It's the final Chapter! I'm now working on changes to Born to Fly Part II so I will probably be erasing old chapters and replacing them with the new ones. Thanks to all of you for reading and please continue to leave reviews!

"How do you think the Mark I chest piece is going to hold up?" asked Tony as he flew across the night sky.

"The suit's at 48% and falling, sir. That chest piece was never designed for sustained flight."

"Any chance I can convince you to take it easy?" Joei bit her lip as the suit's indicators flashed on one of the screens.

"Keep me posted," was all Tony said, "Give me a line to Pepper."

JARVIS put the call through, allowing both Tony and Joei to hear.

"Pepper!"

"Tony! Tony, are you okay? Is Joei okay?" Pepper answered completely out of breath. It sounded like she was rushing away from something.

"We're fine. How are..."

"Obadiah, he's gone insane!"

"I know. Listen, you'd better get out of there."

"He built a suit."

"Get out of there right now!" Joei yelled as a heat scan of the building in front of Tony flashed with a large shape just below Pepper.

Obadiah's voice was barely audible through both Tony's suit and Pepper's bluetooth.

"STANE!"

The power readings in front of Joei flashed from green to yellow. She removed her headset and turned toward Barton, who was standing at attention at the door.

"He's down to thirty percent," she sighed, running a hand through her hair, "Even if he beats Obadiah's suit, he's going to need a serious recharge."

"What do we do?" Barton asked seriously. Joei has hardly enough time to dwell on the fact that she was the one giving out the orders.

"JARVIS, do I have clearance for the Mark II chest piece's blueprints?"

"Yes, Miss Stark."

"Dad can handle things without me for a few minutes. Bring up the prints and get me the materials I need."

"Straight away, Miss Stark."

"And put the feed on the speakers. I want to still be able to hear him," said Joei, grabbing a desk mic and plugging it into the computers instead of her headset, "Barton, how good are you at engineering?"

"I can fix a tractor," he answered. Joei wasn't sure if he was joking, since he'd spoken with his usual severe looking face.

"It'll do. Come help me."

The blueprints were simpler than Joei had expected. All of the materials were on hand, of course. Tony had probably been planning on updating the design some more. They worked quickly and in silence for a while, with Barton proving to be better at putting things together than Joei thought.

"Is it safe for him to have this stuff in his body?" asked Barton, eying the square of palladium that Joei grabbed with a pair of tongs.

"It's safer than not having it in his body," she muttered, placing the palladium into its slot. "Ready. Test it for me, J."

Joei turned up the sound on the suit's feed and watched intently. Tony was hovering somewhere over Obadiah's giant armor.

"Impressive. You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own."

"Oh shit he can fly!"

"Sir, it appears the suit can fly."

"Dully noted. Take me to maximum altitude."

"WHAT?!" Joei yelled through the mic.

"With only 15% power, the odds of reaching that..."

"I know the math! Do it!"

"Oh shit..." Joei fell into her chair.

"The Mark III chest piece is fully functional and ready for installation, Miss Stark."

Joei sat straight and turned to Barton again, "We have to get over there. My car. You drive. Now."

She grabbed the new chest piece and the sweater she'd discarded earlier which held her phone.

"JARVIS, give me a feed on the GPS screen," she said as they drove off so fast that in any other condition Joei would have screamed and maybe thrown up.

"Thirteen percent power."

"Climb!"

"Dad, stop!"

"Eleven percent."

"Keep going!"

"You're losing power!"

"Seven percent."

"Just leave it on the screen! Stop telling me!"

"Stop this right now!"

"We're almost there," said Barton as he squeezed between a car and a motorcycle, "Thank God for tiny cars, huh?"

"Shut up and drive faster! Dad! Where are you?!"

"I'm about – hmph!"

Obadiah's voice was suddenly loud in the car, like he was speaking very close to Tony.

"You had a great idea, Tony! But my suit is more advanced in every way!"

"How'd you solve the icing problem?"

"Icing problem?"

"Ha!" Joei momentarily rejoiced as metal hit metal and Obadiah's scream got farther and farther away.

"Two percent." The screen on the car's dash went black.

"Shit!"

"Langua—AAGHH!"

"DAD!"

"Whoooaaa."

"We are now running on emergency back up power."

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shitshitshit!"

"What was that about language?" Joei raised an eyebrow.

"Umph!"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Tony groaned, "I'm okay. Gonna be a little sore tomorrow. No piggy back rides for a while, okay?"

"I think I can deal with that as long as you're still around. I'm arriving at your location."

"YOU WHAT?! I told you to stay in the house!"

"Technically you said that the bouncer had to keep an eye on me. Which he is. I've got an extra reactor with me. Where are you?"

