A:N/ This take place during Avengers. The stories are not in chronological order, I know, but I just had to get IM done before I started Avengers. Happy Holidays, everyone! (and a happy birthday to me)

Chapter 1:

I've been trying to work with arc reactor technology to create energy. That thing can power Dad's suits and it made me start to wonder what else it can power? I've gotten it to work with a light bulb. I am able to measure its output and with that, I grab a pencil and a piece of paper and begin computing. Cue the Jeopardy theme music as I compute most of the formulas in my mind. It's simple math, really. Nothing out of my comfort zone. It's not long before I come up with an estimate of the size needed to operate Stark Tower, which has recently been constructed in New York. It's where we all are now.

Dad comes by and sees me working.

Dad, ever the curious one.

"Hey, what'cha working on?"

He has had no idea of what I've been working on.

"I was curious as to what other things this thing can power besides Iron Man. I'm calculating the size needed to power Stark Tower. I estimated monthly energy usage and concluded by using this model that a two foot-long cylinder that's the diameter of an average dinner plate will power the tower for about a year."

"Jeez, no wonder I haven't much of you lately, you been bussssy."

"I believe I just made us the first name in clean energy. Now only to manufacture it in an eco-and-animal-friendly way."

When I said that I want to take Stark in the greenest direction possible, I wasn't kidding.

"Do you have a diagram? We can start right now."

"Yeah, right here." I pull out the set of blue prints.

Dad and I begin work. We are about the same way, once we get our heads wrapped around a project, it's what we do. We don't stop until we finish it. Between the two of us, it doesn't take long at all.

"Ta-da!" I say when I finish screwing on the last piece.

"Let's see if it works."

"Tell your Mom to power down and I'll go install this." He puts on the Mark VI and jets out of the penthouse.

"Mom, can you power down the building? Dad's going to install the reactor."

"Got it."

Mom's cell phone then rings.

"Alright, it's done," Mom reports. We are in the dark. It's not that scary. I've been through worse things than being in the dark. I know what true fear feels like and I hope to never feel it again.

It is a few minutes before we hear Dad say anything.

"Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you."

"You disconnected the transmission lines, are we off the grid?" I ask him

"Stark tower is now is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and actually works," Mom retorts.

"I am going to pretend like I didn't hear that," I tell her.

"I assume. Light her up." Dad says.

"How's it look?" I ask.

"Like Christmas, but with more…me," he replies.

"We've got to go wide with the public awareness campaign, you need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow, working on the zoning for the next three buildings," Mom tell us. Fortunately for me, she still has the Stark Industry Reins.

"Pepper, enjoy the moment.

"Get in here and I will."

Dad flies back onto the platform of Stark Tower. As he walks back into the penthouse, the robots take the suit off of him.

"Levels are holding steady," Mom says from her position at the control panel.

"Of course they are. Two Starks were on this," Dad says as he tries to give me a noogie. I dodge my way out of it.

The elevator opens suddenly and out walks Phil. We've seen quite a bit more of the SHIELD Agent since he appeared at the Press conference that my father called after he was rescued.

"Phil!" Mom and I chirp at the same time.

"Phil?" Dad asks in surprise and jealously. "His first name is 'Agent.'" He walks towards us.

Phil just holds out a file towards Dad. "We need you to look this over." He hands me a file as well.

I follow Dad over to the control panel and up pops all the basic info that SHIELD has on the Avengers team.

"I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight," Mom says.

"Tomorrow," Dad says in a soft pleading voice.

"You both have homework. A lot of homework."

"What if I didn't?" Dad asks mom.

"If you were finished?" Mom then leans into Dad's ear and Phil and I look away in embarrassment. She obviously whispered some kind of sweet nothing to him.

"Square deal. It's the last date," Dad says after he gasps.

Mom then kisses Dad.

"Work Hard," Mom says. "Be safe."

Mom leaves with Phil who agrees to drive her to the airport.

"All right," Dad begins. "I don't want you anywhere near the fighting. I want you here, reviewing the case files. I'll call you if I need any help."

"Dad, I —" I start to complain.

"Eh, eh, eh! None of that. Your mother would kill me after I killed myself if anything happened to you. Your place is here."

"Fine," I huff.

I find myself on a Quinjet with Phil and Steve Rodgers. Captain America in the flesh. I don't think he and Dad are going to get along. He's a bit too straight-edged for Dad. Phil came to get me because he thought that they might need my help.

