The Family Business

Disclaimer:
As per usual, I own nothing. Nothing except for Shaelynn Stark. She is mine. But, nothing else. This is all just some weird, twisted idea that's been floating around in my head for a while, now.

Rating:
T (just to be safe)

Genre:
Action/Adventure (with some romantic and dramatic undertones)

Pairings:
ScienceHusbands (Tony/Bruce)
Stevelynn (Steve Rogers/Shaelynn Stark)
[maybe] Clintasha (Clint/Natasha)

Author's Note:
Okay, so, I've had an idea floating around my head for a while to do an Avengers/Power Rangers Dino Thunder crossover. Dino Thunder's always been my fave season and I've always thought PR & Avengers could make for an interesting crossover. I replaced Kira Ford with Shaelynn Stark because...well, because I wanted to. I thought it could be fun to give Tony a superhero daughter and play around with that family dynamic.

Lyrics Used:
Billy Ray Cyrus f/Miley Cyrus "Ready, Set, Don't Go"

Key:
Bold Italics=television/news report/newspaper article
Italics=song lyrics (as used by author to illustrate the scene...ie...not part of the story...) OR a thought sequence
Bold=an action taking place

Ready, Set, Don't Go

I'm at the starting line of the rest of my life | As ready as I've ever been | Got the hunger and the stars in my eyes | The prize is mine to win

She's waitin' on my blessings as she hits that open road | But, baby, get ready

Oh, I'm ready

Get set | Don't go

City officials report that clean-up efforts are now underway after the latest group of superheroes-the Power Rangers Dino Thunder, they call themselves-saves the planet, yet again.

That's right, Julie. These newcomers really are making a name for themselves, in the city, aren't they?

That, they are, Andy. Ya know, the Avengers might wanna watch their backs. If they're not careful, these rangers just might take their jobs right out from under them.

*click*

"Strike a nerve, there, did they?" Shaelynn Stark joked, flopping down on the plush sofa, next to her father as he clicked off the news report that had been playing when she first entered the living room.

"Ha. Ha." Tony Stark quipped back, snidely, to his young daughter's sarcastic remark. "Look who thinks she's Kathy Griffin, all of a sudden." Regardless of how the public saw him, deep down, Tony Stark was a family man at heart. Granted, he never used to think of himself as a family man, but, that had all been before Shaelynn had been born-over seventeen years ago. He couldn't believe it had been a whole seventeen years since his life had turned upside down. He was only nineteen, really still a kid himself, when his girlfriend at the time had told him she was pregnant. He never would have thought he could be the fatherly type. But, now, Shaelynn was his whole world. And, if he were to be perfectly honest with himself...he knew he wouldn't have it any other way.

He smiled fondly as he watched his daughter laugh lightly, flipping her long wavy brown hair streaked with gold highlights back behind her shoulder. "Yeah, but ya gotta admit. The rangers really are doing great things, don't ya think?" Tony's brow quirked in slight confusion at the curious tone in his daughter's voice.

"Well, yeah, sure. I mean, hell, let's face it." He started, leaning back into the sofa, thinking about his ideas on the rangers. "They've absolutely-without a doubt-made our jobs as Avengers much much easier. At least they're taking one bad guy off our hands, which I-for one-absolutely appreciate a great deal." Tony's head rolled to the side to look at his daughter curiously. The rangers had never come up with them before. Why now? He wondered, silently.

He noticed Shaelynn's face take on a strange smirk as she replied "Well, thanks. I'll be sure to tell the others that the next time I see them." Shaelynn took Tony's confused expression as a cue to elaborate. Releasing a heavy sigh, she slumped back into the sofa and stared at her nervously wringing hands in her lap as she continued on "Look, dad...There's something I have to tell you and...Well, I'm not exactly sure how you're gonna take it..."

As Shaelynn's voice trailed off, Tony started to worry. He knew this was going to be a serious discussion. One he may or may not like the outcome of. He knew he was no good at these kinds of conversations, so, he did what he did best. He cracked a joke to try to lighten the mood. "Oh my God, you're pregnant, aren't you?" He asked, turning his body to face her as he placed a hand to his chest-just over his arc reactor-in an over-the-top dramatic gesture as he feigned a tone and expression of shock and horror.

Shaelynn immediately sat bolt upright in shock at her father's response, whipping her head around to face her father. "What?!" She half-screeched. "God, no!" She added after recovering from the initial shock as she relaxed back into the sofa cushions. "No, no. It's nothing like that."

