Authors Note: Hey guys! I'm back! I haven't updated this story in forever, but I have been really busy rewriting a great deal of it. Even the people who have been with me a long time might need a bit of a re-read, especially since I changed several things in the beginning. The chapters are longer, and I've tried to elaborate more on key relationships in the story. Another important detail, the D and M keys on my computer are very sticky, and as I was editing through, I noticed that there were several places that my spellcheck didn't catch, so I'm sorry if you find some of those. Finally, there are a lot of parts in the last few chapters that are pretty much verbatim with the dialogue from the movie. I'm working on fixing that, so it'll probably be fixed in the next update.
"I am Iron Man." the on-screen Tony said as the real Tony walked into his living area. Everything was exactly as he had left it a few hours ago, except for the teenage girl sitting on his couch drinking chocolate milk, typing away on his laptop.
"Um, excuse me? Who are you?" Tony asked, surprised to see someone uninvited in his home. He looked at her, and figured she was young, maybe 17?
"I'm Ellie, well, my name is Bellicose, I don't know if my parents knew what that actually meant, but I don't like it, so call me Ellie." She paused, "I uh... hacked into your security, and I was looking at these new schematics for another iron man suit, and I was thinking that you should use a boron-based fuel, it's less powerful sure, but environmentally and cost wise it's much more efficient, not that you really have to worry about cost." She stopped, "And there are also those other prototypes for arc reactors, but I don't think they'll help your current predicament much, I-" Ellie rattled on before Tony cut her off.
"I'm sorry, my current predicament?" He asked.
"Well, your blood is becoming toxic, it's a side effect of the Palladium core in your mini-arc reactor, you should really start drinking chlorophyll, but that won't stop it, it'll simply slow it down. You need to find a different core." Ellie said, "But I'm sure you already knew that."
Tony had, but he didn't know how this kid knew it, "Who-who sent you here?" he asked, becoming more and more confused.
"No one, I came on my own," Ellie said while continuing to type on the laptop.
"Then what do you want?" Tony asked exasperatedly.
She swiped whatever she had been working on outward, and JARVIS projected it, Tony stepped closer and saw that it was an article. The title read 'Billionaire Tony Stark Adopts Child Prodigy', under that was a picture of them working together in his lab, her Photoshop skills were impressive. He looked at her incredulously, "You want me to adopt you? Yeah no, I'll pass." Tony said.
"The adoption papers are on the counter," she pointed, "I'm going to release this article in two hours regardless, so you might as well just do it. I've already unpacked my stuff in one of the rooms. Don't feel you have to change your lifestyle on account of me, continue to bring your floozies around, although, you should probably stop that kind of behaviour because it seems like you and Pepper are in for the long run." Ellie said and smiled, "Oh! You should call her about this before I tell the world so she isn't mad that you didn't tell her earlier." Ellie spoke, and while he didn't totally understand, Tony understood enough to realize that he wasn't getting out of this.
The thought of adopting this kid wasn't bothering him as much as he knew it should, she obviously knew her stuff, and if he was being honest with himself, he had always wanted to have a kid, but he was worried that he would have messed it up. But with Ellie, he wouldn't have to worry about messing her up, because whoever she was with before had to deal with that, now he could just have fun.
"Alright kid, I'll do it, but let me call Pepper first okay?" Tony smiled.
Ellie's eye's widened in surprise, she leaped off the couch and hugged Tony, "Thank you." she said.
She pulled away and let Tony reach for his cell phone. "Hey Pepper, so I have some news..." Tony said.
"Oh God Tony, what is it this time? Is it bad? Is it really bad?" She asked. Pepper had had a long day, and she wasn't mentally prepared to deal with any craziness today.
"No, it's nothing bad. I found this kid, and I'm gonna adopt her," Tony told her.
"You found a child?" Pepper asked, "What does that mean?"
"Well, she broke into my house, but she's smart. I like her spunk."
"She broke into your house? How is that possible? You have one of the best home security systems in the world."
"Yeah, and she disabled it," Tony told her.
Pepper sighed, "Listen, I think you'd make a great father-"
"Thank you-"
"One day..."
"Oh..."
"Tony, you don't exactly live a child-friendly lifestyle. You travel all the time, you work all the time, you are constantly hanging around people who are drunk or on drugs. It's not the best environment for a little girl."
