself!" she whined. She just felt so incredibly frustrated by all of it. She felt like they were all keeping one big secret from her and she was just too stupid to figure it out. 

The car pulled up outside the expo and Mazzy felt like crying. 

"We can talk about this later. I promise," Pepper said. She wasn't sure if she could keep that promise, though. Tony was the only one allowed to choose whether or not Mazzy got to know about what happened to her. If he said no, then Mazzy would remain in the dark about the whole thing. 

"I don't wanna go to this stupid expo," Mazzy spat. She just wanted to go home. 

"It'll be over before you know it," Pepper told her. It wasn't true, but it was what she had to say in order to get her out of the car. 

Albeit reluctantly, Mazzy got out of the car. 

"I'll keep the car down here, alright?" Happy said to Pepper. 

"Thank you, Happy," Pepper said. She looked down at Mazzy and tapped her ear, reminding her to turn off her hearing aids. 

Mazzy reached up to her ears to turn them off, but as soon as Pepper looked away, she let her hands drop back down to her sides. She wasn't going to turn them off. She wanted to be able to hear what people were saying. If Pepper wouldn't tell her, then she had to figure it out herself. So she kept them on, only pretending that they were off. 

Pepper grabbed her hand and they began walking. 

As they were walking, Mazzy saw some people giving her strange looks, stopping with their spouses to whisper about her. She couldn't really hear much of the whispering, but she caught some things. 

"Did you hear what they're saying about her?"

"I heard she never really got sick. Tony Stark was just experimenting on her."

"The lady said she was lying about it, though."

"Stark probably just paid her off."

"Do you think he'll ever tell her?" This voice was Natalie's. She was talking to Pepper, thinking that Mazzy couldn't hear any of it. 

"You know?" Pepper asked, her eyebrows furrowed with confusion as she glanced over to Natalie. 

"I was with him when it came on the news. He gave me the rundown," Natalie lied easily and flawlessly. 

"Well, if he doesn't tell her, she'll eventually figure it out herself. She's smarter than she thinks she is," Pepper replied, giving Mazzy's hand a squeeze. 

Mazzy wanted to ask them what her dad wasn't telling her, but that would give her away. She also found it quite annoying that they were talking about her right there next to her, just assuming she couldn't hear them. Even if she had turned her hearing aids off like she was supposed to, she still thought they shouldn't be talking about her like that. It was just rude. 

They continued walking until they got to their seats. Mazzy took the seat between Pepper and Natalie, and she pretended to reach up and turn her hearing aids back on. It was a good thing Pepper believed her so easily. 

Still, though, Mazzy was annoyed with her. She just wanted to know the truth. It wasn't fair that everyone was hiding things about herself from her. It was herself. She deserved to know about her own past, didn't she? So how come everyone was hiding it from her? How bad was it?

Loud music started playing from the speakers, the audience applauded just as loudly, and Justin Hammer danced his way to center stage. Mazzy didn't know much about Justin Hammer, aside from the fact that her dad hated him. He seemed annoying already, in her opinion. She didn't like his face. Or his dance moves.

"That's what I'm talking about," Justin said as he reached his place and finally stopped dancing. Mazzy slouched down in her seat. She could hardly see, and she didn't really care to see him, either way. "Thanks for coming. Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way, but then the Iron Man arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us. Sadly, that technology was kept out of reach. That's not fair. That's not right. And it's just too bad."

"Oh, Lord," Pepper groaned quietly. 

Mazzy rolled her eyes at that, even if she was annoyed with her dad at that moment. Even she was smart enough to understand that the only reason her dad kept his suit designs and other technology to himself was because it was too dangerous in the hands of the US government. If they got a hold of it, they wouldn't use it for good. They'd use it for power, just like they did with other technology. 

It was good to defend your country and allied countries with your weapons, but it isn't good to use your weapons to defeat, overpower, or kill innocent people from other countries. If the US government got its hands on such powerful weapons, there was no telling what kinds of things they would use those weapons for. Even if Mazzy didn't understand the complex intricacies of it all, she was smart enough to understand the gist of it. 

And the gist of it was that weapons in the wrong hands are bad. Really, really bad. 

Nevertheless, Justin Hammer went on. 

"Regardless, it was an impressive innovation, one that grabbed headlines the world over. Well, today, my friends, the press is faced with quite a different problem. They are about to run out of ink."

Confused as to what ink had to do with anything, the audience let out awkward, scattered pity claps for Justin. 

Two backstage workers ran onto the stage and took away the podium so that Justin would have more room to move. He cleared his throat and adjusted the sleeves of his shirt. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, today I present to you," Justin put his hands on his hips, standing tall in the spotlight, "the new face of the United States military." He held his arms out to his sides. "The Hammer Drone!"

