Rebecca groaned as she moved about on the hard surface of the concrete floor, her back aching from the uncomfortable position. Her head was spinning, and she could feel a strings headache coming on. As her eyes opened to reveal an unfamiliar room, she panicked as to where she was. The last thing she remembered was kicking and shoving against Lucas as he called for the car, just before he faded into unconsciousness due to her heavy impact between her head and the pavement.

"Your grandfather was a very intelligent man." she heard a deep voice speak from in the room, speaking with a thick accent. "As was my father, Anton Vanko. They worked together, they built together, they were geniuses. But, then one day my father is deported back to Russia, he was betrayed."

Rebecca searched for the voice, sitting back in shock as she discovered who it was. "Y-you're supposed to be dead."

"I was." he nodded. "I was a dead man."

Rebecca shook her head in disbelief. "No...the explosion. They found your body."

"They found a body, it was not mine." Ivan explained. "I live now, more alive than I have been in a long time."

"I-I don't understand." she rubbed her head, feeling a growing lump where she had hit the ground. "You can't be...how?"

"Justin Hammer has been quite a friend to me." Ivan told her happily. "But he is not intelligent, he is an arrogant man, however, I choose life over death."

"Hammer helped you escape..." Rebecca realized, now seeing the motive behind everything Hammer was doing. "To build suits for him?"

Ivan shrugged. "It's easy to humor the lesser minds."

Everything he was saying only confused her even more. "So, they're not suits?"

"No."

"Then...what are they?"

"You will see soon enough." Ivan told her with a threatening tone. "And so will your father."

Rebecca sensed something horrible happening, as if this wasn't bad enough. Ivan had a grudge against Tony and his family, including Rebecca herself, but she didn't know what he interned on doing about any of it. He was supposed to be dead, this part of their worries was supposed to be over, and for a long time none of them spoke of Vanko, but now here he was.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, remaining in her secure position against the wall, her back pressed up against it as if she would be safer by doing so.

"I have thought about the day I could make your family pay for what they did to mine for many years." he explained. "I have worked on how I would do it, and I have created a force more powerful than your father and his suit. It wasn't only Howard Stark who worked on the arc reactor, my father did too, and from him I have learnt all I need to have my revenge."

Rebecca was terrified of this man she was looking at. "Why?"

"For over forty years my family has suffered because of your family's betrayal. It is only fair that I return the gesture." he explained with a smirk. "My first plans were focused on your father, the last remaining Stark, the man who got the fame and the glory that my family was entitled to. He grew up with everything I was to have, and he used my father's technology to keep himself alive, pretending to be hero. I hated him, I want to kill him. And then, I hear he has a child, a daughter, an heir to carry on the legacy. That's when my plans changed." Rebecca listened in closely to his explanation of his actions, wondering why he was telling her this instead of just killing her as he was suggesting. "You changed things. The name 'Stark' would no longer die with your father. Instead, you would be to carry the name, you would be the last Stark. I now had two targets."

Rebecca shook her head. "I was just a kid, and you wanted...t-to kill me?"

"I wanted your family to be non-existent. To rid the world of the name Stark as it should be, and it will be."

Tony's house was destroyed. Not only was the damage from his birthday party still present, but now the rooms had holes going through the walls and holes in the floor with cables running everywhere to a huge pipe that was taking up the space in his workshop now. Sledge hammering through concrete and drilling holes in his renovated floors meant very little to him, the idea of his chance of survival far outweighed all of those concerns. He had been working all afternoon on synthesizing the new element he had found, refusing to give up.

After all of his 'remodeling' in order to fit what he needed to synthesize the element, it was only a matter of perfecting the location of the surge of energy in order to have the element in a useable form, trying desperately not to let this plan fail after it was his only hope.

Finally, after hours of working and making sure everything was just right, the new element was created. The blue glow of the triangle was confirmation that he had succeeded. He let out a long, exhausted breath and hung his head to revel in the fact that he had done it. He managed to pull this off in hours, everything going to plan, which he wasn't used to.

"Jarvis," he called out as he placed the new element in the arc reactor core. "Begin diagnostics and all relatable tests, I want a reading on this thing and I want all potential scans. This is it."

Ben had driven around countless streets and areas as he searched for Rebecca. Something wasn't right and he knew it, something bad was happening. He stopped once more and tried calling her number, but it was no use.

"Call cannot be connected."

Where was she? She would never run off and leave everyone worrying over her like this, that was the last thing she wanted.

Ben's worries grew and grew as he searched, finding himself driving down the road to Tony Stark's mansion in hopes he could find her or at least know she was alright. If she wasn't here, he would then be officially concerned. He even checked the lake and the boardwalk, but everything was empty. He turned the ignition off, just staring blankly at the door. He didn't know what to say, they hadn't officially met yet and Ben couldn't didn't know if Tony remembered talking to him the other night, but he needed to confront him about what was going on and hopefully find some answers to ease his concerns.

"Sir, Ben White is approaching the main door." Jarvis informed.

