Alright, so I'm sorry for not updating yesterday guys. I was with my dad all day and I had no access to the internet last night so unfortunately I could not post my usual chapter. I also have to apologize because I most likely will not be posting again until after memorial day due to once again lack of internet connection. I will however, have my laptop with me all weekend to write so I will try to post either multiple chapters on Tuesday or a super chapter.

Once again, thank you all for the favorites, follows, and reviews. Special thanks to labass, arthemys, some guest, DC-Mythology-Lover, Lear, Jk, superstar072299, meowzac, ramen-luver101, another guest, kcheslock, and SilverShadowWolf46 for all of your kind words.

Some answers to some questions and/or me just responding:

DX-Mythology-Lover, I don't want to give anything away about Elli's origins (mostly because I don't have it all solidified in my head yet, lol) but I will tell you she has more than Tony's DNA going on so she isn't a direct clone or anything like that.

superstar072299, I'm not sure yet if this story is going to go into civil war. If it does, I'm most likely going to butcher the plot to fit my needs. Even if civil war isn't used, I plan to include Peter in the story. He will show up more.

SilverShadowWolf46, Bruce is going to be pretty important next chapter ;D

Labass, your review made my day.

***yay***

"-addy? Daddy? Daaaaddddyyyyyyy," Something was poking him. Well more like someone, but that someone was a five-year-old with a titanium-alloy finger. And that titanium-alloy finger was poking right into a bruise on his ribs from the mutant frogs the Avengers had faced the day before. He decides to ignore the poking until Elli pulls the blanket off his face, exposing him to the harsh light of the morning sun, causing the genius to hiss and strike back.

Still half asleep, Tony captures his daughter in his arms before rolling over and snuggling back under the covers. Elli squeals at her daddy's antics before squirming in his strong arms, careful not to kick too hard—they had been working on being gentle since Elli had accidently fractured her daddy's fibula. She had cried from guilt when Dr. Clemmons had informed the older Stark that he would have to wear a boot for a couple months. Rhodey had laughed when every time his best friend would try to take it off early, Elli would appear out of thin air to scold her daddy. The boot had attracted attention, of course. The press believed it to be a battle injury, while the Avengers were told an accident had occurred in the lab—which had resulted in Rogers lecturing the billionaire to be more careful as to not jeopardize the team. The genius may or may not have muttered 'jackass' under his breath as the good Captain stormed away after a particularly annoying quip from Tony.

"While I can see you two are having fun, Elli needs to go to school and Tony, you need to get your butt to that board meeting," The father-daughter pair stop to look at Pepper, who is ignoring their pleading eyes and tapping away at her tablet.

"Come on, Pep. Can't I skip the board meeting? They're so boring. I'd rather stay home and play with Elli," the mini Stark's eyes light up at the thought of spending the day with her daddy.

"Please, please, please, Aunty Pepper? School is so boring," Pepper raises her eyebrows as Elli imitates her daddy, "I already know everything Ms. Buck is teaching."

Tony smirks down at the child still locked in his arms, a spark of pride building in his chest. Not much had changed since Pepper told him about the DNA test, they were father and daughter before Tony knew the truth. He just noticed the little bits of him that were present in his daughter. She had his nose and thick hair. She had his intellect as well as his ability to present witty comments. And she definitely had his stubborn attitude. Everyone in their tiny family agreed after some thought—there was no doubt about it, she was definitely his.

"Well, I guess you can stay home," Elli grins in victory as her daddy is shocked to see Pepper give in so quickly. Pepper starts to walk out of the room but stops to say over her shoulder, "but poor Peter. He will be so lonely without his bus buddy when your class goes to the Zoo."

"Wait, Pepper, I want to go! I want to go to the Zoo," she had almost forgot their field trip was today. The little Stark jumps out of her daddy's arms and is racing down the hall before Tony can even try to bribe her by buying her a Zoo of her own.

"That was very sneaky of you, Ms. Potts," Pepper smirks at her boss before throwing a shirt at his face.

"See you at the office, Mr. Stark."

