Chapter Twelve

"Thank God you're awake!" Her eyes fluttered open as she felt someone shaking her. It took a few minutes for Ada to register that she was still in her room, and that someone had woken her up. Her heart was racing, and she could feel beads of sweat rolling down her face. Tony stood in front of her, eyes wide with panic, "Ada, listen to me," he tried getting her to focus when she stared at nothing in particular, "What happened?"

Ada just stared at him for a few seconds, finding it impossible to speak after that awful experience. Memories of the other night were still a little foggy, but Ada could remember bits and pieces of what had happened. She'd put the necklace on, and she felt an excruciating amount of pain that followed shortly after. Of course, things hadn't gotten much better when she heard that voice in the back of her head.

The sudden dizziness she felt earlier came rushing back. Ada held back a sigh of frustration as she rubbed the temple of her forehead. Hearing voices in her head was never a good thing. She knew that nothing good would come out of telling Tony or anyone else the truth.

"Dad," she whispered, her voice distant.

"Ada." Tony pulled her in close, giving her a gentle hug after realizing she was okay. "What the hell happened to you? Jarvis warned me what was happening, but the video feed was too fuzzy to make out," he added when she relaxed in his arms.

"I'm fine," she tried brushing him off, knowing that an explanation like that was out of the question, "It was just from… overworking." God, she couldn't even tell him the reason behind passing out all of a sudden. She knew that at this point, lying was her only option to keep him out of the loop. Though, she hadn't missed the dark rings around his eyes, or the fact that he looked exhausted. "I think I should be more concerned about you. Have you been getting proper sleep?" she asked in an accusing tone.

Tony looked at her warily. That sudden caution was enough to bring up red flags of concern for Ada. She knew Tony well enough now to know when he was trying to hide something. The fact that he wasn't getting much sleep bothered her. She'd seen him down in the lab when she got home late from training, or when she had just been hanging out with Jimmy or Emmett.

The worst part was seeing his behavior change so drastically over the last couple of months. She had little doubt that something was wrong with him. When Natalie mentioned something about his vitals showing unusual anomalies, she should have seen the red flags.

Of course, Tony was too stubborn to admit when something was wrong. She had a feeling that he wouldn't bother asking for help unless there were no other options. Even then, she doubted Tony would find the courage to ask someone, because it would mean admitting that he needed help.

"It's nothing to worry about," he muttered crossly. "Get yourself dressed, we have a date with the press and then we interns to look at."

She let out a groan at the mention of the press conference. Honestly, she had forgotten about it, conveniently. With everything that was going on, she'd been hoping that it would be miraculously canceled. The government's determination to take Tony's suits away never ceased to amaze her.

If those suits got in the wrong hands, it would end in chaos, she reminded herself. She knew the risks of such technology falling into the wrong hands. After working for SHIELD for a year, and going through their training program, they drilled it into everyone's heads of what to look out for in case something like that should happen.

Once she was finished getting ready, she left with Pepper and Tony on a private jet to Washington D.C. Pepper was busy reading the paper while Tony went off to who knew where. Ada focused on staring out the window, contemplating on how this conference would go.

"Where did that necklace come from?" Pepper's question caught Ada by surprise.

She glanced at the golden necklace in question, fighting back the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't know where it came from, or why Coulson insisted she waited until she was sixteen to put it on. What bothered her more than anything, though, was the fact that this necklace had caused her nothing but grief since she put it on.

How was a piece of jewelry capable of causing such pain? Dozens of questions were buzzing around her head as she thought of where it came from, and why it was given to her in the first place.

"It was a gift, from a friend," she shrugged.

After a year of training with SHIELD, Ada had become a master at lying. She hated doing so, especially since it meant she was keeping a secret from Tony that would likely cause a rift between them. But, it was mostly for his safety, and anyone else she was close to.

Luckily, it didn't take them long to settle down for the plane to reach DC. The press conference was already in full swing by the time Ada arrived. She took a seat beside Pepper, crossing her leg over. Senator Stern was the kind of man who would try anything in his power to take away the Iron Man suit. Of course, Tony always found a way to prove the suit wasn't a weapon. He made the Senator look like nothing more than a joke during conferences like these.