Tony took his hands away from the keyboard and looked around the room at the mess and destruction he had created in the afternoon. He was still waiting for the tests on the new element to see if it was safe enough to use in his arc reactor.

Tony stood up and walked to the door of the workshop, hurrying upstairs to the front door. He was dressed in a robe after cleaning himself up from the afternoon's work, but he figured it was much better than the state he was in when Ben first seen him the other night, drunk. He opened the door just as Ben was about to knock, meeting the boy's blank expression.

"Uh, hello Mr. Stark."

"Ben," he stood back, gesturing for him to come inside the cluttered house. "Nice to see you again."

"You remember?"

"I remember you, yeah." he nodded. "Protecting Rebecca when I was...not thinking straight. You got her out of the way and you kept her safe."

Tony owed this boy a lot for what he had done that night, Rebecca could've been hurt or worse, and he put himself in danger to protect her.

"Well, I care about her." Ben told him. "A lot."

The way he spoke with such seriousness made Tony sure that Ben was a good guy. He put Rebecca first and he genuinely cared about her. Tony was always protective of his daughter when it came to boys and dating, and it was furthered when she met Lucas, but he felt Ben was different. He could respect him, and he could trust him, but only to an extent, he wasn't an easy man to win over.

"Good, because if you ever hurt her, you'll deal with me." Tony smiled at him to ease his words, but he needed to know that Ben took his seriously.

Ben nodded and smiled as well, but he was slightly annoyed at Tony's remark since he had been comforting Rebecca this entire time when it was Tony who had hurt her. "With all respect Mr. Stark, I've actually been the one there for her for the past few days."

Tony liked that Ben wasn't afraid to defend himself to Tony, he stood up for himself. "True," he nodded. "But don't ever think I care any less about her because of what I did, and don't think I'm not serious when I say you will deal with me if you ever cause her pain or sadness."

Ben kept his eye contact with the man that stood taller than him, absorbing his words, surprised by the amount of courage he had at that moment. "I understand and respect you Mr. Stark, but I would never hurt her."

"Then we have no problem." he concluded with a friendly smile.

"Actually, I have something-"

"Sir," Jarvis interrupted. "There has been a minor issue identifying the test subject as it not recognized."

Tony rolled his eyes. "That's the whole point of the test, Jarvis. To recognize it."

"Of course sir, however confirmation is needed."

Tony glanced back to Ben who seemed very confused by what he had just heard. He couldn't even imagine what Ben thought his 'test subject' was.

"Can't rely on technology." Tony muttered under his breath as he walked toward the stairs.

Ben wasn't sure if he should follow, Tony's attention had been completely taken by whatever tests he was running and he had just walked off at Jarvis's words. Ben took a few cautious steps toward the stairs, hesitating on walking down them.

"May I remind you technology is keeping you alive, sir?" Jarvis responded.

"Yeah, yeah. Just get this thing going again, can't afford to lose time."

Ben managed to make his way down the stairs at a slow pace, making it to the workshop door that was left open. He didn't know if Tony knew he was there and wanted privacy, but Ben's attention was then drawn to the absolute destruction in the room. Walls were blown out and hammered, the roof had holes in it with cables running everywhere and there were shelves lined across the wall that were cut in half as if a laser had attacked them. Whatever Tony was working on down here, it was powerful.

"Don't worry, I'm working on a renovation." Tony spoke without looking at Ben, his eyes glued to the computer screen as he initialized the tests again.

"Uh, what is all of this?"

"Just a bit of upgrading."

"A bit?"

"Well, it was just one upgrade, but it was a lot of work."

Ben remembered his reason for visiting, and he needed to tell Tony what was going on now before he became sidetracked even more, he just didn't want to. He didn't want to start something that might not be anything all because of his worrying, but he knew that if he didn't and something bad did happen, he would never forgive himself.

"Mr. Stark-"

"Just call me Tony." he told him. "I hate being called 'Mr. Stark' in my own home."

"Okay, Tony," Ben corrected himself. "I really need to talk to you."

Tony turned in his seat, catching the tone of voice Ben was using. "Then talk.''

Ben swallowed. "It's uh, it's Rebecca, I thought she might've been here but she's not and now I'm officially worried. Her calls won't connect, Ms. Potts hasn't heard from her since this morning, and I don't know what to do, I don't know where she is."

Tony took in every word Ben said, trying to piece together the situation. He was instantly worried and thinking of all the possible scenarios, but his main focus was finding her, and he needed all the information he could get.

"When's the last time you heard from her?" Tony asked seriously.

"Hours ago. I called her and she said she was on her way to Pepper's apartment and that she would be there in ten minutes and she would call me when she got there." he explained. "But...she didn't call, and I went over, no one was there."

"Where was she when you called?" Tony hurried over to his other computer and set up the tracking device that was fitted into Rebecca's phone.

"I don't know, she was walking, I think." Ben thought to himself. "We were here this morning, and then I left and-"

"Wait, you were both here earlier?"

Ben then remembered. "Uh, yeah, she needed to get some of her things."

"Why didn't you take her to Pepper's?" Tony interrogated.