***break***

In the end, Tony doesn't end up going to the office as a result of a giant gummy lizard rampaging on Harlem. He can't stop the laugh that escapes when the Hulk jumps off of a building to smash the candy creature, only to bounce off of it's jelly form.

"Stark, take this seriously," the Captain hears Iron Man laughing over the comms, this wasn't the time to goof off.

"I am taking this seriously," Tony uses one of his hand repulsors to cut through the red gummy goodness, the smell of burning sugar reaching his nose through the suit. The creature must be in pain from the burns, as it whips around causing it's tail to throw Natasha and Steve crashing into a Starbucks.

"STARK!"

"Oops, sorry," he can't help the wince at the angry voices on the other side of the comm link. He was definitely going to get an earful after this.

Iron Man starts cutting into the lizard as the Hulk decides to start chomping down seeing as his fists only kept bouncing off.

"Do you guys think it is cherry flavored?"

Tony dodges a wild swing from the creature as groans of annoyance reach his ears. Hey, it was an honest question.

"Sir, there seems to be a disturbance…"

"Not now, Jarvis. Kind of busy," Tony grunts as he blasts his way out of the lizard's mouth, chunks of what looks to be red jello falling to the street below.

"Sir, I must insist you listen. A 911-dispatch has just been sent to the local Zoo. It seems someone has released all the animals from their cages," Tony's stomach drops as he lands on a nearby roof.

"Stark! What are you-" Tony shuts off his comm as Jarvis connects to Elli's bracelet. Her voice comes across the speakers as Tony traces the dispatches ETA. Ten minutes.

"Daddy?"

"Elli, baby, what is going on?"

"Daddy, I can't find Peter," they had been holding hands, but then people started screaming and running. She had gotten knocked down in the chaos.

"Sweetie, I'm sure he is alright," Tony's heart was pounding, he jumped off the roof and started flying toward the Zoo, ignoring his teammates' calls, "Do you know where your teacher went?"

"No," a slight quiver in her voice pushes Tony to tell Jarvis to fly faster, "Daddy, I gotta find Peter, Ms. Buck told us we had to stay with our buddies."

"I'm sure Ms. Buck will understand, munchkin. Are there any adults around that could help you find Peter or Ms. Buck?"

"No, everybody left…" Soft sniffling reaches Tony's ears.

"Jarvis, can you pull up Elli's location?"

"Right away, sir," a map with two dots—himself and Elli—appears in the helmet.

"Elli, can you stay where you are? I'm going to come get you."

"Okay," Tony smiles at the bravery in Elli's voice. She may have a lot of power in her tiny body, but that didn't change the fact that she's a five-year-old little girl who was currently lost, "Oh my gosh, Daddy! There's a lion! He looks just like Simba!"

"Elli," Tony could see the Zoo now, his eyes widening in fear at his daughter's innocent excitement, "Don't you dare go near that lion."

"But…but Simba… "

"No."

"…What if the lion is coming near me?"

"ELLI!"

His daughter doesn't answer as he zooms toward her dot on the screen. Bile is rising up his throat as he lands, frantically turning and shouting his daughter's name. A purring sound makes him stop and sprint around the corner.

"DADDY! LOOK! SIMBA LIKES ME!" The giant cat was curled around his daughter, massive head lying in her lap, lifting every so often to give her a lick on the cheek.

"…You have got to be kidding me."

***break***

"What the hell Stark?" Multiple glares were sent his way as they settled around the table in the hellicarrier.

In the end, Tony knocked the lion out with a tranquilizer as a result of every attempt to get close being met with a growl. While it was obvious the lion had no intention of hurting her, the dart was necessary despite his daughter's glee at petting "Simba". Animal control as well as the police were coming and he had to get Elli out of there before they got arrived.

After helping round up and return all of the loose animals—it turned out that the same man, the Jungle King as he wished to be called, was responsible for both the open cages as well as the gummy lizard. An odd combination but Tony could kind of see how the two complimented each other. After handing the guy over to the police, Tony had flown back to where he had left his teammates. Being the lucky man that he is—Tony had been just in time for Thor to summon a lightning bolt to tear the lizard apart, covering the entire street in a sugary syrup. The melted sugar had run into his suit and he felt sticky in places he did not want to think about. He had opted to stay in the suit, choosing to wait until he went home to have Jarvis hose him down.