Mom didn't exactly like the idea, but Phil assured her that I will only be a consultant, that I will remain on the helicarrier at all times, and be supervised. It will be a long flight.

"Captain Rodgers, Andrina Stark," Phil officially introduces us.

"Andie. Nice to meet you, Captain."

"Likewise, Ms. Stark."

"Does my Dad even know I'm coming?"

"No, he doesn't."

This ought to be fun.

I begin reading the file once again. He and the Captain go off to talk. I fall asleep with the file in my lap. I awake in a small bed in what is obviously a rack on some kind of vessel. I look out a window and found that it is dark and the ship is in the sky and not on the sea. I change my clothes and go towards the bow of the ship. I find that it is a largely windowed place, full of people sitting at computers.

"He's going to drag this out," I hear the Captain say.

"Andrina, welcome aboard," Fury greets me.

"Thank you, sir," I reply.

"Good to see you again, Andie." Natasha tells me.

"Good to see you again, too, Nat. I miss having you around."

"He really grows on ya, doesn't he?" I hear Dr. Banner say. I go up to him and shake his hand.

"I'm a big fan of yours, Dr. Banner. I wrote one of my thesis papers on your anti-electron collisions work. A very interesting read, well for me anyways."

"Glad you enjoyed it," he replies in a flattered and shocked voice.

"So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve looks behind me and I do so as well. Behind me, in the flesh, is the god of thunder. He has shoulder length blonde hair and his Asgard armor on.

"Should I be listening to this?" I ask Fury in a low whisper.

"You're fine."

"He has an army, called the Chitarui, they're not of Asgard, or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect for the Tesseract.

"An army? From outer space?" Rodgers asks rhetorically.

"So he's building another portal." Dr. Banner says — it wasn't a question. "It's why he needs Dr. Selvig."

"The astrophysicist?" I ask.

"He's a friend." Thor states.

"Loki has him under some sort of spell. Along with one of ours," Natasha reports.

She looks sad as she says this. I wonder who it is.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki, that guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him," Dr. Banner says.

"But it's obvious he has some ulterior motive. It's got to be something on this ship and the only thing on it worth anything to him…is the team. It is the only thing standing in his way," I say.

"Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother," Thor replies.

"He killed 80 people in 2 days," Natasha retorts.

"He's adopted."

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what does he need to Iridium for?" Banner asks.

"Iridium is usually a —" I start.

"Stabilizing agent." Dad's voice joins mine.

"Andie? What the hell are you doing here?" Dad asks me. His shock at seeing me here is quite amusing.

"I called her in. Three geniuses are better than one," Fury answers. "We need all the help we can get finding the cube, after all it was Howard Stark that found it to begin with."

Dad hugs me. "You are then prohibited from leaving the proximity of the ship," he tells me as he releases me.

"I was already told that I wouldn't be involved with any fighting, but I brought my suit just in case."

Dad goes up to the command post and starts touching away at the screens. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," says a nearby SHIELD agent. She's pretty with dark brown hair and blue eyes.

"That sounds exhausting," Dad replies.

"The rest of the raw materials that Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of a high density. Something-"

"To kick start the cube." I finish.

"When did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics?" asks the female SHIELD Agent.

"Last night," Dad replies. "The packet, Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers."

"I brought Granddad's notebook. When we were working on your new chest piece, I remember seeing something about a cube." I reach into my bag and throw the book on the table.

"Am I the only one who actually did the reading?" Dad asks.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" The Captain ask.

"Granddad wrote that the cube needed to be heated to 120 million Kelvin," I reply.

"Unless Selvig has figure out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling Effect," Dad continues.

"If he did that, he can achieve heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet," Dr. Banner asserts.

"Finally, someone who speaks English."

"Is that just what happened?" Captain Rodgers asks.

"It's good to meet you Dr. Banner. I'm a big fan of your work, and the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

I just roll my eyes. Dad.

"Thanks." Dr. Banner replies, awkwardly.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping that you two," he says, pointing to us, "would join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his, it may be magical, but it looks a lot like a hydro weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys," Fury replies.

"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor says, his confusion evident on his face.

"I do. I understood that reference," Steve says, very excitedly.

I see Dad roll his eyes.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Dad asks Banner.

"Right this way," Dr. Banner says. I can tell he was scared to death to be on board.

"Andie?"

"Right behind ya, Dad." I hurriedly grab Granddad's notebook and walk to join them.