More music started to play and large robot-looking drones raised up through the floor. They looked like bad, remote-controllable versions of Tony's suit, and they were about a hundred times less cool-looking. The audience cheered like it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen. Mazzy looked over at Pepper only to see her with her mouth slightly open and a look of disbelief plastered on her face. Had Justin really just taken Tony's suit and made it remote-controlled? Was that it?

"Navy!" Justin announced, pointing to another empty space on the stage. 

Eight more drones rose from the floor. These ones were even stranger-looking, having been designed for the sea. 

"Air Force!"

Again, eight new drones rose up onto the stage.

"Marines!"

And eight more. 

"Yeah! Yeah! Whoo!" Justin exclaimed as the audience applauded him and his drones. 

The problem with drones fighting the wars was that, with only one little malfunction, tons of innocent human lives could be killed in the blink of an eye. And, since drones don't have hearts if they were asked to do something incredibly inhumane and heartless, they would do it without hesitation because they were made to do exactly as they're asked. Again, if the wrong person got control of that technology, everything could be over. 

"That's a hell of a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you," Justin joked, referring back to Tony's performance at his expo. Mazzy didn't really like the swimsuit-wearing women either, but now she did. Only because Justin didn't. "But as revolutionary as this technology is, there will always be a need for man to be present in the theater of war."

Mazzy never understood the appeal of all this. Why did so many people want to come to this expo to see the machines that would kill people in war? Why did they even have to lose people in war in the first place? There was no true goodness, because if there was true goodness, all war would be over. But that would never happen because there would always be someone who was just too power-hungry. 

"Ladies and gentlemen," Justin Hammer said for the third time in this speech. Boy, could he come up with any original ideas? "Today I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes!"

Pepper's jaw dropped and Mazzy's eyes practically popped right out of her head as Rhodey- their Rhodey- rose out of the floor in a much larger and bulkier version of the Iron Man suit. 

The suit was silver and gray, and its eyes glowed red. 

Would Rhodey really betray them like that?

Cheering from the audience got even louder as Rhodey saluted, and all the drones behind him saluted with him. 

"For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for..."

Justin was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise approaching from outside the stadium. Everyone turned in their seats, watching as a glowing ball in the distance turned into none other than Iron Man himself, landing on the stage, right across from Rhodey. 

Now, at this, the audience practically exploded, jumping up out of their seats as they clapped and cheered wildly. 

Tony didn't even spare them a glance. He just stepped closer to Rhodey. It looked like they might have been talking to each other, but no one from the audience could hear them. After a moment, he walked up next to Rhodey and waved at the crowd. Mazzy would have waved at him back, but she was too busy being mad at him for that. 

"Hey, alright! Yeah!" Justin started yelling awkwardly. It was obvious that he wasn't planning on Iron Man making an appearance. "Huh?! Yeah!"

Then, out of nowhere, the large gun on the back of Rhodey's suit activated, pointing directly at Tony. After that, all of the bots behind him raised their weapons at the audience. 

Instantaneously, the audience erupted with newfound panic. They all jumped up out of their seats, trampling over each other to try and get out to safety. Natalie quickly lifted Mazzy up into her arms, holding the girl on her waist. 

"We need to get out of here! Now!" Natalie said to Pepper as Tony blasted up through the roof of the stadium. 

The drones fixed their aim up at him. When they shot, their bullets only hit the roof and the glass shattered, raining down on all of the guests. Only seconds later, Rhodey followed after Tony, and after Rhodey, all the Air Force drones followed, too. Mazzy couldn't believe any of it. Was Rhodey really about to fight her dad? They were best friends!

With the Rhodey and the Air Force drones gone, the other branches' drones began marching off-stage, into the crowd. 

"This way! We need to get to Hammer," Pepper said quickly. With Mazzy on her hip, Natalie followed Pepper as she rushed to get backstage, where she knew all of the technological problems must have been resorting from. 

As they entered the backstage area, they could see a bunch of different crew members rushing to do things on their computers and cell phones. "He's locked us out of the mainframe," one of the men said. 

"Who's locked you out of the mainframe?!" Pepper asked, both extremely concerned and extremely annoyed. 

"Please, please. Go away. Go away. I've got this handled!" Justin huffed, holding his hands out in front of him. 

"No, you don't!" Mazzy growled in frustration. They couldn't go anywhere without somebody- like Justin Hammer- messing everything up! 

"Yes, I do!" Justin insisted. Both Pepper and Natalie glared right at him, ready to shut him down if he tried raising his voice in Mazzy's direction one more time. But he only looked at Pepper. "In fact, if your guy hadn't shown up, this wouldn't be happening. So please, now go away! Thank you!"