"Well she's not that little," Tony paused and Pepper could hear him asking the girl how old she was, "She's seventeen."
Pepper thought about it for a moment. Seventeen wasn't that young, barely a child anymore. "Tony, if you think it's a good idea..."
"You're in kid," Pepper heard Tony say to the girl.
"What's her name?"
"Ellie."
That night...
Tony was eating dinner with his new daughter. It felt funny to even think about really, he had never really thought of himself as a father.
"So, where are you from?" Tony asked her.
"Canada," She answered.
"Canada?"
"Yeah, I grew up there," Ellie told him.
"Huh, why'd you come down here then?"
She shrugged, "It's easier to hide down here."
"Hide? From what?"
"I don't really know... the police reports said that there was a gas explosion that levelled the house. I must've hit my head, because when I woke up I was far away, and everyone thought I was dead. At the time it seemed like it was easier to stay that way."
Tony looked at the girl in surprise, she didn't really look like someone who had been running her whole life. She was short and very much the opposite of intimidating, he couldn't imagine her running alone on the streets.
"So where have you been since then?" Tony asked.
"I moved around a lot, I... I really didn't want to go back," Ellie said.
Tony realized that their topic of conversation had been pretty dark and gloomy, "So, what do you do for fun?"
Ellie smiled, "I like messing around with computers."
They stayed up pretty late discussing computer coding and programming, and when Ellie finally went to sleep, Tony was sure he had made a good decision.
About Five Months Later...
Tony was busy entertaining the crowd at the expo, but Ellie had stayed home. She was going to try to pull an all-nighter in an attempt to find a suitable replacement core for the arc reactor. A few hours into her night she ordered some pizza and not soon after she got a phone call from Tony.
"What's up parental?" she asked as she answered the phone.
"Nothing much kiddo, so listen, I'm driving to Washington tonight because I just got a subpoena, so I won't be home tonight, obviously," Tony said, his slightly annoyed tone coming through.
"Bummer, I was going to stay up all night and watch Star Wars," Ellie said jokingly.
"Well, you can still do that, I just won't be there," Tony said back, he was obviously stressed.
"Well, you're obviously stressed about this, so I'll drive down tonight too," Ellie said.
"No, I don't want you to drive alone at night," Tony responded.
"Oh, what was that? I can't hear you over the highway?" Ellie said jokingly. "I'll see you tomorrow." She hung up before Tony could respond. She quickly ran to the garage and jumped into her car.
She drove for four hours straight, and when she arrived she pulled into the same hotel that Tony had just gotten a reservation for one hour prior. She let the valet take her car and went up to Tony's room, which she had determined thanks to Jarvis.
She knocked on the door, and Happy opened it, "Oh! Miss Stark!" Happy exclaimed, surprised to see her there so quickly, "Come in, there's another bed, Tony's asleep right now. Are you coming with us to the hearing tomorrow?"
"Yeah probably, and a bed sounds great right now, thanks," Ellie replied.
She carried her backpack into the large, overly grand hotel room, there was a small living area with a kitchen, which leads to a hallway which had three doors, one of the doors was open, and it revealed Tony's sleeping form, the other two were closed, Ellie looked behind her to Happy, who gestured to the room on the left of the hallway, across from Tony.
She fell backwards onto the bed and practically fell asleep on the spot.
That night...
"You almost had it, Bella!" Loki cried, "You give up too easy, have some faith in yourself." Loki was watching Bellicose try to fire a ball of energy at a target, but it fizzled out before it made it even close. They were in a large open field, with grass and trees all around them. It was an illusion of Loki's creation. In reality, they were meeting through a magic mental connection that managed to span across the amazing distance that separated them.
"I'm trying, it's not working," Ellie grumbled.
Loki smiled at her gently, "Let's take a break shall we?"
Over the years, Loki had been mentoring the girl in all things Asgardian and beyond. He had taught her their language, their customs, their history. He taught her magic and music, and really anything that was of any interest. She didn't think he was real, which was something he could understand, but he wished she did know.
"How are you today Loki?" She asked him. They both sat down on the grass.
Loki looked away briefly, "I am fine," He said.
She looked at him with uncertainty, "Really? Cause it doesn't seem like it."
