Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter out! I am so pleased and genuinely happy that so many seem interested in the story.
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Dani watched as her dad threw himself into a project.
It wasn't unlike him to spend hours in the workshop, but there seemed to be a different air of determination around him. He worked long into the night, assembling what looked like pieces of armor.
Dani helped him, being a second pair of hands, but he only let her do so when all of her schoolwork was complete.
"Okay, let's do this right."
Dani was seated at the far end of the garage, watching nervously as her dad strapped the metal boots to his feet, and backed away from the camera U was holding.
"Stark mark, half a meter, and back and center." He exhaled heavily. "Dummy, look alive," he said, turning to look at the robot that was holding the fire extinguisher. "You're on standby for fire safety. U, roll it."
Dani covered her face with her hands, and watched her dad through her fingers.
This wasn't going to end well.
"Okay, activate hand controls. We're going to start off nice and easy. We're going to see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one."
Dani watched in horror, as her dad flew off the ground and slammed into the slope of the ceiling.
"Dad!" She yelled, running across the room as Dummy sprayed her dad down with his extinguisher.
He sat up with a groan. "Well, at least we know that 10% does the trick."
"Are you okay?" Dani asked.
"I'm fine. I'm good." He used Dani to push himself up to his feet, and hobbled back to the center of the garage. "I've got work to do."
Dani shook her head in disbelief. "Maybe you should start off with 1% next time."
"You might have a point. Help me get these off."
Dani knelt on the ground and worked on one boot, while her dad worked on the other.
"You know not to talk about this with anyone, right? Not Obadiah, Rhodey or Happy. Not even Pepper right now."
She looked up and met her dad's gaze. "Yeah. But why?"
He shook his head. "I just want to keep this a secret. I think it's going to be pretty powerful, and I don't want it to end up in the hands of bad guys."
"Like the guys who hurt you?" Dani asked, carefully.
He nodded. "Yeah. So can you keep it a secret?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Good."
She didn't understand what was going on.
All she really knew was that Rhodey and Obadiah seemed more upset and impatient than usual.
Even Pepper seemed more stressed.
All Dani knew was that she trusted her dad.
Whatever he was going to do, she would trust that he knew what he was doing.
Even if he did blast himself into the ceiling.
. . .
She was supposed to be asleep.
But she could hear voices talking loudly below her room.
And curiosity got the better of her.
So, being as quiet as she could, she crept down the hall from her room, and down a few stairs, sitting just out of sight from the three adults.
Here dad was sounding defensive, and Obadiah was sounding impatient.
Which was per usual these days.
"Why, because the Stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was going to happen."
"36 and a half," Pepper corrected.
"It doesn't matter. We own the controlling interest in the company."
"Tony, the board has rights too," Obadiah said firmly. "They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."
"I'm being responsible! That's a new direction...for me, for the company. I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that..." He looked between Pepper and Obadiah. "This is great." He picked up a box of pizza, and headed for the stairs down to the workshop, his eyes landing briefly on Dani.
Dani moved up a step, so that she wasn't as visible.
"Oh come on." Obadiah watched him, and took a long drink. "Tony."
"I'll be in the shop."
"Hey, hey, hey! Tony." Obadiah stood from the couch and caught Tony's arm. "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you've got to give me something. Something to pitch them." He looked down at the reactor in Tony's chest. "Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs."
"No. No, absolutely not."
"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!" Obadiah said loudly.
"This one stays with me. That's it, Obie. Forget it."
"Alright, well, this stays with me then." Obadiah snatched the box of pizza.
"Fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a daughter to go tuck in."
"Why don't I come down to the shop and see what you're working on."
"Good night, Obie."
Dani stood from her spot on the stairs, and ran to her bedroom, jumping onto the bed moments before her dad walked in.
"Busted."
She turned to look at him, giving him a sheepish look.
"You're supposed to be asleep by now."
"Sorry. I got curious."
He considered for a few seconds. "It's okay. I get curious too, sometimes." He pulled the blankets down, so that she could lay down, and then brought them back up, covering her head.
Dani was expecting it, but she still shrieked with laughter as he tickled her stomach.
He laughed, and pulled the blanket down from her head. "That's what you get for sneaking out and snooping."
"I thought you said it was okay to be curious."
"It is. But there are some conversations that little ears don't need to hear."
"My ears aren't that little," she pouted.
"Well they're smaller than mine." He knelt next to her bed and looked her over. "What do you think of everything that you heard?"
Dani thought about it, scrunching her mouth to one side. "I think it's all one big mess. Everything seems to be messy ever since you left and didn't come when you said you would."
He nodded slowly. "It does seem that way, doesn't it."
"Is everything going to be okay?"
"I don't know. I think so...I hope so. I'm going to try and make everything okay."
Dani nodded, and curled onto her side, holding out her pinkie to him. "Promise?"