As Justin turned around to start talking to his tech guys again, Natalie put Mazzy down. She walked up behind Hammer, grabbed him by the arm, and slammed his head down against the table, pinning him there. Pepper shrieked, her eyes wide with shock, while Mazzy only smiled. 

"You tell me who's behind this. Who's behind this?!" Natalie- no, this was Natasha, now- asked, pulling Justin's arm back even further behind his back. 

"I- Ivan," Justin grunted. "Ivan Vanko."

"Where is he?"

"He's at my facility," Justin answered. 

With that, Natasha walked off without any other explanation. 

One hand gripping Mazzy's arm, the other gripping onto her cell phone, Pepper dialed up 911. "I need NYPD, please," she said as soon as the operator picked up.

"No, no, no!" 

"Command Central," Pepper told the operator.

"No, no, honey," Justin said, trying to get her to stop. 

Mazzy sent a harsh kick into his shin. "Don't call her honey!" she spat.

Justin groaned in pain, leaning over to rub the spot Mazzy had kicked. "Don't- don't call the authorities," he practically pleaded.

"Ok. Right away. Right away," Pepper said to the operator. She held a hand out in front of Justin, shaking her head irritatedly. "Step aside. Step aside," she ordered. Although reluctantly, Justin gave in and moved out of her way. She leaned down next to one of the crew members. "Tell me everything you know. Go."

The noise outside was still painfully loud and it filled Mazzy with fear, but she tried to ignore it and remain tough, like Pepper and Natasha. She turned to look at Justin Hammer, crossing her arms and glaring at him. 

He was still bent over, rubbing the spot on his shin that Mazzy had kicked. "Jesus," he muttered, glancing at Mazzy. "You are a strong little girl."

More and more drones began leaving the stage and joining in on the attack on Tony Stark. It was no wonder Ivan Vanko- the man who had attacked Tony at that race- was behind it. He really wanted Tony dead. 

"Each set of drones is communicating in its own unique language," the tech man sitting at the computer told Pepper. 

"Well, choose one and focus on that," Pepper told him, her tone tense and panicked. 

"Have you tried Russian? Why don't you try Russian?" Justin suggested.

Feeling more confident in herself than usual, Mazzy sent another get to his shin. "Shut up. This is your fault! You just want money," she said, her eyebrows furrowed. 

"God," Justin grunted, his teeth clenched together as he covered his shin with his hand. "You are your father's daughter."

Then- speak of the devil and he shall appear- Mazzy heard her father's voice. She turned around to see that Pepper had pulled up a connection with Natasha and Tony on one of the computers. 

"Yes, for the moment, I'm not dying. Thank you," Tony's voice said, a bit muffled by the speakers.

"What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you're dying?" Pepper asked quickly, her eyebrows pinched together with concern.

"Oh, brother," Mazzy murmured. She climbed up onto one of the seats and peered at the computer screen. She could see Natasha, but she couldn't see her dad. "Hi, Daddy," Mazzy said to the computer.

"Maz, Pepper? Is that you? Uh, no I'm not dying. Not anymore," Tony said. 

"What's going on?" Pepper asked, her voice higher than usual.

"He was sick, but a guy with an eyepatch helped him figure out how to get better," Mazzy explained. Pepper's eyes widened even more. Mazzy knew? And was actually able to keep the secret?

"I was going to tell you. I didn't want to alarm you."

"You were gonna tell me? You really were dying?!"

"You didn't let me."

"Why didn't you tell me that?!"

"I was gonna make you an omelet and tell you!"

"Hey, hey! Save it for the honeymoon. You got incoming, Tony. Looks like the fight's coming to you," Natasha interjected. 

And, suddenly, Mazzy remembered that she was supposed to be mad at all of them. "Hey, Dad," she said to the computer.

"Hey, Maz," Tony replied. 

"You're lying to me about something," Mazzy accused in an agitated tone. 

"Mazzy, I told you we'd talk about it later," Pepper tried to interrupt. 

But Mazzy only went on. "You're lying! All of you are and you have to tell me, Dad. I can't remember some things and I should be able to remember!"

"Ok, look-"

"You have to tell me, Dad!"

"Listen, Maz, we can-"

"I deserve to know!"

"-talk about it when I'm not fighting off a Hammeroid attack!"

Mazzy furrowed her eyebrows with confusion, her mouth snapping shut. It was silent for a few moments. Then, "Hammeroid?"

"Tony, that wasn't funny," Pepper said, pulling Mazzy away from the computer.

"Ok, I have to go! Goodbye!"