Tony relaxed back into the sofa along with his daughter, his head lolling back over to the side to face Shaelynn again. "Well, all right, then." He replied, shrugging casually. "If it's not that, then, it obviously can't be so bad. So, just spit it out." He added, as if it were nothing.

Sighing once again, Shaelynn decided to do just that. "Well, all right...Here goes nothing." She started. "Here's the thing...I'm one of them..." Unsure of how to tell her father that she was a power ranger, she just left it at that. But, she saw the confused expression return to her dad's face and knew he needed more than that. "I'm...one of the power rangers-the yellow one, to be exact." Well, there, it is...Cat's outta the bag, now. Shaelynn turned her head to face her father, trying to read his features and gauge his reaction.

Tony couldn't believe what he had just heard. That can't be right...My Shaelynn...A power ranger? He thought to himself. But, is it really that far-fetched? I mean, hell, Stark...You are Iron Man, after all...Is it really so hard to believe that your daughter would grow up to be a super hero, too? Apparently, it was, though. Or did he just not want to believe it. Tony figured it was probably the latter. All he could think about was all the terrible things that could happen to her, in battle. Hell, he had seen some of them, first hand, while battling alongside the Avengers. He shuddered as he thought of any one of them happening to his daughter. He couldn't allow it. He would not allow his daughter to be harmed. He had to put an end to this. Right here, right now. "No."

Shaelynn's brow furrowed in confusion. Well, that wasn't exactly the reaction I had hoped for... "No?" She asked, hoping this wouldn't turn out as bad as she had a sickening feeling it might.

"No, I won't allow it." Tony replied, his face and tone allowing no room for argument. "I forbid it, Shaelynn." He reiterated. He would not allow his daughter to fight a battle she wasn't ready for.

"You forbid it?!" Shaelynn's tone was furious and incredulous as she turned in her seat, arms folded crossly across her chest. Tony could all but feel the anger rolling off of her in waves. "Well, it's a little late for that, now, dad!" She spat, venomously.

Tony sat up and turned to his face his daughter, the tension between the two of them growing exponentially with every passing second. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Shaelynn! I won't allow it!"

"I know exactly what I'm getting into, dad." Shaelynn's voice was terse and cross. Tony hated it. He hated fighting with his own daughter. He hated how easily she could make him feel like the bad guy. "You're just afraid to see your little girl grow up, aren't you?" She accused, tersely.

"That's not the point, Shaelynn, and you know it!" Tony couldn't believe he was shouting, now. When did things get so out of hand? When had the discussion turned so heated? He wasn't sure, but, one thing was for damn sure. He didn't like it. Not one bit.

"No, it is the point!" Shaelynn shouted back. She was on her feet before either of them knew it, glaring daggers down at her father. Tony rose to his feet just as quickly. The tension weighed heavy in the room as the two Starks stared tensely into each other's eyes, neither of them flinching or backing down in the slightest.

"No, it isn't!" Tony roared in his daughter's face. "It's too dangerous, Shaelynn!"

"Oh and you fighting along side the Avengers is sooo safe?!" She shot back.

"It's not the same thing!" He fired back, although-deep down, he knew it wasn't true. Shaelynn was right. But, his own damn stubbornness wouldn't let him see that. Finally, the stare-down ended as Tony looked away, taking a steadying breath, willing his voice to calm down. "Look, Shaelynn...I just...I can't help worrying about you. You're all I got in the world. You're my whole world and you know that! I couldn't live with myself if I ever let anything happen to you. So, yes. I forbid you to fight alongside the rangers." Tony's voice was final. But, of course, Shaelynn was Tony Stark's daughter for a reason.

Shaelynn's stance softened ever so slightly though her eyes remained cold and locked right onto Tony's. "Well, I'm sorry, dad. But, you really don't get a say in this." Her voice was calm-dangerously calm-as she held up her wrist wrapped in a steel bracelet which housed a small yellow stone in the center. "The powers are already bonded to my DNA. The only way to stop me from being a ranger is to kill me." Shaelynn could see her words chilled her father to the bone, but, she just couldn't bring herself to care. She needed him to see how deadly serious she was about this. She would not back down. "Is that something you're really prepared to do, daddy?" She would never admit it out loud, but, she really did regret snarling the word 'daddy'. "Are you really prepared to murder your own daughter just to keep her from going into battle? To keep her from saving the world?" It was then that she let out a humorless chuckle. "Ya know what's really pathetic?" She asked, stepping closer to Tony until her face was a mere inch from his as she stared directly into his eyes. "It's the fact that for a moment-just for a moment-I actually thought you would be proud of me." With that she backed away from Tony and turned as though she were going to leave. As she got halfway to the door, however, she turned and threw one last comment at her father over her shoulder. "I actually thought you'd be proud of me. After all, you're finally getting what you always wanted. Your little girl's finally taking over the family business." Her voice was deadly calm and chilled Tony to the core. He had never seen this side of his little girl and hated knowing that he was the only one to blame. He had brought this side out of Shaelynn.

