I've been looking forward to this chapter; read the challenge at the bottom after you read the chapter!

...

Over the next two weeks things were very hectic. Tony told Pepper that he would have his new assistant do the shopping and decorating with Tori, since they had her wardrobe, bedroom, and party to be worried about immediately, not to mention their wedding was coming up in just two months, but the glare he'd received quickly had him minding his own business and sticking to working on her presents.

The car was finished first thing Tuesday and looked amazing, which kept Tony from sending Dummy off to a Community College, or so he said. The girl's suit was a bit trickier since he couldn't exactly get her measurements the conventional way. He had all the parts and the design ready but, by the end of the first week he still hadn't found a way to get her onto the platform Jarvis required to get her measurements. Luckily for him that Friday, Tori provided him with a solution.

"Hey dad, are you using your holographic projector?" Tori asked, sitting outside the workshop on her laptop, when he came out to get ready for a Board of Directors meeting that Pepper had roped him into somehow.

"Why are you sitting down here?" he demanded.

Tori sighed, "You can't hear me when I knock because you've got the sound berrier up," she demonstrated by banging on the glass and unlike the phone incident, indeed he heard no banging, "I promised I wouldn't hack the shop," she showed him the laptop which clearly wasn't on a hacking screen, "and I don't have a passcode clearance to the intercom you have in there," which she had Jarvis confirm. "So I've been stuck out here trying to catch you."

By then they were heading up the stairs and Tony could only chuckle as he listened to her explain herself, his mind immediately hatching a plan and praying that Jarvis went along with it.. He quickly told Jarvis, "Get the portable scanner out here to get her identification into the system and get her a limited access code until after her party, and then upgrade it to full access."

"Of course Mr. Stark," Jarvis said quickly bringing the platform into the hallways, forcing Tori to stop following her father and step onto the moving sheet of metal, "Miss Stark, what will your six to twelve digit code be?"

Tori paused and thought about it for a moment. She wasn't sure, birthdays of people she knew were too common, so were anniversaries, death dates, and addresses. It took her a few minutes to think of something that she wouldn't forget but that someone wouldn't think of right away, "0-8-0-6-1-9-4-5".

"Ahh," Jarvis said but didn't comment further, quickly scanning her for identification/measurements.

By the time she was released, her father had long since disappeared into his bedroom and still hadn't answered her question. The teen growled and stomped off toward her bedroom, wanting to see how far Susan… or Sarah… or Olga, whatever her father's assistant's name was, had gotten with the list of things Pepper had left her to do for her room.

While it had been discussed that Tori wanted to get a job at the local hospital, it had been a short one. Her father wanted her to just hang around the house for the Summer, feel safe and secure, work on her 'mystery medicines', which she needed his projector to do, and just be a normal teenager, as much his daughter could be normal.

It was fine for now. She was spending a lot of time with Cassandra and Jason, who Bruce was loaning her every weekend, Hal… when he was in atmosphere, and everyone from her past that she'd lost. She also had her wardrobe, bedroom, and party planning to keep her preoccupied. While she didn't want to be a spoiled little brat it was nice to know that money wasn't always a concern or having her mother make her feel guilty for wanting to go out with friends and do things because of the cost. The paradigm shift of… pretty much everything in her life had her pretty preoccupied… for now.

Eventually she knew though that enough would be enough and she'd want to do something to keep her busy. If her dad was serious about not working at a hospital, which she sort of agreed with now because of the media which was already swarming over her party, then she'd thought about proposing to help at Shield. The agency pretty much only had one doctor and he was off on missions nine times out of ten; he couldn't be a very good doctor for his teammates if he wasn't around when they needed him. Bruce was another problem she was trying to isolate; that boy was too damn perceptive sometimes.

The assistant seemed to be doing fine, not that anyone would be able to screw up Pepper's detailed instructions unless they were mentally ill, Hal was off with the L.C.s, two galaxies over if his last message was still standing, Cassandra and Jason were doing their batty duty until Friday, and Tori couldn't do any more work unless she got her hands on her father's holographic projector. It was tempting to hack the projector, nothing else, just the projector, but she'd promised and knew that she couldn't do that.

She browsed the web for a little bit before ducking into one of the guest bedroom, farther away from the rest of the house's main parts, and locked the door. It only took a few minutes before she was logged onto a private, very secure, chat room.

…

Meanwhile at Shield, Bruce was about to pull his hair out. Never had he gone this long without talking to his partner but she hadn't been online for a week now and it was driving him crazy. Betty had finally gotten tired of him obsessing, though he maintained that he was just worried, after he blew her off for lunch for the third day.

He knew that she understood to a certain point. She was very secure in the knowledge that this wasn't some sort of online affair or way of cheating; Bruce had always let her read and even talk to this mysterious online partner. Bruce felt like he owed this person because they had created a drug that gave him a rational mind when the Hulk took over; although he was still impulsive he had enough control to make certain judgment calls when it came to people's lives even if not inanimate things.

That was completely understandable but Betty didn't understand that it went past gratitude. His partner was sympathetic and tried to understand, always listened to his theories and ideas that Betty just didn't comprehend, and challenged him on an intellectual level. It could never be romantic, to Bruce that would have been like dating his sister on the most horrific of levels. Still, like the Hulk in him would have done over any of his family should they still be alive, this girl had to be protected and kept from harm.

