Chapter Nine

Ada couldn't help but let out a sigh of contentment as she returned to the mansion from her date with Emmett. The whole afternoon had been spent just getting to know one another. She'd quickly learned that Emmett and his father had moved from London after his father was given a promotion at his job to the United States. They had been living in the United States for nearly three years now, and Emmett kept admitting how different everything was from what he was used to.

His presence had left her heart fluttering with a new sense of freedom and joy that she hadn't felt before. She wasn't sure how to describe the rush of emotions he sent her whenever they were together. The only thing she did know was that she didn't want it to end.

Tony wasn't going to be happy when he found out that she was dating someone. Heck, he wasn't happy when any boy attempted to flirt with her. She needed to figure out how to break the news to him while he was working on the suit. At least that way he would be distracted enough that he wouldn't hunt Emmett or his father down.

With that thought in mind, she made her way back to the mansion to meet up with Tony. He'd been working most of the night after the fireman's ball was over. While he wasn't happy that she had spent most of the evening with Emmett, he hadn't made too many complaints after leaving. Which told her that he was busy working on the suit again.

Carefully, she reached the stairs to hear a stream of curses coming from Tony. Ada nearly rolled her eyes when she reached the bottom to see him repairing one of his gloved hands. The moment he heard footsteps approaching was when he raised said gloved hand in her direction.

"Shoot me, and it's the last thing you'll do," she snapped as Tony lowered his hand and stared at her for a few seconds. "I thought we were past the first phase?"

"Thrusters started malfunctioning on me," he complained while adjusting a screw or two, "Once I'm finished adjusting this, I can take the suit out for an official test run."

That was enough for Ada to narrow her eyes. After watching Tony get his ass kicked by the suit multiple times during the first few hundred test runs, she wasn't sure if an actual test run was a good idea. She was tempted to point this out when she decided against it. He would figure out for himself whether he was ready or not.

"Dad, you can't possibly be serious?" Ada asked incredulously. Despite all of the test runs they made, it seemed he wasn't making any headway to getting the suit to function properly out on the field. "We've gone over the calculations over a dozen times, and each one ended with you getting your ass kicked by the thrusters."

She added the last part with a roll of her eyes, knowing that he wouldn't likely listen to her warning. Ada had been there each time he failed miserably at getting the suit to fly for more than five minutes at a time. He'd made adjustments to the thrusters to make it so that they would function while he was in the upper atmosphere. But if he made one tiny miscalculation while in the field, the results could have deadly consequences.

"Rome wasn't built in one day," he pointed out without missing a beat. Ada's frown turned into a scowl as she crossed her arms and glared at him. "Come on, kiddo. I would've thought you of all people would be excited to see the old man take the suit out for a spin."

"I would be… if I knew for sure you weren't going to get yourself killed in the process," she retorted. Tony let out a sigh of frustration when he realized where she was getting at with her accusation. "Dad, I nearly lost you once… I don't know if my heart could take losing you again."

Tony blinked a few times and suddenly pried off his gloves, setting them on the desk beside her. Ada stiffened in surprise when he finally pulled her into a tight embrace, wrapping his arms around her protectively. For a moment, she thought of struggling free from his strong grip when she realized this was his way of comforting her. As strange as it was, she found herself relishing the moment they had together.

"Ada, I'm not going anywhere," he reassured her. "I've already promised you that nothing's gonna happen to me."

After what happened in Afghanistan, Ada found that very hard to believe. But she accepted his plea with a simple nod, knowing that arguing would just make things worse. Besides, he did have a valid point. The only way they were going to confirm whether or not the suit was ready was by taking it out for a test flight out in the field.

Once that was established, Tony chose one specific course. In hindsight, Ada knew that it was a risk to go out into the air force with so many fighter jets in the same area. It was occupied military space, so they would see the suit as nothing more than a threat. Tony didn't seem to care though. He'd set the course mostly because it was being raided at the moment by armed militants, and he was determined to make a difference with the suit.

That left Ada taking a seat at the main console where she would direct him if there were any threats in the area. She chewed the bottom of her lip anxiously as she had Jarvis run scans on his vitals during the main test run. It was a tense moment for everyone when he finally took off into the air.

She could see everything he saw through the mask he wore thanks to the high tech installed in the lenses. Ada found herself watching the screen carefully as he flew higher into the air.

"Dad, are you online?" she suddenly asked through her earpiece.

There was a moment's pause before she heard a breathy response, telling her that he was just enjoying the moment of being in the air, "Yeah."

"Try not to do anything too stupid while you're there," she rolled her eyes when images of the small town called Gulmira appeared on the screen.