"On the roof. Don't come any closer than the parking lot yet. J, put me through to Pepper."

"You don't have power left, Dad. Place the call yourself."

"Right. Hey, Potts."

"Tony! Oh my God, are you okay? Wait, a car just pulled up."

"Yeah, that's me."

"Margaret Josephine Stark what are you doing here?!"

"Saving lives, Pepper. Now focus."

"Girls, I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. Pep, I'll be right there. Joei, tell your agent friend that he and I are going to exchange words."

Joei was about to reply with a witty comeback when a sudden crash sounded behind Tony.

"Nice try!"

"Are you effing serious?!" Joei yelled, smacking the dashboard.

"Ow. I'm okay. Weapons status?"

"Repulsors offline." JARVIS answered, "Missiles offline."

"So what's ON line?" Joei asked desperately.

"Flares!"

"Very clever, Tony."

"There they are," said Barton, pointing through the windshield toward the roof of the factory.

"I need to get out there," Joei mumbled, grabbing the new arc reactor and trying to open the door. It was locked and the child safety was on, "Unlock the doors, Barton."

"No."

"Barton!"

"I said no. Coulson's got a perimeter set up with enough agents to take care of it. I've got strict orders to not let you out of this car."

"Open the door or I will bust the damn windows!"

"It's bullet proof glass, Josephine. You're staying in this car until the fight is over."

Joei let out an angry yell before flopping back into her seat, her hands sweaty as the fight continued.

"Girls, I need some help."

"Tony!"

"Dad!"

"This isn't working. We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."

"How are you going to do that without JARVIS?"

"Pepper's going to do it. Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's going to fry everything up here."

"Like a blast from one of your hand pieces." said Joei.

"Only really, really big," said Tony.

"Okay, I'm going in now." said Pepper, walking past Joei into the factory.

"Make sure you wait until I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time."

"Come straight down here. I need to change that chest piece before the backup power runs out," said Josephine.

From down in the parking lot Joei could make out some of the fighting, until they disappeared toward the center of the roof.

"Hmph! Uh, my head piece is off. Working strictly on bluetooth right now."

"It's ready, Tony! Get off the roof!"

There was no answer.

"Tony!"

"What's happening?" Joei could no longer see her father, but Stane was looming above something in the front center part of the roof, just where the reactor was.

"Pepper!...Time to hit the button!"

"You told me not to!"

"Just do it!"

"No! Pepper, do not hit that button!"

A hand rested itself on Joei's shoulder, making her look at Barton, "You only get one chance at taking this guy out. It's time to make the hard call."

Joei's eyes watered and she turned back toward the roof, "Can you open the door? I won't go close enough to get hurt."

The door unlocked and Joei ran out, reactor still in hand.

"Pepper! Push it!" Tony screamed one last time.

From inside, a surge of energy began.

"Joei, I'm sorry but th-"

"Dad!"

The energy surge blasted the roof. A large figure fell through, incinerating almost instantly. Joei tried not to think about what that meant, as long as there wasn't a smaller red and gold figure falling through.

"Joei!"

"Pepper!" she hugged the older woman, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Joei nodded before looking back at the roof, "He didn't fall through. He's still up there."

The blast stopped, prompting Joei to grab Pepper's hand and start running toward the factory, Barton following closely. The roof was a mess of shattered glass, but on one side they could make out a red and gold arm hanging down and a tiny light flicking on and off. Joei ran forward and touched the faltering light.

"Oh God. Daddy. Come on. Help me, we need to get this thing off him."

They began tearing at the pieces around his chest, but they wouldn't budge.

"I can't change the reactor with this!"

"Here. Maybe this can help." Barton was standing above her, holding out Tony's missing glove, "It was over there by the AC units."

"Put it on," said Pepper.

Joei placed her hand in the glove. It was too big around her hand, but it instantly responded to her touch. Gently, she grasped the edges of the chest pieces, which began coming off one by one. She started working faster until most of Tony's chest was clear of metal.

"I didn't bring anything to cut the wires with." Joei realized, her panic returning.

"Here." Barton pulled an army knife out of his back pocket.

"Oh God. I can't do it." Joei gasped, "Pepper, I can't do it."

"You can, Joei. You helped me do it, remember? Gently. Keep your hands steady. Don't touch the sides. I'll help you. We'll do it together."

"Right. Yeah. Okay."

Joei turned the reactor to the side, easing it out slowly to reveal the wire attached to the magnet.

"There's more gooey stuff than last time. He'll have to look into that."

"Easy. Don't yank out the magnet," Pepper smiled wryly.

Joei used the army knife's tiny scissors to cut the wire attaching the reactor to the magnet. Once she was sure the electromagnet had lost its charge, she eased it out with Pepper's help, careful not to touch the sides of the chest cavity and quickly moving the new reactor through the cavity.