Her being absent from their skype chat room for a week, when they normally conversed at least once a day, on a slow day, was not something that Bruce took lightly. He'd been frightfully snappy and short tempered for the last few days with everyone, not just his girlfriend. Fury had finally told him to take a few days off, look into the girl if it bothered him that much, and get his head straight before coming back into the labs.

Researching her was part of the problem. Other than her skype name, PrincessAtom, and the work she did and showed him or did with him; Bruce literally knew nothing about the woman. She was smart, using an online source of skype instead of her home computer, keeping her real name anonymous, and using her profile picture instead of live feed when they used video chats. He had thought that Tony Stark's daughter sounded just like her but the way his looks were scaring the girl, it was pretty clear that she was not his online partner.

Suddenly that thought struck him and he grabbed his laptop. Jumping into the car Shield had designated to him, Bruce pushed the speed limits all the way from the agency's office in California all the way to Malibu. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it before but if anyone could help him with this then it was Tony.

Walking up to the house, he wasn't even shocked anymore when the door just popped open.

"Welcome, Dr. Banner," Jarvis greeted, "Mr. Stark is at a meeting but he'll be back shortly."

"I thought the Engineer's meeting was yesterday?"

"It was, sir but Ms. Potts convinced him that he should attend a Board of Directors meeting."

Bruce chuckled, "Does the fact that she's 'Ms. Potts' again have anything to do with that?"

"…Perhaps."

"Well thanks for the update; I'm going to wait for him in the living room."

"Of course, sir."

Setting his laptop up Bruce quickly logged back into his account and to his amazement his partner's little marker was filled with a green check and his heart monitor started to beep.

GreenFallout: Where the hell hav u been?

PrincessAtom: Excuse me?

GreenFallout: WHERE HAV U BEEN! It's not a difficult question!

PrincessAtom: What is up w/ u? I do hav a life outside of this chat room.

GreenFallout: Wat kind of life? Wat do u do? Where do u liv?

GreenFallout: You scared me, going from talking multiple times a day to missing for a week.

PrincessAtom: …

PrincessAtom: Look, im srry that I scared u bt we hav an agreement; no real life stuff.

GreenFallout: BULLSHIT!

GreenFallout: and u knw it too.

GreenFallout: we met b/c of my personal life; you can't tell me you've never figured out who I am

PrincessAtom: look, ive been busy. Dnt make an issue out of this.

GreenFallout: ur important 2 me

GreenFallout: I, every part of me, needs to protect you. Tell me who u r so I cn.

PrincessAtom: it's nt u that I dnt trust. Listen to me, Bruce.

PrincessAtom: yes, I do knw who u r, I hav 4 a long time

PrincessAtom: im in a position right now, where I've got enough of a bullseye on my forehead

PrincessAtom: dnt get ur panties in a bunch im well protected

GreenFallout: By who?

PrincessAtom: doesnt matter. U knw the work we've done together

PrincessAtom: & rite now throwing ur enemies into the mix isn't going to help me.

PrincessAtom: plz don't push this. Mayb the time will come where i think it's safe

PrincessAtom: bt im the one with our work, so im the one in danger.

GreenFallout: I know that, that's why I want to help protect you

GreenFallout: I'd get the Avengers on board to help

GreenFallout: they mite nt knw it bt u've helped them 2

PrincessAtom: u need 2 let that b my call

Bruce just stared at the screen for a long time. How could he accept that? Now that he knew she was in some sort of trouble could he really sit back and trust her to people he didn't even know of against an unknown enemy? Before he would reach a decision on his own she sent him another message.

PrincessAtom: I think u need time to calm down bt dnt wrry

PrincessAtom: I doubt I'll be gone for a week from nw on

GreeFallout: Will I tlk 2 u 2nite?

She logged off without answering and if that didn't make his monitor start going off again. He called this girl his sister but she felt more like a twin than just any old sister and now it felt like she was shutting him out. He might be prepared to accept that now wasn't the time to meet in person, he still hadn't decided yet, but he would not settle for being cut from her life. No, if their chats didn't return to normal he'd…

"Hey there Brucey," Tony greeted, returning from his meeting.

"Hey Tony," Bruce returned, not moving or bothering to put any enthusiasm into the greeting.

Tony paused, taking in his friend's appearance. The usually clean cut doctor was disheveled and depressed looking. From the way he was eyeing his laptop it either looked like he was going to throw it or short circuit it with his tears. Taking a seat on the coffee table Tony grabbed his friend and team mate's knee, "What's going on?"

Bruce closed the laptop and leaned forward slightly, "There's something going on with me and an online associate, who's become very important to me over the last few years… Tony, I need to know... I came over here because they'd fallen off the map and I wanted you to track them…"

Immediately the hand on Bruce's knee reached for the laptop but Tony found it held back almost a quickly, "Now, I can't let you do that."

"…Why not?"

"It might get her into more trouble than she's already got going on."

"What sort of…"

"I don't know," Bruce sighed, "and that's killing me but I have to get over it, at least for now… Tony, if it comes down to it, I need to know if you'll…"

"I'll do whatever you need me to do; no questions asked."

….

A/N: okay, the first person who can tell me the significance of Tori's code gets to ask me one question about the story that I have to answer, even if it's a spoiler, I'll tell you. You have to let me know both real life & story significance.

Also I'd love some reviews so I can get the next chapter up today too.