"Just leave it, Bella," Loki said. His voice became a little deeper, and a lot darker.
"Whatever it is, I-"
"Please, just-" He stopped talking. No one else would ever know, but this girl, this mortal, had managed to crack his cold exterior. She was the only person he knew besides his mother that was consistently and genuinely kind. She didn't even think he was real, but yet she still treated him with more care and respect than most people he knew on Asgard. He didn't want to break down in front of her, he was afraid he would lose his resolve. He had planned a trick, really a trick was all it was. To disturb Thor's coronation and save the nine realms from his idiotic brother a while longer.
She sat up on her knees beside him so that they were the same height. She put her hands on his shoulders, leaned towards him and hugged him. For a moment Loki thought she was going to kiss him. Was it wrong that he wanted her to?
In the morning...
Ellie was sitting at the table in the dining room of the hotel room flipping through the pages of the Great Gatsby while Tony was preening himself.
"So what exactly is this hearing supposed to be about?" Ellie asked.
"They want to take my suit and my tech, what they haven't yet realized is that they can't."
"If they can't then what's with the trial?"
"Well, this Senator thinks he knows the law, but he's mistaken. The suit isn't defined as a weapon, and can therefore not be seized under the law he is claiming."
"Wow, so did you just memorize that last night?"
"Does it sound that rehearsed?"
"Yes," Ellie said, "throw in some humour, the press isn't going to be on your side if it's all boring law talk. If anyone wanted that they'd be at something actually important." Tony raised an eyebrow at her, "You know what I mean."
He sighed, "You're right kid."
Ellie looked at him closely, "You seem worried about this, should I be worried?"
"No, it'll be fine. It's just annoying," Tony said.
They went to the courthouse, and Ellie sat through the humorous hearing where Tony called the senator a prostitute and claimed he had privatized world peace. Afterwards, Tony needed to go to the washroom, leaving Ellie hanging out in the lobby alone as Pepper was taking a phone call outside, and Happy was getting the car.
Justin Hammer then walked up to her and decided to start a conversation, "Hi, Ellie was is?" He asked.
"Hi," She replied. She was slightly confused about what he was doing, but there was no need to be rude.
"I'm Justin, Hammer," He said and grinned oddly.
"I know who you are," Ellie said. She was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable.
"Right, well..." He trailed off and took a step closer to her, "How would you feel about doing some freelance work for Hammer Industries?"
"Thanks but no thanks," Ellie said with a forced smile.
"Oh come on don't-" He reached out his hand towards her, presumably to touch her arm or shoulder.
Ellie quickly took a step back, avoiding his touch, "I'm sorry, I have to go," She said quickly, noticing Tony walking towards them.
She pushed past Justin and fell into step behind Tony.
Tony looked at her strangely, "What was that about?"
"He asked if I wanted to do some freelance work for him," Ellie told Tony.
Tony raised an eyebrow, "What did you say?"
Ellie looked at him incredulously, "I said no. Obviously."
"Well, I just want you to know that you don't need to work for Stark Industries, you can do whatever you want. I don't want you to be limited by me."
They exited the courthouse and walked towards the car, "I know that, but not him. Definitely not him." Tony furrowed his eyebrows as he entered the car. "He gives me the creeps," Ellie explained.
"Agreed."
Pepper was sitting in the car, and as soon as Tony was settled she smacked his arm.
"Ow!"
"What was that?!" Pepper demanded.
"I thought it was funny! The people are on my side!" Tony said with an amused smirk.
"You are in serious trouble. If it weren't for Rhodey your suits would be as good as gone by now!"
Ellie and Tony shared a look, and then they both burst out laughing.
"Alright, mom!" Tony said.
Pepper shook her head, "Tony I'm warning you. If we don't do damage control on this-"
"Well, that's what I have you for, right?" Tony asked. He flashed his puppy dog eyes at Pepper.
She sighed, "I am not paid enough for this."
"Thanks, Pep," Tony said and pecked her cheek. Pepper blushed bright red.
"Please go back to Malibu and lay low for a while okay?" Pepper asked.
"You know me," Tony said with a grin.
"I'll keep him in line," Ellie said.
"Phf, you can try!" Tony exclaimed.
Happy rolled down the divider in the car, "We're at the airstrip boss."
"Home?" Tony asked Ellie.
"Home."