The three of them held their breath for half a second before a small surge sounded from Tony's chest piece and the reactor glowed a strong, steady blue.

Tony groaned lightly, his eyes scrunching together.

"Daddy? You okay?"

"Uuughhh...I've never been this hungover."

"That's not funny." Joei chided, helping Pepper hold Tony up.

"Uh, your services are no longer needed, soldier...spy...whatever you are."

Barton nodded, "There's an ambulance waiting for you outside."

"Don't need it."

"Yes, you do," the two women answered together, and this time he didn't bother arguing.

March 14, 2009

"Look who made the front page," Joei said, walking into the green room that led to the press room and dropping the newspaper in front of Tony.

"Would you look at that?"

"Five people were injured."

"Call the hospital, Pepper. Tell them I want all hospital bills to be charged to my account."

"I'll stop by the hospital myself," said Josephine, "Pepper has enough on her plate."

"Why am I sensing hostility? Do you think this is all somehow my fault?"

"Some of it," Joei answered simply, crossing her arms and walking over to Agent Coulson who was on the phone near the door.

"Yes, boss. I'll take of it." Coulson hung up and sighed.

"Tough week?" Joei smiled.

"I've had tougher. I figure I should get used to it if I'm supposed to keep working with the Starks."

"We're something alright," Joei snorted, then pointed to the file in Coulson's arms, "Is that his alibi?"

"No. Actually, it's yours." said Coulson, lowering his voice so that Tony and Pepper couldn't hear them, "Consider it your Freshman orientation packet. Your alibi is in there. You're going to Syracuse University, majoring in Psychology like you requested. It's only about an hour's drive from the Communications Academy. You chose to live off campus."

"And the real information?"

"Everything you need to know is in there."

"Got it," she nodded, taking the file.

"I'm going to need a full report on everything you know about your father's captivity and his escape by Friday. Somebody will stop by to pick it up."

"Got it."

"And Miss Stark?"

"Yes?"

"I know you want to keep him in the dark for now, but eventually you will need to tell your father about your real post-high school plans."

"I will," she nodded, "But right now he can still keep me from going. I don't want to say anything until it's too late for him to lock me away in a tower somewhere."

"I understand," said Coulson before walking toward Tony and handing him a pair of index cards, "Here's your alibi."

"Okay."

"You were on your yacht."

"Yeah."

"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night and sworn statements from 50 of your guests."

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island."

Pepper and Joei both raised an eyebrow at Tony.

"And where would that put me, Dad?"

"Uhh..."

"Just read it word for word," said Coulson.

"There's nothing about Stane here."

"That's being handled," answered Coulson, "He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such poor safety records."

"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard? He's my body...I mean, is that... it's kind of flimsy, don't you think?"

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark. Just stick to the official statement, and soon this will all be behind you."

Josephine almost snorted at that. Instead, she looked at the television screen where Rhodey was still speaking and said, "You've got 90 seconds."

"How's my face?" Tony asked as Pepper led Coulson to the door.

"You can't even tell you got your ass kicked."

"Great. What's in the file?"

"College stuff," Joei shrugged. "What do you think about Syracuse, New York?"

"I thought you had your heart set on UCLA," Tony's eyebrows knit together.

"Maybe I just want to get as far away from you guys as possible."

"Now you sound like a teenager."

"I am a teenager," Joei rolled her eyes, "Now go. Take your cards."

"Right. You want to come along?"

"Do I have to say anything?"

"Nope."

"'Stand still, look pretty' it is, then."

Tony offered his arm, and she slid her hand into the crook of his elbow, quickly smoothing down her hair and putting on her best 'I am sorry for this tragedy' face. In reality, she was angry, and hurt, and still a little on edge. The adrenaline from last night hadn't quite worn off, and she was pretty sure her hands would start shaking soon enough. She'd just gone through the horror of thinking that her dad was dead for a second time, and nobody had the slightest idea about it.

Rhodey announced them and they stepped up onto the platform. Rhodey gave Joei a small smile and a pat on the arm, and she stood off to the side, nodding slightly at the reporters who looked her way.

"Thank you. It's been a while since I've stood in front of you all. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time."

Joei laughed quietly, getting the same response from the press. She was working the crowd into the reaction she and Tony wanted and they didn't even know it.

"There has been speculation that I was involved in the events that took place on the freeway and the rooftop..."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark," Christine Everheart interrupted, making Joei want to roll her eyes and throw her very expensive high heeled shoe at the older woman, "Do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you..."

