"Ow!"

"46"

"Agh…"

"47…"

"Ow…"

"Sir, please, may I request just a few hours of calibrate—"

"Nope. 48."

"Agh…!"

I shake out my arm with a pained look on my face as my father cleans the dots of blood off of my forearm.

"Micro-repeater implanting sequence complete," my father says.

"As you wish sir. I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore."

"Which… I will."

I slowly feel the areas where my father stabbed the sharp needle in my arm, injecting the small sensors into my arm. So far, this was a painful 17th birthday present from him.

"Uh Dad…?" I ask slowly.

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure this is safe…?"

"Positive."

"What if something goes wrong?"

"Then I'll fix it."

"And if this ends up destroying something?"

"I'm a mechanic for a reason, sweetheart. Alright, let's do this."

I blow some hair out of my eyes as I stand. I looked more like my father than my mother. Long jet black hair, icy blue eyes, but I wasn't like him. I had my mother's qualities. Gentle, kind, but have a firey temper when I get angry, according to my dad.

"Dummy? Hi Dummy!" My father chimes out at one of his cleaning robots. "How did you get that cap on your head? You earned it."

The robot whirrs in response and my dad comes over to him. "Hey. Hey! What are you doing out of the corner? You know what you did. Blood on my mat. Handle it."

"You know you should treat your robots with a little more respect," I say with a sigh as I stand by the 'Dunce.' He whirrs again, as if saying 'Thanks for standing up for me,' and I smile lightly, patting its small head.

"Why?" My father asks.

"They could go haywire at any minute or break down."

"I'll worry about that later. Now come stand here."

I come over and stand on the small circular platform he leads me to, then he has me face the suits and camera that is positioned there.

"Sir, might I remind you that you've been awake for nearly 72 hours…" Jarvis cuts in.

"72 hours?" I look at him confused.

"All part of the surprise." He turns to the suits now. "Focus up, ladies! Good evening, and welcome to the birthing suite. I am pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, badass, baby sister."

My eyes widen a little. "Baby sister?"

My father smiles and continues on. "Mark 43 Autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence."

He makes me face a table where suit parts hum then come to life in a bright white light, and then it hits me. He finally made me my very own suit. I remember for years I had wanted one, but my father said it was too dangerous for me to have my own. But now, I'm facing what appears to be parts of the suit, all scattered along the table, and I'm curious why it's all broken down.

"Jarvis, drop her needle."

Immediately I hear "Fake It" by Seether. I raise an eyebrow, knowing my dad never listens to this kind of music.

"Have you been in my room again Dad…?" I ask slowly.

"Hold your arm out to the suit pieces," he says, ignoring the question on purpose.

I sigh and slowly hold out my arm, but nothing happens. I pull my arm back, then jerk it out with a little more force. Still nothing. I tilt my head and he steps up to the platform with me. "Crap," is all he says. He makes his hand a fist and hits my forearm a few times, and I wince, still feeling the numbness from the shots, but I hear whirring inside my arm.

"There. Now let's try," he says. He raises my arm towards the pieces, and immediately one comes flying for me. I try to flinch away, scared at first, but my dad keeps me in place and the piece forms on my hand, becoming a repulsor that lights up with life.

"Whoa!"

He smirks and lets go of my arm as I hold out my left arm to the other pieces. The same thing happens and I feel a smile spread on my face as it forms, and I see my dad smile from the corner of my eye.

"Alright, she's got it, send 'em all," he tells Jarvis.

Other pieces of the suit come flying in. I eventually have parts of the suit on my legs, but suddenly a piece comes in too fast and I raise my arms, blocking the piece as it goes flying off to the side.

"W-Whoa whoa whoa!" My eyes widen, and now I'm really scared, and I think my dad is too, because he's panicked when he speaks to Jarvis.

"Probably a little fast. Slow it down just a—"

He suddenly pushes me down when a piece barely misses my head.

"… Little bit…" He finishes.

I slowly stand as another piece flies in, but it hits my gut like a fresh punch to the stomach.

"Owww…" I groan softly. But my thoughts are caught off as a piece flies and hits my back and I fall forward. "YIKES!" I shriek and hold my hands out to catch myself, but the flight activates and I slowly land back on the platform.

"Cool it, will you Jarvis?!" My dad says quickly. Everything eventually slows down when the faceplate of the suit flies in, barely missing my head again, and it hits the table and record player, shutting it off.

"If you broke my CD you're gonna have to get me a new one…" I say quietly.

The faceplate forms and faces me, debating whether or not it wants to come over.

"C'mon. She ain't scared of you," my dad encourages it.

"Uh… I kinda am…" I say quietly again.

But it turns and flies in regardless, and to avoid it completely missing, I do a sideways flip, and it clicks onto my suit and I land with one fist in the ground, the suit now completely on me. I grin as the suit hums to life, showing me the status of myself and anything around me, and I see my dad smiling from the corner of my eye again.

"I'm the best," he says simply.

"Sure are Dad…" I chuckle lightly, but then suddenly I'm pushed down as a missing piece comes flying in and hits my dad and we collapse, my helmet falling off, and I shriek lightly again, seeing him groan in pain and I quickly crawl to him.

"Dad! Are you okay?!"

He nods slowly and carefully sits up. "I'll just be sore in the mornin' sweetheart… Happy birthday."

I smile and hug him, then Jarvis ruins the moment by saying, "As always Sir, a great pleasure watching you and your daughter work."

"Thanks for that Jarvis," I roll my eyes but smile and hug my father again.