He smiled, and wrapped his pinkie around her. "Promise." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Now go to sleep." He stood and walked to her door. "I love you to the moon and back."
She wrapped her arms around her stuffed bear, smiling sleepily at her dad. "And I love you to pluto and back."
. . .
Her dad let her take over filming responsibilities, leaving Dummy and U on fire and first aid safety.
Dani stood across from her dad, holding the camera and watching as he got ready to fly again.
"You ready?"
Dani switched on the camera, and nodded.
She wasn't ready to watch her dad possibly get hurt, but she was ready to see if the boots were going to work properly.
"Rolling."
"Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety." He turned to look at the robot, which raised its head excitedly. "If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." He looked back at the camera, and adjusted his stance. "Alright, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off at 1% thrust capacity. And three, two, one." He activated the foot and hand thrusters and lifted off from the ground.
Dani watched in amazement, as he seemed to have stabilized control of his movements.
He hovered a few feet off the ground for a few moments, and then landed. "Okay." He turned to Dummy, who had it's head poised and ready. "Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously." It lowered it's head sadly. "Just stand down. If something happens, then come in. Dani, how did I look?"
"You looked like you were flying."
"Cool. Let's do it again. Bring it up to 2.5. Three, two, one." He thrust himself into the air, going slightly higher.
He still had control, but his movements seemed jerkier.
Dani watched as he began to move around the garage, her eyes widening as he found himself over his sports cars.
"Dad..."
"Yep. This is where I don't want to be! Eeeh. Okay. Not the car! Yikes! Table!" He flew over to the table, sending papers flying everywhere.
Dani followed him around, laughing at the nervous face and laugh that he gave when he looked into the camera.
"Could be worse. Could be worse." He flew right past her, and she stepped back to avoid the heat of the thrusters. "We're fine! Dani, I'm fine. Okay. We're fine."
"Uh huh."
He made it back to the center of the lab, and stabilized himself, before slowly lowering and dropping to the ground.
"Huh." He got his footing, smiling proudly. "Nuh uh! Uh huh!" He held his hand up to Dummy, who was preparing to douse him.
Dummy dropped its head.
"Yeah, I can fly."
An hour later, the suit he had been assembling was being placed on his body by the robots.
"Jarvis, you there?" He asked, putting on a metal face plate.
"At your service, sir."
Dani stepped back with the camera, getting the full image.
"Engage heads up display."
"Check."
"Import all preferences from home interface."
"Will do, sir."
Her dad looked around the garage, and Dani couldn't help but feel slightly startled by the coldness of the mask.
She knew her dad was in there, but there was something very unsettling about it.
"Alright, what do you say?"
"I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready."
"Can we start the virtual walk around."
"Importing preferences and calibrating a virtual environment."
"Do a check on the control surfaces."
"As you wish."
Dani watched every section of the armor pop out and readjust, before smoothing back into the entire armor.
"Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."
"Uh, yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control."
Dani knew where this was going.
Thankfully she and Jarvis had the same thoughts.
"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is-"
"Jarvis! Sometimes you gotta run, before you can walk."
"No, I don't think that's how the saying goes," Dani protested. "Daddy, I really think-"
"I'll be fine, Dani. Ready, in three two one."
The hand and feet thrusters activated, and he lifted off the ground.
"Dad!" Dani yelled, watching helplessly as he flew out of the garage entrance and disappeared, whooping and hollering with excitement as he went.
Dani stopped the camera and set it aside. "Jarvis, are you still here?"
"Of course, Dani."
"Just...make sure he doesn't die. Please."
"I will do my best. I promise."
Dani settled into her desk in the corner of the garage, and began to finish up a painting she had started earlier.
She was only sitting alone for about 10 minutes, before a crashing sound came from above, and seconds later, her dad crashed through the ceiling and landed on one of his cars.
"Daddy!" She shot out of her chair and ran across the garage, ignoring the alarms that were now going off.
Dummy was of course dousing him, despite the fact that he wasn't on fire.
"Are you okay? Are you alive?"
"I don't want to hear an 'I told you so' from either you and Jarvis, clear?" He pushed himself up with a groan, and shooed Dummy away.
"Get me out of this thing," he ordered.
U and Dummy came over and began to remove the armor.
Dani left the garage and ran up to the kitchen to grab an ice pack. "Here," she handed it to him.
He accepted it with a nod of thanks. "It's bed time. Go get PJ's on and brush your teeth. I'll be up in a minute to tuck you in."
"Seriously? After that, you're going to send me to bed?"
"It's what a responsible parent would do, and being responsible is very important to me these days."
"So...a responsible parent ignores critical testing in front of his daughter, and takes a flying suit of armor for a test drive, and then crashes through their entire house with said suit of armor?"
Her dad chuckled dryly. "Go, Dani. I'll be up in a few."
Dani sighed in frustration, but did as he told her to do.
She was getting the feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same. Not now that her dad had a flying suit of armor.
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Thank you so much for reading!
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