"We know it's confusing," Joei spoke up, getting closer to the microphones so that she was standing beside her dad, "Honestly, things happened so fast and we were so far away from it all that by the time we had a grasp on what was happening, it was already over."

"Yes. Exactly. Now, it's one thing to question the official story and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I am some sort of superhero."

"I didn't say you were a superhero."

Josephine swallowed, her hand dropping to pull on Tony's suit jacket.

"You didn't? Good. Because that would be outlandish and...fantastic."

"Yeah," Joei smiled, trying to turn it into a joke, "Who wouldn't love to fly, right?"

"I'm just not the hero type," Tony continued, and Joei groaned inwardly, "With this laundry list of character defects, and all the mistakes I've made, largely public."

Joei mumbled at him through her teeth, "The cards, Dad. Stick to the cards."

"Right. Yeah." Tony cleared his throat and held up the cards in front of him. Joei smiled brighter this time, "The truth is...I am Iron Man."

Josephine's smile dropped and she let out a long sigh just as the press went crazy.

"Okay. You're going," Joei grabbed her dad's arm and led him toward Rhodey, "Take him back to the green room. I'll deal with this."

"Are you sure?" Rhodey asked, eyeing the reporters who were still yelling out questions warily.

"I'm sure. Just go." Joei rolled her eyes at the both of them. Tony looked like he might argue, but she pushed him forward again before walking back to the podium herself, "If you could all please settle down."

"Miss Stark!"

"Joei!"

"How many suits are there?"

"What's it made out of?"

"How many times has it been used?"

"Joei, is it a weapon?"

"Miss Stark, will it be commercialized?"

"Please! Be seated!" Joei raised her voice, her hands gripping the sides of the podium. The reporters finally settled down to listen, some of them still taking pictures. She took a deep breath, schooling her features.

Joei had spoken to the press many times. She'd been on Oprah, the Tyra Banks show, Ellen (twice), Saturday Night Live, and Regis and Kelly. At every red carpet event she would smile, take pictures, and answer silly questions. But she'd always been the cute little heiress. The one that reminded people that Tony Stark was a human being, and made people laugh to distract them from Tony's mouth diarrhea. At the end of the day, she was Tony Stark's famous, rich teenage daughter who might someday become a CEO, but nobody had ever taken her seriously. Even now, she could tell the press was humoring her, looking for a way to make her mess up and slip more information that she was supposed to. But she'd been fooling them for years and they had no idea.

She cleared her throat again and spoke with as much seriousness as she could muster, pausing in what she figured were all the right places, "Your questions will be answered. However, as Colonel Rhodes pointed out earlier, we will not be answering them today. I will only say this: the 'Iron Man' suit is a prototype designed by my father as a personal project. It is property of Tony Stark, not Stark Industries, and therefor there are no plans to commercialize it. It started as a series of experiments to compress the arc reactor technology, which we do indeed plan to use as part of SI's new direction. It was a fortunate accident that while we were in Avalon last night to celebrate this new technological advance, my father was informed of the malfunction at the factory and was able to fly the suit there to prevent further damage. That will be all for today. Thank you."

The press began to fling questions at her, but she ignored them. At some point Pepper had entered the press room and stood behind her at the podium. Now the older woman helped her step down and toward the green room. The moment they were out of sight of the press, Josephine's entire body seemed to start shaking.

"Whoa. Hey. Okay. Sit down, kiddo." said Tony, taking both her hands in his and leading her to a chair, "It's okay."

"I can't believe I did that," she said, hands shaking even harder as she brought them to her face.

"Honey, you need to breathe," said Pepper, and Joei realized she was gasping for air without actually inhaling.

"You did amazingly," Tony hugged her.

For a moment, Joei melted into his embrace, sighing deeply as her breath steadied and the last of the adrenaline finally seemed to wear off.

"I'm so tired," she whispered meekly.

"Me too, kiddo. Want to go home?"

She nodded, allowing Tony to help her stand up. At that moment something clicked in her brain, and she reached up and smacked her father's right arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Are you crazy?!" she rounded on him, "Do you have any idea how hard Coulson worked on your cover?! What are we supposed to make up now?! Those people are like starved wolves, all they want is more and more information! Why would you tell the entire world that you are a superhero?! You are not a superhero!"

"I could be," he shrugged. "Or at least take kittens out of trees. I'd be like a super-powered firefighter."

Joei rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day and slumped against Tony, "What did we just get ourselves into?"

"We'll talk about that after we've all had a nap. Even you, Pepper. It's been a long 24 hours."

"With you, it's been a long life," Rhodey grumbled.

"There's a guest room for you, too, Rhodes."

"No thanks. Some of us have jobs that require us to be awake."

"Your loss. Come on, girls. You can yell at me later. Let's go grab some burgers and get some sleep."