Chapter Six

A few weeks had passed since Tony was reported as MIA. Obadiah had pretty much taken over the company within those few weeks. Ada tried her best to interfere when she could with his production, knowing that nothing good would come out of him taking over. Something about how Obadiah had taken over so easily without anyone fighting back raised a red flag for her. While it may not have been much of a change, Ada knew that any interference was better than none.

He never said much to her during Tony's disappearance. Obadiah just went on and pretty much ignored her presence entirely when he, Pepper and Happy were at the mansion. While Ada was perfectly happy with that notion, she still found herself feeling suspicious of whatever he was doing with the company.

She used what little free time she had to practice her powers as well. She alternated between fire and water, each day. Water was surprisingly easier to control than fire, as she soon found out. It took a bit more patience to manipulate, but Ada soon found herself enjoying the push and pull the water had as an effect. She even managed to use her powers together, by starting a fire and putting it out seconds later with water. Such a use could come in handy during an emergency, she supposed.

She had been making breakfast early in the morning when she heard a knock on the door. Ada had the place rigged ever since Tony disappeared with cameras around the front entrance. She figured it would be good to see who showed up that day. If Tony's caravan had been destroyed, something told her that someone was targeting the family. She couldn't shake off the feeling that somehow, she would be next.

When Ada looked at the security footage that showed on the screen in front of her, she rose an eyebrow in surprise. Standing in front of the door, wearing a fancy work suit, was a man who looked to be in his late thirties. She carefully zoomed in on the camera, eyes narrowing when she noticed the government official badge that was attached to his well-tailored suit. If there was one thing she had learned from Tony over the years, it was not to trust anyone who worked for the government.

"Jarvis, open the door for me, will you?" she asked after setting the pancakes on one plate, and the bacon on the other.

Pepper was the one who taught her how to cook. The older woman had taken it upon herself to at least teach one of the Stark's how to cook. Ada actually enjoyed working at the stove, especially when it came to making different meals each day, and turning the leftovers into something entirely different. She'd quickly learned that there were numerous things one could do with a certain dish if they put their mind to it, and if they had the right ingredients.

Ada peered over her shoulder as the man in question emerged from the entryway. She was just finished cleaning up when he reached the kitchen, face lighting up as if he couldn't believe his eyes. She nearly rolled her eyes at the sight, heading over to the fridge to grab the milk and pour a glass for herself while he struggled to maintain his composure.

"Thank you, for letting me in," he began while she busied herself by grabbing a plate. "My name is Phil Coulson; I work for Strategic Homeland Intervention End Logistics Division."

"That's quite the mouthful," Ada remarked.

She took a bite out of her pancakes as she eyed the man cautiously. If he knew she was capable of defending herself, if he tried attacking, he gave no indication. She simply maintained eye contact while taking bites out of her pancakes, aware of how dangerous allowing a stranger inside could be.

"I know. It's a work in progress," he offered a charming smile. Okay, now Ada was really curious as to what was going on. This guy obviously knew more than he was letting on, "Is anyone home with you at the moment?"

That was enough for Ada to stop what she was doing and give him a pointed glare. She knew Tony didn't trust the government for a reason. They usually took things without asking, and they often did so on a daily basis. To make matters worse, they had a tendency to reach conclusions that shouldn't have been reached in the first place.

She had quickly learned that the best way to deal with them was by acting as if nothing had happened. This 'Coulson' person didn't seem too much of a threat, but she suspected that he had been watching her every move since he arrived. The thought left her shivering with unease when she realized he could have been watching her even before that.

"Pepper's out fixing the mess at Stark Industries, and Rhodes is busy looking for dad," she replied tersely, ignoring the look he gave her.

"I see… so, you're alone," he said thoughtfully.

Ada narrowed her eyes once more and pushed the plate away, suddenly aware that things were going south, fast. While she had her powers to defend herself, if he decided to attack, she tried to avoid exposing herself at all costs. Instead, she would try and have Jarvis record the whole thing in the hopes that Pepper would notice and call the police.

Jarvis would send Pepper an alert within seconds if anything did happen. The man didn't even look phased when she shot him an icy look that dared him to try anything funny.

"If you're here to steal anything, you'll be thoroughly surprised to find that's impossible," she snapped.

Coulson just frowned at her accusation. She would have found the whole thing amusing if it wasn't for the situation. It was clear that he'd dealt with people like her before. That alone left her wondering why he decided now of all times to randomly contact her.