Old looking buildings worn down by the elements could be seen scattered around the area. It was clear that the people of this town hadn't been able to repair damaged buildings for quite some time. Ada frowned at the thought. When Tony said how bad things had been in the middle east, she didn't realize it was this bad. She watched through narrowed eyes when the town became clearer. Innocent families were being forced out of their homes by the raiders.

A father who had been protecting his wife and his son was being pried away from them. Swallowing hard at the sight, the father was forced to stand against a wall while his wife and son were taken to the other side of the town, forced to watch as the raiders lined up all of the older men. It was hard to watch. After having seen dozens of people suffer in her dreams, Ada had seen this happen enough times to know what the end results would be if someone didn't intervene.

Luckily, they did have someone on their side. Just when the boy was ripped from his father by the terrorists, the suit suddenly came crashing down on the town. When he finally landed and turned to face the terrorists, they had their guns turned on the citizens.

"Just make sure that you focus your fire on the terrorists," she said through the earpiece.

"Yeah, I got it," Tony reassured her as he aimed his gloved hand towards the terrorists in question.

Just as they were about to fire their guns, Tony blasted at the terrorists. Ada let out a sigh of relief when they dropped to the ground dead seconds later. The boy ran after his father, giving him a tight embrace after realizing that they had been freed.

Once he did that, he walked over to the wall where the terrorists had the father pinned against. One of the terrorists had been cowardly enough to hide themselves behind said wall, hoping to avoid the same fate as the others. Ada watched through narrowed eyes when Tony suddenly stuck his arm through the wall and pulled the terrorist out in the process. She knew that Tony could have just as easily finished it right then and there, but it was clear he had other ideas in store for the asshole.

"He's all yours," he stated after dropping the terrorist in front of the citizens gathered around a semi-circle.

"Not a bad way to prove they have a voice," she remarked thoughtfully. She was about to say something else when she heard a loud smack from what sounded like a missile. Ada's eyes widened in alarm when she recognized the sound of a Jericho missile. Tony had been working on it for a few months before finally releasing it to the public – that was what his weapon's demonstration had been about. "Dad, are you alright?"

Tony didn't answer. He'd landed on the ground and was now glaring at the missile launcher that stood before him. They were preparing to fire it again when he suddenly aimed a missile of his own towards the launcher, causing it to explode. Relief swept through Ada when Tony picked himself back up and flew out of range from the missiles, but not without destroying them to prevent them from causing further damage.

"Well, that was oddly satisfying," he spoke up. Ada nearly rolled her eyes at the coyness of his voice. "I always forget how exciting blowing stuff up can be."

"Just tell me that you're still out of range from the radar?" she asked after pinching the bridge of her nose.

"No offense Ada, but I think I've got that part covered," he replied cheekily.

Not for the first time, Ada scowled and crossed her arms in annoyance when she noted how cocky he was being. Tony did know what he was doing, but he'd asked her to keep an eye on whatever popped up on the radar. And he was being an ass about it. It wasn't until hearing Tony's phone ring that Ada looked up in alarm. She wouldn't have been surprised if someone from the military was able to pick up on the suit. Which told her that the person calling was someone they both knew all too well.

"Tony?" Sure enough, the sound of Rhodes' voice echoed through the earpiece.

"Sorry, who is this?" Ada resisted the urge to let out a sigh of frustration when Tony tried to ignore the fact that he was caught red handed by Rhodes.

"It's Rhodes."

Under the radar, huh? she thought with another roll of her eyes. Tony's going to get himself shot down for being such an idiot. Rhodes wouldn't pull off that kind of a stunt, but there was only so much he could do to protect Tony from getting caught by the military.

"Sorry, hello?"

"I said it's Rhodes."

He was getting frustrated now. Ada wanted nothing more than to knock some sense into Tony's head before Rhodes decided to take things into his own hands. He didn't know about the suit, and it was likely that if the military did find it on the radar, they would see it as a threat.

"Speak up, please."

"What the hell is that noise?"

Ada frowned when she realized that he'd picked up on the sound of wind rushing past Tony's suit. He was flying at a rate that would cause the wind to howl around him, making it difficult but not impossible to understand who was talking to him.

We really need to design a soundproof armor, she told herself. Or a better means of communication for the suit.

"I'm driving with the top down," Tony easily lied, "Ada's with me." Narrowing her eyes, Ada silently prayed that Tony wouldn't drag her into this mess. Rhodes was already pissed off enough with Tony's antics; she didn't want to make things any worse. "Say hi, Ada."

She fought back a heavy sigh of frustration, knowing it was too late to crawl back out of the lab now, "Hey, Rhodey."

"Hey, Ada," Rhodes replied while trying to hide the surprise from his voice. Though, it sounded as if he was more annoyed than surprised. "Tony, I need your help right now."

"Funny how that works, huh?"

Don't do or say anything stupid, Ada silently begged.

"Yeah… Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive."

