"So, I'm basically on house arrest?" I asked, dramatically falling back onto the couch in the living room. It was late morning, and I was still in my pajamas.
Dad shrugged and continued to wipe at his hands with a rag. "Pretty much."
"What do you expect me to do around here?" I complained. "Play in the back yard?"
"I'm sure you'll come up with something." He was starting to walk away.
"Are you going somewhere?" I asked, getting to my feet and following him. I got a running start and slid after him in my socks. The problem was that I went to fast and accidentally ran into the wall.
I hugged my arm to my chest. "What are you going to do?"
Dad sighed and turned around to look at me. "If I tell you the truth, will you promise to stay here?"
"With an answer like that, no way." I guaranteed. He groaned and turned around again, making his way to the stairs that led down to the lab.
"I'll call Pepper to come over. Don't come down to the lab for a few hours." He called.
I huffed, blowing some hair out of my face. On a normal occasion, I would have loved to sneak down to the lab to see what he was working on. But I was still new here. I didn't want to give him a reason to kick me out.
Instead, I decided to explore the house more and find something else to entertain myself. Each closet presented me with more knowledge of my dad, which was helpful. It was like getting to know him without breaking down that wall of feelings first. Besides, if I was stuck here while Lyle roamed the Malibu streets, I could at least have a little fun.
In one closet I found an old dusty box tucked up on a shelf. After pulling it down, I found that it was my dad's collection of awards from when he was a kid. I rifled through the certificates until I found the earliest one. Science fair award, from when he was about eight years old. I picked up the box and carried it to my bedroom, so that I could compare his stuff with mine.
I still hadn't completely unpacked from the move from Chicago. I didn't know why. It probably had something to do with leaving the last of my mother behind. I got out my box of awards, shaking my head, as if that would clear it. After digging around for a moment, I found my first certificate. Age eight. Like father, like daughter, I guess.
The doorbell rang and I went to get the door. Pepper was standing outside in casual clothes. She smiled at me, passing through saying, "Hey Amelia, how are you?"
"I'm good." I told her and locked the door.
"Did Tony call me over here just to keep you away from him?" She asked sarcastically.
I grinned. "It feels like that. The joke's on him though. I'm looking through his stuff."
I saw her eyes light up. "Oh? Find anything interesting?"
"So far, only a box of science prizes from when he was a kid."
"You'll have to show me those." Pepper said as she slipped off her shoes, leaving them next to the couch.
"There was another box in that closet, but I couldn't reach it without a chair, so I left it for later." I mentioned, pointing to the closet, whose door was wide open.
"I'll get a chair from the kitchen." She concluded, padding away in bare feet. I stared at the cardboard box, getting the feeling it had something important inside.
"Here we go." Pepper came back with a chair from the kitchen table. I stood on it and carefully pulled it from its spot, then handed it off to Pepper. She sat down on the floor with me so we could rummage through it.
"It's only computer junk." Pepper breathed out, disappointed. I picked up one of the external hard drives.
"Not necessarily." I said, returning it to the box. "I want to take a look at this stuff on my computer."
"Mind if I join you?" She asked nicely, which wasn't necessary at all.
"Come on." I said in reply, nodding my head towards my bedroom. As I started messing with my tech, Pepper looked around my room.
"It looks like you're not really moved in yet." She noticed. I didn't say anything. I had been living here for over a month. I just couldn't force myself to move in all the way.
"Amelia?" She asked me.
"It's nothing." I mumbled, fumbling around with an external hard drive. After plugging it in I was able to access some video files. One of them was labeled TCG – Flight Tests. "Look at this."
I clicked on the video and it began to play as Pepper stared over my shoulder.
"Oh my—" Pepper said as I gasped, "No way!"
It was my father in his lab. These were his original flight tests for his Iron Man suit!
"I'm going to hook this up to the t.v." I told her, already moving my laptop to the living room.