"There was an emergency at the Zoo, a bunch of animals got loose and the police were still pretty far out so I figured you guys could handle Gumzilla," Tony was glad his mask was on right now, he couldn't stop the smirk at Rogers usually perfect hair covered in red goop.

"That doesn't change the fact that you turned off your comms and defied orders," Steve was trying to keep his patience with the man-child, but was struggling. Barton had badly twisted an ankle which could have been avoided had Iron Man been there, "your teammates should come before making yourself look good by rescuing some penguins."

"Alright, Capsicle," Tony could feel an eye twitch coming on, "I don't know if an old timer like you can remember the last time you went to a Zoo, but you know what is usually there?"

"Stark- "

"I'll tell you. A shit ton of elementary schoolers in matching t-shirts that would just look absolutely delicious to a hungry lion," he was pretty sure if it had been anyone other than Elli, they would've been mauled, "So while I am sorry Barton got hurt, he is a grown-ass man and not for one second have a had an ounce of regret about going to that Zoo today."

Barton blinked at the two, to be honest he didn't blame Stark—it was his own damn fault for not paying attention. Though, he did have to agree with Steve about Tony going off on his own without saying anything—even if it was to go and save a bunch of kids.

"That's enough," Fury glared at both men, "Stark, next time say something before taking off. Now all of you get out, you smell like burning marshmallows."

"That's it?" Steve gaped at the director, "You're just going to tell him not to do it again and nothing else? He does this all the time!"

"Steve has a point; this is the third time Stark has gone AWOL this month without any warning or good explanation," Natasha crossed her arms as she leaned back in her chair, even when she was spying on him as an assistant, Stark had pulled stunts like this frequently. The man was the same selfish person she had met two years ago. She still didn't understand why Pepper never seemed bothered whenever he missed another meeting.

The director had known exactly where Stark was each time he went off the grid. Even without the whole Zoo fiasco, Tony had a lot going on with his daughter. Early June—halfway through the year—meant it was Elli's growth month. In order to avoid injuries, she had to be refitted for her legs and arm every six months. New prosthetics meant a lot of pain for a few days and constant monitoring for the next few weeks. Tony had to be ready at a moments notice if one of Elli's limbs malfunctioned at school—not that anyone else on the team knew that.

Fury stared them all down, seeing the tension and distrust between the group. He knew Tony wasn't going to like this, but something needed to be done.

***break***

"No," Tony was kneeling in front of the kitchen stool his daughter was seated on, a screw driver fiddling with her knee joint. Fury was standing next to them, petting Deedee and holding the faux skin that usually hid the mechanical leg.

"I'm not really giving you the option, Tony."

"It's my house, Nick," the genius reaches up as Elli hands him the oil, "Did you forget that my secret daughter lives here?"

"I know you have this fear of people knowing about Elli," Tony snorts in agreement—he had every right after Obadiah, "but these people are supposed to be your teammates. You can't save the world with people on a regular basis and not let them know you have a kid."

"Oh, yes I can."

Fury just stared Tony down as the man moved his daughter's knee back and forth. The girl was wrinkling her nose again, annoyed with her daddy and Papa for talking like she wasn't here. She didn't like that her daddy wasn't getting along with his friends because of her and she didn't see why they couldn't move into the tower. Personally, she wanted to live with Captain America, but her daddy was being what Pepper called a poop head. She would bug her daddy about it, however, she was in trouble still for cuddling with the lion after her daddy told her not to. So she kept her mouth shut—not bothering to disguise her pout. Tony observed her crossed arms and jutted out lip with a sigh, before standing up to wipe the oil off of his hands.

"Fine. But they aren't living on the same floor and she isn't meeting them until I am ready for them to meet her."

"Deal," Elli grinned at her Papa, she was going to meet Captain America!

***end***

So Fury is going to make them bond whether they like it or not! The next few chapter will definitely be interesting.