Ada's eyes went wide at the mention of the place where Tony had been held captive. She should have known that was the main reason he wanted to go to Gulmira. He didn't have any other alternatives other than to take down the enemies that had captured him in the first place. While she couldn't blame Tony for wanting to pull off that kind of a stunt, it was also stupid and risky. Getting caught by the government meant that he could just as easily be arrested for interfering with the military. He would easily weasel his way out of a lawsuit, but he'd also end up making a lot of enemies with the military in the process of doing so.

"Well, that certainly does sound interesting, doesn't it?" Ada retorted dryly.

She held up a little notepad that read, 'I know why you chose it' across the page to the camera. When Tony saw it, she heard him scoff in annoyance, though he made no comment on her accusation. He wasn't going to make that confrontation any easier.

"Well," Tony started as he tried formulating some kind of excuse. All the while, Ada noticed that he sounded as if he was gasping for air in the process. She knew Rhodes would catch on quickly enough, "That's kind of a hot spot. Looks like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?"

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?"

"I'm not… I was just jogging in the canyon."

By now, Ada was struggling not to laugh at Tony's poor excuse for a lie. She couldn't believe that he of all people would forget his original story. Then again, he was already feeling the adrenaline from flying the suit.

"I thought you were driving?" Rhodes questioned.

She could hear the skepticism in his voice, telling her that he didn't quite believe Tony's tall tale.

"We had been driving just a few seconds ago," she quickly spoke up before Tony could continue making things worse, "But we decided to stop by the canyon and go for a quick run. It was my idea."

"Yeah, what she said," Tony put in.

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?" Rhodes demanded with growing irritation.

Ada had to admit, she was impressed with how patient he could be when it came to Tony Stark of all people. Regardless, there was only so much she could say to keep defending Tony.

"Nope," Tony quickly answered.

"Okay, good. Because I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come."

The sarcasm in Rhodes' voice was enough for Ada to stare at the screen in alarm when she noticed two jets flying near the suit.

"Dammit Rhodey, do not engage with the suit!" she snapped through the earpiece. She quickly turned the earpiece connected to Rhodes off and tried alerting Tony to the fact that the jets were locked onto the suit, "Dad, the jets are locked onto your suit, you need to use evasive maneuvers now!"

"I know, can you hack into the system somehow to disarm them?" Tony's voice sounded in a rush of panic, and Ada bit back the urge to make a nasty retort when she realized what he was implying.

"Dad, you do realize just how illegal that is, don't you?" she fired back. "Catch one of the jets and throw them off course without hurting the pilot; I'll see what I can do about the other jet."

To her relief, Tony didn't bother arguing when he saw some logic in her statement. One of the jets had already fired missiles in his direction, but he was quickly able to shake them off by rolling in the air. Another suddenly slammed into the tail of his suit, causing temporary damage to the system.

"Shit!" he swore under his breath. Ada let out a huff of frustration when she spotted him finally reaching one of the jets. They were still flying at a speed that could easily out maneuver the suit, but he managed to catch the bottom of one of the jets so that they couldn't spot him. "What are you doing?" he asked after noticing that she had been silent throughout his ordeal.

"I'm giving Rhodey a call," she snapped. "There's no way I can hack into the Air Force without getting us into further trouble, and he'll be able to call off the attack."

"Tell me there's a better option?" Tony asked through gritted teeth.

"Do you have any other brilliant ideas? I'm all ears!"

"Hello?" Ada held back a sigh of relief at the sound of Rhodes' voice just seconds later.

"Hey, Rhodey," she replied in the most pleasant tone she could muster; she knew they were both in for an earful once this was over, "It's Tony."

"What?"

She could practically hear the confusion in Rhodes' voice, so she left it to Tony to explain himself. He got himself into this mess, he could easily get himself out of it by telling the truth.

"I'm sorry," Tony finally had the balls to apologize, "It's me. You asked. What you're asking about is me."

For God's sake Tony, you could at least be a little more specific! Ada wanted to shout, though she kept it to herself.

"No." At that point, Rhodes was beyond pissed with Tony for letting it get this far. Ada wasn't surprised to hear him struggling to maintain his temper around the genius. "See, this isn't a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You too, Ada. Do you understand that?"

"Rhodey, it isn't a piece of equipment!" Ada quickly explained before Tony could make things worse.

"I'm in it!" Tony finally yelled at him when he had enough, "It's a suit!" By now, Ada could practically picture Rhodes' jaw dropping in disbelief when he realized what Tony was implying, "It's me!"

"Rhodey, you got anything for me?" Ada frowned when she heard what she assumed was one of the pilots on the other line.

The jet Tony had been clinging onto suddenly began rolling around to throw him off. Ada's stomach dropped as she noticed that there was only so much Tony could do before he was thrown off and see as nothing more than a target by the pilots.