Pepper nodded vigorously, "I'll get the popcorn."
Third Person p.o.v.
Tony Stark was closing in on Jacobson's location. It hadn't been easy. The only thing that was troubling him was the sound of laughter that was trickling down the stairs from the floor above. It had only started a few minutes ago, but it was enough to pull him away from his work, purely to see what was going on.
Stark emerged from the lab and watched the two women in his life, curled up on the couch laughing their asses of at the t.v. on the wall. They were sharing a bowl of popcorn.
"What's going on up here?" He asked suspiciously.
Pepper and Amelia looked at him and laughed more.
"Alright, what are you guys watching?" Stark stepped further into the room…only to see himself on the screen. He pointed. "Where did you get this?"
"Wait, let me go back to the best part!" Amelia went back through the video and played the part when he fell right on top of his car. They burst out cackling again.
"Seriously?" Stark asked, cringing at what was happening in the video.
"Look at your hair!" Pepper exclaimed, almost giggling aloud at it.
"This is the best thing I've seen in a very long time." Amelia stared in awe at the video, as her father looked on uncomfortably.
"I'm going back to the lab. Don't even think about sending this to anyone or you'll be grounded until you're thirty." Stark went away to hide.
Affronted, Amelia scoffed sarcastically, "Yeah, that's likely."
A few days later, Amelia found herself in the lab. She hadn't left the house in a long time, not that she had noticed. She had been working on her repulsor gun and had consumed her. If asked, she probably couldn't differentiate what day it was. The problem presenting itself involved the front end of the barrel.
"Why wont it just shoot straight?" She muttered to JARVIS then held up two fingers, pinching the air. "I am this close to hitting it on the table."
"Why don't you ask your father, miss?" JARVIS offered in response.
"That is a great question, my British friend. Where is he?" Amelia tore herself away from the swivel chair and made her way to the stairs, holding the gun in one hand.
"The living room." JARVIS continued, "I should warn you that your father has company—"
Amelia wasn't listening. She hadn't slept more than an hour the night before. She called up the stairs as she ascended, "Dad? My gun is being stupid and won't—"
She faltered after entering the living room. Seated on the furniture was the team. The Avengers. All of them.
She turned sharply to Stark, saying, "Oh, come on! We talked about this!"
"Did we?" Stark replied.
"Wait, hold on." Bruce Banner halted the two. "You have kids?"
"Just the one." Stark answered, pausing a moment to make up his mind about actually introducing everyone. "This is Amelia."
No one said anything.
"Why are you guys here?" Amelia asked suddenly. She looked at the papers on the coffee table and then at the t.v., which had a picture of Lyle Jacobson and his last known location. "What is going on?"
"I was doing some research on Jacobson—" Stark explained.
"Let me stop you there." Amelia interrupted. "I don't think you really needed to—"
"—and I found that he has been in close contact with—" He continued before being cut off again.
Amelia was becoming more annoyed. "It really shouldn't be a problem—"
"Stalking is a major problem, Amelia!" Stark exclaimed. Steve Rogers stood up and coughed, stopping both of them from bickering any longer.
"Would you like us to leave?" He asked politely.
"Sit down, Steve." Amelia ordered without looking at him. She kept her eyes on her father. "I think—"
Clint Barton leaned back and put his feet up on the coffee table. "Have you met her before, Cap?"
"We've met. I didn't know they were related though." Steve replied.
"We shared a plane together." Amelia sighed and fidgeted with her gun. "Also, I've met Romanoff over there."
"So Rogers is called by his first name and I'm just 'Romanoff'" Natasha smiled.
"Yep, pretty much." Amelia began walking away. "I'm going back to the lab."
"You don't want to know what we're all here for anymore?" Stark rose his eyebrows.
She was already half way downstairs when she called, "Whatever it is, leave me out of it."
Stark scoffed and looked back at the group.
Clint rolled his eyes at him, saying, "Well, she certainly inherited your personality."