But, neither of them had time to process their feelings at that moment as Shaelynn turned around, fully, her eyes widening as they stared just over Tony's shoulder. "Well, well, well. ... If it isn't the yellow ranger." A deep somewhat garbled robotic voice sneered from several feet behind Tony who then whirled around to see what was quite possibly the ugliest robot he had ever seen.

"Back off, Zeltrax!" Tony couldn't believe the animalistic snarl in his daughter's voice as her shoulders hunched-giving a menacing arch shape to her back-as she quickly stalked across the room to stand in front of her father, protectively. As terrified as he was for her safety, Tony had to admit. He really was proud of his little girl.

"This does not concern you, yellow ranger." The robot-apparently named Zeltrax-snarled right back at Shaelynn. It was then that a fleet of other equally disgusting...what exactly would you call those things? Aliens? Robots? Whatever they were, they lined up behind the robot warrior like some sort of freak army. "It is him, that we want." Tony's blood ran cold as Zeltrax raised his sword and pointed to him. Shaelynn then scared the living hell out of Tony as she took on a battle stance not unlike that of a panther ready to pounce. "You would do well to stand down before you get hurt."

"He's not going anywhere!" She growled out, her muscles flexing as Tony noticed the bracelet on her wrist took on the form of what looked like a yellow dinosaur head before she raised the bracelet to shoulder-height and pressed a button which seemed to cause a yellow spandex suit to materialize around her body in an instant. "I'll take my chances." Her voice was cold and dangerously low. He watched as her head turned to call to him over her shoulder. "If I told you to run?" She asked, suggesting that it was more of an order than a question.

"It'll be a cold day in hell before Tony Stark backs down from a fight." Tony's voice was steeled and steady, a clear indicator that was ready for a fight.

"That's exactly what we're banking on, Mr. Stark." Zeltrax sneered as he motioned for the freak soldiers behind him to charge the father-daughter duo before them. Tony lost all concept of time as everything around him as turned to a blur of yellow and black.

Finally snapping back to his senses, Tony remembered the metal bracelets around his own wrists. "Now, Jarvis!" He called out to his AI, calling for his suit, which surrounded him within a matter of minutes. Once he was suited up, Tony began fighting along side his daughter. At first, things seemed to be going their way. The battle was heating up, but, the mindless foot soldiers weren't gaining any ground on them. It looked like they had this fight in the bag.

"Sir? Shall I summon the other Avengers for back up?" Tony heard the AI's posh British accent coming through on the comm in his helmet.

"That's all right, Jarvis. Shae and I got this, don't we, kiddo?" He replied, cockily, turning to his young daughter in the yellow spandex. He had to admit. Watching her fighting the freak soldiers, he couldn't deny that his daughter was one hell of a warrior in her own right. Her combat skills were impressive-to say the least. If he had to guess, Tony would have wagered that Shae could even hold her own against the likes of Barton or Romanov.

But, just when he thought they had the freaks right where they wanted them, Tony felt steel chains constricting his arms. Their grip was tightening like a vice around his shoulders and arms and chest. He fought against them with everything his suit had only to be hit with a violent electrical current. The last thing he clearly recalled was crying out in pain and Shaelynn responding by calling out for him. "DAD!" He vaguely heard alarm systems going off, alerting him to the fact that all of his systems were shutting down. After that, everything faded to black as he collapsed to the floor.

Shaelynn continued fighting her way through the tyrannadrones, frantically trying to get to her father as she watched him fall the ground. Her heart was hammering a frantic rhythm in her chest as panic coursed through every bone in her body. Her worst nightmare was coming to pass right before her eyes as she watched Zeltrax and the tyrannadrones surround her father's lifeless form. Before she could move any closer, Shaelynn watched in horror as the drones and Zeltrax disappeared along with her father. The yellow ranger suit shattered into thin air around her as she fell to her knees, staring at the now empty space on the floor where her father had laid mere moments ago. I just wasn't fast enough. She thought to herself.