"I-I don't know." Ben told him nervously. "I didn't think about that."

Tony wasn't in the mood to be lied to, and he knew Ben wasn't telling him the truth. He could tell by his mannerisms, his expression changing to nervous little twitches as he thought before speaking.

"Would've thought with you being here and all, she would've left with you." Tony countered.

Ben then changed his attitude, trying to cover up. "What's this got to do with finding her?"

"The fact you're lying to me and I'd like to know why." Tony spoke firmly.

Ben didn't want to tell him what he and Rebecca had found. He didn't want to be the one to tell him that his daughter knew that he was dying. All day he'd been lying. He lied to Pepper about it, but Tony knew he was trying to cover something up and it wasn't working.

"It doesn't matter, she wanted to be alone." Ben told him honestly.

Tony stood up quickly, walking over to him. "Something happened and I want to know. If that was the last time you saw her, I need to know what happened so I can find her."

"It's not my place to tell you." he spoke calmly although Tony was obviously angry at him, and his response only pushed the man further to discovering what happened.

"Okay, now you're just pissing me off." Tony lowered his voice, but it was just as furious. "This is my daughter, and if you care as much you say, you'll tell me exactly what happened so I can find her and make sure she's okay."

Ben paused for a moment, having a mental debate with himself. He wanted to find Rebecca, and he couldn't let his morality stand in the way of her safety. He didn't want to tell Tony, but he needed to, because he cared. He cared more than anything.

"She found your files." he confessed. "She knows about the poisoning and that you're dying." Tony stopped his yelling as the shock hit him. He wasn't expecting this, he didn't want her to find out like that. Ben could tell there were a million questions on Tony's mind, so he worked on explaining to him. "She said she was looking for codes for something, and she found a file that had tests in it and she found out. She was upset that you didn't tell her and that you would've died without her knowing, without her being able to understand and be with you, and she just shut down, didn't want me here, wanted to be alone."

Tony walked away from him, running his hands through his hair as he tried to process what happened. He wanted to explain to her why he didn't tell her, that he would never leave her without giving up and that he fixed it, but he needed to find her. Then, as he was replaying Ben's words in his head, he caught onto something.

"Codes?" he turned back to him. "She went through my files for codes? What was she doing?"

Rebecca was still in the same spot on the concrete floor as Ivan worked on one of the pieces for his 'suits'. They both remained in silence for a while, Rebecca thinking to herself as Ivan kept a close eye on her.

With her head pounding from her possible, yet very likely concussion, and her eyes closed as she leaned against the wall, the door to the room opened up.

"How are we doing?" Hammer smiled cheerfully. "Look at you Ivan, so committed to your work. Remember we need those suits done quickly." Then his eyes veered over to Rebecca. "You look tired. I think you might have a concussion. Hmm, yeah, you might want to get that looked at."

Rebecca glared at him. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

Hammer pulled his hand up in front of his mouth in a mocking portrayal of fear. "Oh, dear. Don't tell me that's a threat, little Stark. Are you forgetting that you're here all by yourself? Daddy can't help you now sweetheart."

Rebecca let out a slight chuckle. "You need to stop underestimating me."

"Prove me wrong and I will." he shrugged arrogantly. "Well, if you'll excuse me I have a pre-celebration to get to. Enjoy your visit. Until then, I'll leave your supervision in the capable hands of young Lucas here, who I'm sure you remember. Bye now."

Rebecca continued glaring at Hammer as he closed the door behind him. As the door slammed shut, Rebecca could see Lucas standing behind the door through the glass window in the centre, and he didn't look sympathetic at all. Instead he turned his back and ignored her.

Ivan then finally stopped his work and walked over to a small briefcase he had in the corner. As he lifted it onto the desk, Rebecca could see what it contained. The same weapon he used at Monaco, the same blue glow and the same terrifying noise. They were whips, and they were powered by an arc reactor providing it with electricity.

"What are you doing?" she asked, watching as he powered up the weapons and marveled at their potential.

"Putting my plan into motion." he answered. "But first, I use the bait to lure my prey."

Ivan walked back over to the table and grabbed the phone, pulling a number from his pocket and dialing. Rebecca feared the worst because she knew that she herself was the bait to be used, and she knew what he was doing as much as she convinced herself otherwise.

"Hey, Tony," Ivan smiled and Rebecca eyes went wide with fear. "How you doing?"

Okay, I apologize, I'm really not a fan of this chapter, I don't like it and I think I could've done better. I hope you enjoyed it, however, but I'm just very self-critical and just ignore this rambling, ugh, sorry. I'm going to try and get some more chapters up quicker, but as Christmas approaches things start getting busier and my time management is crazy. Hopefully I'll have more up soon as I usually update rather quickly. Please review and let me know what you think, I really appreciate hearing from you all even if it's a simple indicator of your opinion. Thanks for reading!

Note - Any readers who follow my one-shot series 'Being A Stark', I'm currently in the middle of writing the Christmas chapter(s) and will update as soon a possible, I'm just trying to make them as enjoyable as possible to read. Thanks.