"Stop crying! You're weak, you little brat." A little girl with black hair and purple eyes sobbed. Those eyes, they were cursed eyes; she was sure of it. Her dad was sure of it too, but did he have to hurt her? Did he have to smack, and kick, and experiment on her?

Maybe he wouldn't if her eyes were normal.

He grabbed the little girl roughly, shoving her into a metal chair. He strapped her down and grabbed a needle. The little girl shut her eyes tight, willing for it to be all over. She hoped this one would kill her, let her be in peace with Mommy. Mommy loved her, even if her eyes were cursed.

Her father readied the needle, but didn't bother with sanitizing her arm. He came closer, haphazardly aiming...

Diana woke up with wide eyes and cold sweat gliding down her neck and back. She swallowed thickly, getting up to splash her face with water. She breathed heavily as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked like shit.

Dark circles made her look like a raccoon and her pale skin looked pallid, sickly. Her nightclothes were wrinkled and drenched in sweat. Diana turned away with a sigh. Even now, her father shadowed her. He tortured her in her sleep rather than with needles and pain.

She looked at the time; 2:47 in the morning. Diana had a bad feeling, like something would happen today. Was anything going on in the military or government today? Just the regular stuff. That and Anthony Stark's weapon demonstration.

What could go wrong at a weapon demonstration?

Diana laughed mirthlessly at all the things that could go wrong. She had to admit though, Stark weapons were nothing if not bug-free. Anthony Stark's calculations were always pinpoint accurate. She could even say his cockiness was mostly reasonable considering his achievements.

But things couldn't always go right, now could they?

Whenever Diana had a bad feeling like this, it usually meant bad news. She sometimes joked to Fury that her gut was psychic. Sometimes she wondered if it really was. She passed it off as intuition. Really, really good intuition.

She decided to take an extra long time getting ready to kill some time. Diana ironed her uniform and started a bath. After pouring in some bubble bath, she finished and went to the few make-up supplies she owned. Diana made the under-eye bags invisible and her skin look less pale. She couldn't say she looked attractive, but she looked presentable. She slipped into uniform and looked at the time. There was still about an hour and a half before she had to be at work. So, she went to Burger King

After Burger King, she headed towards SHIELD headquarters. She passed through security with ease. She stopped in the center, heading down to greet Fury.

"Good morning, Nick," she greeted casually.

"Good morning, Ms. Ridge."

"Will I ever get you to call me by my name?"

"No." Diana sighed with a shake of her head and a smile, all thoughts of bad things forgotten. She continued on to greet her psuedo-dad, Phil Coulson.

She didn't remember what her gut had said until ten hours later. Not until she learned that the soldiers that went to Anthony's weapon demonstration died, and Anthony was no where to be found. All she could think in that moment was 'It's all my fault.'

—

Three months later...

Diana had finally found him. At least, what she hoped was him. After watching Middle East satellites for three months, there had finally been something. She had to get to those coordinates now. So, she called Stark's private jet.

Oh, did I mention she hacked into Jarvis and into Anthony Stark's house?

Diana met the plane and kicked the original pilot off, deciding it was best not to risk their life if she was wrong or got shot down. She probably broke several laws as she flew, but she didn't notice nor care. All that was going through her mind was 'I'm coming. I'm going to fix this. I'm sorry, Anthony.'

She practically jumped off the jet when she reached her destination. Diana looked around frantically, swearing she had seen him around here. A low groan caught her attention, eyes finally finding a tired, face-down man in the sand. She quickly turned him over and tried to get his attention.

"Anthony? Anthony, are you alright? Can you speak?" A mumble escaped the man's lips. "What?"

"My name...is Tony."

"Really? I was under the impression your first name was Anthony."

"Just...shut up and...take me home."

"I don't know," she said, already helping him up. "I was looking for Anthony Stark, but you said your name was Tony..."

"Is that my jet? How'd you get my jet?"

"I asked Jarvis to get it for me."

"Right, you'd have to hack into my house and then Jarvis to do that."

"And?"

"That isn't possible."

Diana gave him a smirk, "I thought your whole schtick was that nothing is impossible." She had to resist laughing at the look he gave her as she sat him down on the plane.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, someone has to drive."

"Tell Jarvis to do it."

"I should still be up there in case something goes wrong. Why, do you want me to sit with you?"

"I'd like to know who you are."

"You could always ask Jarvis to pull up my files."

"It's good you know that, you'll understand you have to tell the truth when I ask you something."

"Fine. Jarvis, autopilot to the air force base, please."

"Initiating..."

"Hey, hold it Jarvis! Abort initiation."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm the only one allowed to boss around Jarvis. Now, Jarvis, get us to the air force base ."

"Yes sir, initiating."

"You're such a child."

"Contacts or real?"

"What?"

"Contacts or real?"

"Real..."

"What's with that face? I didn't ask if your granny was dead!"

"I never had grandparents."

"Good thing I didn't ask."

"You suck at interrogating people."

"What do you do?"

"I work for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. If I was an undercover agent, I'd have kill you."

"That's a mouthful."

"Yeah, we're working on it."

"So, why did you come to get me?"

"It's my fault this all happened." Anthony gave her a look.

"Really? You tell them where we were?"

"No, but I knew something bad would happen."

"And?"

"And I could have done something! My intuition is never wrong. I could have saved all those soldiers..."

"You're seriously blaming yourself for that? You've got issues." Diana didn't respond to that. Anthony frowned at the reaction to his words. They were silent for the rest of the trip besides the sound of Diana putting one of Anthony's arms in a sling and mutterings of "I'm fine".

"Please buckle up, we will be landing shortly," Jarvis broke the silence as they approached the base.

The hatch opened up and Diana led Anthony out to Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy. Before Anthony left, he turned to Diana again.

"So, if you have such great intuition, what's your gut telling you about me?"

"That you are an ass, ladies' man, and don't know when to quit," Anthony frowned. "But, on the inside you just want people to take notice. That's what my gut is telling me."

"Is that so?" Anthony smirked, "My house tomorrow, 11:30, be there."

"I'm not a cheap whore."

"I never said you were. God, girls have really low self-esteem."

"I'm not going to have sex with you, nor will I go on a date with you."

"Good. I wasn't asking you to do either," Anthony replies as he gets into his car.