"Rhodey, please tell me that you're doing something about this?" Ada suddenly asked when she realized that the jet was losing control.

When he didn't answer, Ada looked at the screen warily as she watched Tony fly into one of the wings of the jet, causing it to crack in half and tumble down below. Ada bit back a groan of frustration when she realized that the pilot was struggling to maintain control over his jet. It began flipping out of control, spiraling at a faster rate than anyone could handle.

"Shit!" Tony cursed when the pilot suddenly ejected himself out of the spiraling jet.

"Tell me the pilot has a working chute?" Ada asked anxiously. She knew her heart wouldn't be able to take it if she or Tony were responsible for someone's death. Especially when they had been doing the right thing. When he continued falling without activating his chute, Ada realized that something was horribly wrong, "Dad, something's wrong with his chute."

"I've gotta go help him," Tony replied, suddenly adding strength to his thrusters to catch up with the flailing pilot.

Ada squeezed her eyes shut as she silently prayed that Tony would reach the pilot in time. It didn't take long for her to hear the sound of a chute opening, and she opened her eyes in time to see that the pilot had finally released his chute. Ada let out a sigh of relief when she realized that he'd been able to reach the pilot in time.

"Tony?" Rhodes' voice sounded through the phone suddenly, causing Ada to blink in surprise. "Ada, are you still there?"

"Yeah," both Tony and Ada replied at the same time, "Thanks," Tony added.

Rhodes let out a sigh of relief once he was sure that Tony was okay. After that incident, Ada couldn't blame him for his concern. She was touched by it though, considering Tony had been acting like a complete asshole just minutes ago.

"Oh my God. You crazy son of a bitch," Rhodes chuckled in disbelief, "You owe me a plane. You know that, right?"

Ada couldn't help but laugh at that as Tony shook his head in amusement, "Yeah, well, technically he hit me first."

"So, does this mean you're planning on stopping by to see what he's working on?" Ada asked curiously.

She knew that Tony had wanted Rhodes to see the suit for himself to see how he would react to it. Now that he had a clear line of sight on what the suit was capable of, maybe he would be willing to stop by for a visit. Though, she had a feeling Rhodes was going to have his hands full trying to explain this to the press.

"No," Rhodes replied reluctantly, "The less I know, the better. Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Training exercise," Ada suggested. "Isn't that the usual bullshit you come up with when something goes wrong?"

"I'm afraid it won't be that simple," Rhodes pointed out while Tony mumbled something under his breath about Ada watching her language.

Ada wasn't surprised with that answer. Once he hung up, Tony finally returned to the lab after flying for a few more minutes. Relief swept through Ada when Tony reached the landing pad where the suit would be taken off. It was still a tricky process since it was in the beginning stages, but once Tony figured got through the first few roadblocks, he'd get in and out of the suit with ease.

"Tell me just how damn amazing that was?"

"It was pretty awesome," Ada nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I was, wasn't I?"

The smugness in his voice was enough for Ada to roll her eyes in annoyance. She loved Tony, but there were times when she wanted to slap some sense into him. Once he reached the pad, the robotic arms began dismantling the suit, and Tony started struggling from their quick movements.

"Hey!" he yelped when one of the machines tugged a little harder than he liked at an arm piece.

Ada had to fight back a laugh as she sat back and watched. She knew that this was all a learning process for Tony and the AI.

"It is a tight fit, sir," Jarvis told him.

"Dad, you're just making it worse by struggling with the machine," Ada finally pointed out after watching a few more seconds.

"Just… just try to be gentle with it, okay?"

Rolling her eyes once again, Ada tapped her fingers absentmindedly on the table as she thought of how Tony was going to deal with this from now on. He knew how to handle machinery on a daily basis. But letting machinery take his suit off was an entirely different story.

"You're the one who asked me to come up with a design that would take the suit off effectively and without damaging the system," she reminded him. "It's going to take time for you to get used to the feeling of all that machinery poking at you."

"Please, try not to move sir," Jarvis scolded Tony as he continued his struggling.

"What's going on here?"

Both Ada and Tony froze at the sound of Pepper's voice. She turned to see Pepper staring at the scene in confusion and concern. Tony's expression was priceless – Ada knew in that moment that he was trying to come up with a laundry list of excuses as to why he was in that position in the first place.

"Let's face it," Tony started while trying to maintain his composure, "This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."

Ada grimaced as she recalled the many times Tony would bring women home to the mansion after one of his many parties. He was right about that – Pepper had caught him doing far worse than what he was doing now.

Pepper wasn't satisfied with that response though. Her eyes narrowed with worry when she finally noticed the damage his suit had taken during his 'test run'. Ada swallowed hard when she realized that Pepper's eyes had finally taken in the extent of what Tony was putting himself through.

"Are those bullet holes?" she demanded.