"Actually, I'm here to ensure that you're safe," he admitted, suddenly looking sheepish. Ada glared back, feeling a spark of suspicion as he held his hands up in surrender, "I just wanted to warn you that your life is about to get very weird."

"Oh, I think we're way past that," she whispered under her breath.

Luckily, he didn't catch that. She wasn't in any hurry to explain her powers. Or, the dreams that kept haunting her every night. She'd written in full detail each dream to go back and refer to them in the hopes of finding out more about those people. Though, so far, she hadn't made any headway with them.

She just couldn't shake off the feeling that those people were somehow connected with her powers. Or, the fact that they were connected with her past. Maybe they were the reason she'd been sent to the orphanage, in the first place.

"Thank you, for warning me," she finally said as Coulson rose an eyebrow.

He suddenly slid a card across the table into her waiting hands before standing up. Ada eyed the card curiously, not missing that the organization he worked for was written in bold letters on the card. An eagle in front of a shield was also posted as an image on the card.

"Give me a call, if anything changes," he told her.

Once he left, Ada stuffed the card into her pocket and tried to forget that just happened. Talking to anyone from a government organization left her feeling uneasy. Especially when it seemed like he knew her from somewhere. She shook her head at the thought, finished breakfast and cleaned up before working on the rest of her chores.

With Tony gone, Ada had taken on more responsibility than she normally would. Pepper kept insisting from time and time again that she didn't need to overwork herself. But, Ada felt the need to, especially when she saw that Pepper was also working herself to the bone trying to fix things at Stark Industries.

More importantly, Ada used work and cleaning as a way of keeping herself distracted. She just wanted to keep her mind off of the reality that came crashing down on her when Tony disappeared.

'Ma'am, Colonel Rhodes wishes to speak with you.'

Ada stopped in her tracks when Jarvis sent her the warning message. She knew for a fact that Rhodes had been in the Middle East looking for her father. If he was back, it could only mean good news, or the news that she had been bracing herself for since finding out he went missing.

"This is Ada speaking," she said after answering the phone.

"Ada, it's Rhodes, you might wanna stop by the airport. Happy's on his way to pick you up."

She felt her blood run cold. It only took her a few seconds to register that something serious must have happened if Rhodes wanted her to meet him at the airport. Since he had been looking for Tony, she wondered if the worst possible scenario happened.

"Is he okay?" she demanded after realizing what this must have been about.

"It's just… he's in a state of shock," Rhodes replied hesitantly.

It didn't take Ada long to get herself ready. She finished whatever she was working on and changed into fresh clothing, then met Happy outside where he was waiting in front of a car. Happy himself wasted no time in getting to the airport, driving past the band of news reporters who were already gathered outside the large plane.

"Thanks again for doing this, Happy," Ada told him after they pulled far enough away that the reporters wouldn't notice.

She knew she would get barraged by questions, no matter the circumstances. At least Happy wouldn't have to worry about driving through reckless reporters just waiting to get run over. Tony once tried to pull off that stunt when a few of them got too close to the car for comfort. She was thankful that he'd finally calmed himself down enough not to break any laws in the process of dropping her off somewhere.

"No problem, sweetheart," Happy replied with a sheepish grin.

She could see that he was just as anxious to see if Tony was okay, after everything that happened. Sure enough, the second they climbed out of the car was when the crowd of reporters turned on them. Ada had already braced herself for whatever questions would follow, knowing that they were just as eager to find out what had happened while Tony was away.

"Miss Stark, how does it feel knowing that your father is alive?"

A news reporter stood in the way, holding a microphone while the camera rolled behind him. Ada took a deep breath, having prepared herself for answers that would be enough to satisfy them for a while. While there were never enough answers to fully satisfy the media, it was better than nothing.

"It feels great," she told them with a warm smile.

She waited as the reporter jotted down notes onto a clipboard he was holding. Happy chose that moment to step in before they could ask further questions. After living with Tony for nearly nine years, Ada had gotten used to dealing with the press. He'd taught her the best way to handle them when they tried antagonizing her with endless questions.

Even after all of that, Ada couldn't hide the grin that followed when she finally spotted Tony leaning heavily against Rhodes' shoulder. Her grin only widened when Tony pushed away any attempts at receiving medical attention. Tony hated the doctors for a reason, as much as he hated government officials… actually, there were a lot of things that he hated, now that Ada thought about it.

"Hey, kiddo, glad to see you're alright," he said after finally noticing her arrival, "Pep's been crying tears of joy over here."

