"Lady Iron, how long were you searching for the Man of Iron?"

I tilt my head slightly. "Well he left in the middle of May, came back in the middle of August…so, about three months, maybe?"

"That dedication from one warrior to another is verily admirable, Lady Stark."

I blink slowly. "Uh…thanks?"

The rest of the room snickers as the screen lights up again, and I instantly tense, I know what's coming.

A~A~A

Taylor's fingers are a blur over the keyboard as her eyes sharpen and occasionally flick left to right and back again as she reads the code that's flying over the screen.

"Jarvis, I need you to look into a Samir Al-Hazar." she commands without looking up.

"Ma'am, we just looked into him not five minutes ago." the AI gently reminds her.

"Well do it again!" she insists as a computer beeps behind her. She rolls backwards in her chair, spinning around and letting her fingers find the keys as she types even faster, mumbling under her breath. "Jarvis, has the Pentagon updated it's firewalls recently?"

"The last update was last month, ma'am."

"And my last successful hack?"

"A month and a half ago."

"Hm," she hums, a small smirk growing on her face as she taps a few things on the screen, "time to change that, don't you think? Get me to the starting point."

The AI stays quiet but opens the screen anyways, and Taylor instantly attacks the keyboard. "Come on, come on."

"Passes three firewalls out of five ma'am."

"The Pentagon only has five firewalls?" Natasha turns to me incredulously.

"Back then, yes. In the six years since, Dad and I have worked with them to get them protection somewhere between Stark computers and their own. Easy enough to make them fun to hack for Dad and I, strong enough to prevent World War III."

"Why does it sound like hack the main center of Defense for the US is a weekend activity for you two?"

I shrug. "It is."

"How's the search coming on Hazar?"

"Finished, ma'am, and I have found nothing more incriminating than a burglary attempt four years ago."

"Fine," she sighs, "move on. Look at the terrorist cells in that area for any relatives, friends, and such."

"Will do ma'am. May I suggest you eat something?"

"When was the last time I ate, J?"

"Excluding coffee, two days."

"But I'm not hungry!" Taylor protests, her youth shining through.

"You never are, ma'am." Jarvis points out.

Taylor huffs and glares at the ceiling. "You win, alright? Just order some Chinese, I don't really care what at this point, just get Butterfingers to go get it."

One of the robots beeps and buzzes off to the elevator.

"The order is placed. Miss Stark, are you aware of the date?"

"No," Taylor replies, eyes still glued to one of the computers, "why?"

"Today is May 30th, ma'am. Your birthday."

Taylor freezes, tapping a few more keys and leaning back in her chair while a search loads on the computer in front of her. She links her hands behind her head as she takes in the ring of humming computers, holographic maps and globes, and pictures of various government officials and Arabs. "Just how every girls wants to spend their first day as a teenager, huh J?"

Jarvis doesn't reply, and Taylor's voice is much smaller as she continues. "He said he would be here. He said he wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I'm sure Sir would be here if it was at all possible, ma'am." Jarvis reassures her quietly.

Taylor just sighs and scrubs away the tears forming with the back of a hand as she walks over to a holographic display, pressing a few buttons and tapping a few items before a magazine cover pops up, the headline reading 'TONY STARK: DEAD?' in bold red letters.

"How long has it been, Jarvis?" Taylor sighs as she studies the article.

"Four days, ma'am, since he went missing."

"And they're already thinking he's dead." She sighs, closing down the hologram.

"Ma'am," Jarvis alerts, "You have an incoming call from Mr. Stane."

"Ignore." Taylor decides almost instantly. "I have better things to do than to be his work horse right now."

"…he's threating to declare Sir dead." Jarvis reports in a quiet tone.

Taylor freezes, her eyes darkening.

"What? No!" Clint jumps out of his chair. "That's…did he just…that's sick! And twisted! And so…so…"

"Wrong?" I supply, pulling him back down. "Sit down, hawk. I need my pillow."

When the now-thirteen year old replies, her voice is shaky and desperate. "Tell him…tell him it's barely been half a week, just give me a little more time, I just need a little more…"

"I need you to try and calm your breathing, ma'am. I will divert Stane if you wish. Also, you would probably like to know that your food has arrived."

"Thanks, J, send Butterfingers up."

The room goes silent for a minute before the elevator dings and Taylor gets up to retrieve the plastic bag, patting the robot on the 'head'. "Thanks, buddy. Go play with your brothers."

Taylor settles back to study a map and eat her Sesame chicken. "Jarvis, who is that one dot, right there?"

"A pregnant women in a small village in Jordan, ma'am, I don't think she's of any interest."

"Right," Taylor mumbles around a mouthful of food, "a 'course not. Carry on."

The room goes silent again, until "Ma'am, Colonel Rhodes is calling."

"You can answer that, I needed to talk to him anyways." Taylor calls as she rolls over to a blank hologram, stopping just before Rhodey's face fills the screen. "Rhodey."

"Taylor. You look like crap."

"Why thanks, that's what every girl wants to hear from her uncle on her birthday."

"Sorry. Happy 13th, by the way. You doing okay?"

Taylor just shrugs. "How's your end of the search coming?"

"None of our leads are panning out." Rhodey sighs. "You?"

"Right now all I have is a four year old attempted burglary and a pregnant woman, but I'm not giving up yet. Speaking of giving up, did you know the press is already speculating about his death?"

"Yeah."

Taylor studies her uncle for a moment. "Rhodey, what do you think?"

"Personally? I refuse to believe my best friend is dead after only four days as missing. Plus, he has you looking. If anyone can find a Stark…"

"It'll be a Stark." Taylor nods.

"But back to the original topic: you still look like crap. Have you been eating? Don't bother lying to me, I can get Jarvis to tell the truth."

Taylor just holds up the empty Chinese carton.

"Have you been sleeping at all?"

Taylor just shifts uncomfortably and glances at her feet.

"Taylor! You said you wouldn't let this consume you!"

"It hasn't!" she insists. "It's been four days, Rhodey, I've done worse in the lab."

"I'm sure you have, but that doesn't make it healthy. Hey, I need to go, but I'll talk later, alright?"

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye. Get some sleep! In a real bed!"

"Yeah, yeah." Taylor rolls her eyes as the call is ended, turning back to one of the maps.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss Stark?"

"I need you to look up this group, right here. And don't even think of trying to put me to bed, we both know it isn't going to work."

"Of course not, ma'am."

A~A~A

"Hey, I have a random thought." Bruce cuts in. "If these are Tony's memories, why aren't we seeing Afghanistan? He had no clue this was happening,"

I shrug. "It was important to later events, I guess. I really don't know. At this point, they're looking more like Jarvis' memories, but that's not the case."

"So you did this," Natasha waves at the now dark screen, "for three months?"

"About that, yeah. Work until you collapse from exhaustion, eat every two days, and repeat the cycle."

"Remind me to look over that report I made. I might need to change a few things."

"You needed to change a few things before this all happened Tasha, but whatever."

"Please tell me this is the worst part." Clint almost begs me.

"Sort of." I shrug. "A lot of things are revealed later…you'll see."

"I have no choice otherwise."

"That you do not."