Clover. She was all Tony could think about as he watched Clint pick up his own daughter, one that until that moment at the farm house none of the team had known had existed. He didn't get any sleep that night but it wasn't just Ultron that had kept him up, it had been Clover too. Every time he'd tried to close his eyes he'd see her small face staring up at him, just two days old and already you could tell she'd be his spitting image. His eyes and his hair at the very least, but that'd been seventeen years ago. Tony hadn't been ready to be a father then, he was a real wreck, and he'd abandoned her with her mother. He had done his best to put her out of his mind, convinced that no father was better than the kind of father he'd had, the kind of man he feared so very much he'd become if he ever had children.

He had never even checked up on her. Looking back on it now he was ashamed, but it was all just too painful. He made a vow to himself that night that when they finally did manage to stop Ultron, he'd check up on Clover.

Two weeks had past since Ultron's defeat and still Tony had nothing. Clover's mother, Emma, had died when she was four. After that, since she'd had no living relatives and since he'd hadn't been listed on the birth certificate, Clover had no where to go. She'd been placed in the foster system and she'd gone through many homes. Her file had described her as a 'runner' but a ghost was more like it. She would disappear from homes, group and foster alike, without a trace. Sometimes she'd be gone a night or two but sometimes she'd be gone weeks. This seemed to have started at her second foster home when she'd been six and continued until she was thirteen, when she disappeared completely. There was barely anything in her missing persons file and Tony got the sinking feeling that no one had really looked for this lost girl. He may not have checked in on her but that didn't mean he'd never cared. He'd left her with Emma, an honest to god good person, and he'd thought she'd been well taken care of. Now he was just trying not to feel sick at the thought of what could have happened to a thirteen year old on their own.

He was searching every data base, pulling at every thread, just trying to get some sort of lead, was she okay? Was she hurt? Did she need help? Was she even still alive? He'd even considered asking for SHIELD for help, he was getting desperate. He hadn't slept or eaten in at least three days, hadn't even left the lab. He knew someone had blabbed to Pepper because she was ending her LA trip early to come back to New York.

He heard the lab door open but paid no attention as he continued to stare at the screen hoping something useful would come up. He turned around only when Natasha slapped a thin file down in front of him, one that had his daughters name written across the front.

"Shes who you've been looking for right?" Her tone told him she already knew the answer.

"What is this?" Was there something he'd missed somehow? Had Tasha really found Clover?

"Open it."

Tony flipped open the file and spread out the few pieces of paper that were inside of it. She was alive. The papers basically said Clover had been taken in by what the state described as a boarding school of sorts here in upstate New York, far from her last foster home in Vegas.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters? Where's the information on them?,' he rifled through the papers finding only a phone number and a short bio of the school.

"That's all SHIELD had on file that didn't require director level clearance."

"SHIELD? Why would SHIELD have a file on Clover? And why would you need such high clearance level to access it?" Tony couldn't figure out what they could want with his daughter, it didn't make any sense.

"You tell me Tony, you're the one looking into her. What did she do to land on your radar?"

"Nothing that would warrant SHIELD's attention." He was dodging the question, he knew it was obvious but he wasn't ready to tell everyone yet. He at least had to talk to Pepper first. "What else did you find?"

"That's everything that wouldn't require Fury to access. Tony what's with the sudden interest in this girl?" He only shrugged in response, his mind already far away from the conversation with Natasha, focusing on any possibility that would explain why SHIELD would be interested in his daughter. Natasha sighed at his obvious retreat back into his head, and turned to walk away thinking maybe it was time to let the rest of the team in on this.

As soon as she left Tony checked the time. Ten at night. He definitely wanted to know more about this boarding school, what better way than to make contact? He picked up the phone and dialed the number he'd found in the file. After a few rings a boy answered the phone.

"Xavier's School, Remy speakin',' the kid was laughing between each word and his Cajun accent was thick,' and how, ma'am, may I direct your call this evenin'?"

"Well Remy, first off sir will be fine,' his voice heavy with sarcasm,' second, I'm calling about Clover Mansfeld." Tony could hear him put his hand over the phone and then a muffled "it's not Rouge" then "some man lookin for Clove." There was a small shuffling and Tony could here another person respond saying "give me that, you know students aren't supposed to be answering this phone anyway."

"Hello?" It was a girls voice this time.

"Yes, I'm calling looking for any information you might have on a Clover Mansfeld?" He tried to tamper down the annoyance in his voice, glad to finally be talking to someone that appeared to have some sort of authority.

"May I ask who this is and why your calling?" Tony was silent for a few moments, debating what to say.

"I'm family, on her fathers side, she was listed as a student here. I was just looking for some information, just checking up on her." It was close enough to the truth. This time it was the voice on the other end of the phone that took a few moments of silence, presumably to collect their thoughts.

"Who is this?" The voice sounded very firm now, somewhere between guarded and angry.

"I told you I-"

"Clover has never had any contact with her father what so ever, she has no family and I don't know where your getting your information from but Clover Mansfeld is no longer a student at this institution."

"What do you mean she's no longer a student? Where is she now?" Tony's voice sounded upset and panicked at the same time. This was the first solid lead he'd gotten, it couldn't be a dead end.

"I'm sorry sir that's all the information I can give you." The voice didn't sound sorry, Tony thought. If anything it sounded aggressive.

"Look, you've got to have some information on her. A forwarding address, a phone number,-" the line went dead. She'd hung up on him. He dialed the number again but received only a busy signal. He'd thought he was getting close, but instead he just felt like he'd lost her completely.