"Hate job hunting," Pepper rolled her eyes mockingly.

"Yeah, well, vacation's over," Tony reminded her, patting Pepper on the shoulder before letting go of Rhodes. Faster than he could react, Ada suddenly ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. It was the first time in weeks that she'd seen him and, she couldn't feel more relieved that he was okay. "What was that for?" he asked after returning the gesture.

"For not dying on me," she retorted, sticking her tongue out at him.

While she meant it as a joke, she also knew full-well how his return meant to her. She truly was more relieved than ever to see him alive and well, despite everyone's speculations. He could have been through far worse than he was letting on. He was heavily bruised and looked as if he could use some medical attention, but knowing that he wanted to move forward rather than delay his return, he wouldn't seek it until the last minute.

"Well, it's good to be back," he chuckled at her response, "Alright, Rhodes, I want you to set up a press conference right now," he suddenly added to Rhodes.

For a moment, Ada blinked in confusion when she noticed that Tony was barking orders at everyone as if nothing had happened. He'd been gone for nearly a month, and he acted like it didn't affect him. Yet, she could see the haunted look in his eyes. Something had clearly happened while he was there in the Middle East, and Ada had a feeling that everyone was about to find out how much that had changed him.

…

It didn't take long for them to reach the building where the press conference was being held. A large crowd consisting of news reporters, employees and other bystanders gathered outside the room where Ada and Pepper were waiting anxiously. Tony sat on the stairs, while Ada sat beside Pepper. He was eating a cheeseburger as if it was his last meal, though given the state of things, Ada suspected that was the best meal he'd had in weeks.

Most of the news reporters had already started asking questions by the time Ada showed up. While she had been able to answer a majority of the questions that were asked, she brushed most of them off. She couldn't answer the questions that regarded Tony and his decisions revolving around the company. Those questions were for him to answer.

"Miss Potts?" Ada felt her blood run cold at the familiar tone of Coulson's voice.

She peered over her shoulder to see him offering a charming smile at Pepper.

"Hi," Pepper waved him off without even looking, "We've already been approached by the FBI, CIA and a few other agencies," she explained after Coulson offered an introduction.

Ada kept glancing at the man cautiously when she noticed him shooting her looks every now and then. It was obvious that he had more to say, but he wouldn't with Pepper around. He seemed to know better than to admit that he had already stopped by the mansion earlier that morning to talk with her. Especially with Tony close by.

"That's why I'm here," he suddenly said. "Our division works under a… much larger scale. If anything happens, please feel free to give me a call."

"I will remember that," she replied.

Pepper tried brushing off the uneasiness that followed upon Coulson's explanation. While she wasn't anything like Tony, that didn't mean she wasn't thrilled with talking to government agencies. Ada swallowed hard when Coulson threw her one last look until disappearing into the crowd. Just as he left them, Tony finally spoke up after reaching the podium.

"I never got to say goodbye to my father."

Ada looked at Tony warily when he said that. She could still remember the countless times when Tony would avoid the subject of Howard Stark. It was a strained relationship, from what she gathered. But, Tony was lucky to have known his parents at all. Ada would have given anything to know who her birth mother was, and her father.

"There's questions I would've asked him. I would've asked him how he felt about what his company did, if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch of man we remember from the newsreels."

He paused to let this sink in. She'd always watched the newsreels that he mentioned when he wasn't around, just to get an idea of what Howard was like. She couldn't help but think that while Tony tried to claim he was nothing like Howard, they were more alike than he realized.

"I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero-accountability."

That must have been a major eye-opener. Ada swallowed hard, finding it difficult to imagine what it must have been like to see something like that in person. She watched people die in her dreams. The very people that haunted her dreams had died right in front of her, and there was nothing she could do. Things like that didn't happen to normal people, as far as she was concerned.

"Mr. Stark, what happened over there?" a news reporter asked.

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I had more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries."

Ada's mouth fell open in utter disbelief when Tony said those final words. The room that had been stunned into silence was now abuzz with questions from hundreds of reporters asking the same questions. Tony didn't waste any time in ending things before it could get any worse, with Rhodes assuring everyone that he would receive medical attention once this was over.

She shook her head as Obadiah tried calming the crowd down by telling them that he would talk with Tony about his sudden decision. Though, Ada knew Tony better than the man realized. He wasn't going to change his mind anytime soon. Once his mind was made up, it was impossible to change.

All Ada could do now was hope that he knew what he was getting himself into.