"Mr. Stark, can we pick up where we left off?" Tony was looking back at them, pretending he didn't hear. Ada almost laughed at Tony's antics, before kicking him from under the table. She knew she wouldn't likely hear the last of that one, "Mr. Stark!"

"Yes, dear?"

Tony's question was enough to leave the crowd chuckling in amusement. By now, Ada was struggling to smother her own fit of laughter as she caught the glare Stern was giving him. Tony had a way of irritating just about anyone, including the Senator.

"Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?"

She'd heard this song and dance enough times to know that Tony would just win the case, again. She crossed her arms and leaned against the back of her seat. The Senator kept looking in Ada's direction, as if daring her to speak out during this trial. Tony was on his own; she had no part in helping him develop the suit.

"I do not," he replied in a tone that implied he was bored.

"You do not," Stern half muttered half grumbled.

"Sir, what exactly do you mean by 'specialized weapon'?" Ada finally spoke up, taking her stand beside Tony.

"The Iron Man weapon," Stern retorted defensively.

"I would describe it as what it is, Senator," Tony finally spoke in a formal tone, this time proving that he actually was paying attention.

"As?"

"It's a very high tech prosthesis," Ada chirped, smirking as the rest of the crowd burst into laughter at that.

She hadn't missed the apologetic look Pepper was giving the Senator. It seemed that a sixteen-year-old girl always caught the attention of the court. This time was no different, as Ada took advantage of her age and she used it against the Senator.

"Really, that's all we can come up with. It's not a weapon—"

Stern cut him off with a wave of his hand, "It's a weapon; I hate to inform you that it's—"

"Let's be honest here. The tech inside that suit is beyond the minds of average intelligence," Ada cut him off this time, ignoring the look Stern was giving her as she looked back defiantly, "And I doubt anyone would have the brains to copy such a suit. And if you really cared about the country than—"

He cut her off yet again with a glare, "My priority, Miss Stark, is the well being of the people of the United States of America," he snapped.

Ada narrowed her eyes as she leaned back against her seat, knowing full-well that speaking out against the Senator was a dangerous idea. Though, the idea of pissing him off sounded far more appealing than it should have. His attitude towards the whole trial and the suit was what annoyed her more than anything else. The fact that he wanted to take the Iron Man suit away just told her that the government wanted another weapon on its hands.

"Well you can forget it," Tony cut in. "I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one."

"Basically, if he were to turn it over, he'd be turning himself in, and that would amount to indentured servitude," Ada added once the crowd fell silent.

"Or prostitution, which ever you prefer. But you can't have it."

She had to admit, it was fun watching Senator Stern get annoyed. He tried keeping a poker face on when Tony and Ada came up with many valid arguments to keep him from getting his hands on the Iron Man suit. It was easy to see that he was struggling under the pressure of keeping things together during the trial. He tried keeping on a straight face while growing more frustrated with each passing second, telling her that it wouldn't be long until he lost his temper.

"I of course, have a known expert…" Before Tony could try and cut him off again, Pepper stopped him by sitting on his other side, "… An expert on weapons, weapons expert."

Not for the first time, Ada wondered just what they would consider a weapons expert. Tony was about as much of an expert as one could get on weapons. Though, she had no doubt the Senator would find a way of adding one to his team.

"I'd like to call Justin Hammer to the stand!"

By now, the crowd in the court room was going wild at the mention of Justin Hammer. It took everything Ada had not to groan at the mention of Hammer. The idiot in question used to be major competition to Tony.

The problem with Hammer was, he made all of his weapons sound ideal and proper. They were cheaply made, and designed to break the first time they were used. Ada had done her own research on his products, and found plenty of complaints his consumers made over the years.

"Let the records show that we both observe Justin Hammer coming to the stand," she announced randomly, knowing full-well Hammer was anything but a weapons expert.

She hadn't missed the smirk Tony was trying to hide when she spoke up.

"Let it also show that we are wondering when a real weapons expert will come in," Tony chimed in cheerfully.

By now, Ada was struggling to smother her fit of laughter at the looks the crowd gave them. Pepper had to nudge both Tony and Ada to keep them quiet as the crowd began to murmur among themselves at the sight of Hammer striding into the room.

"Absolutely, I'm no expert compared to you Anthony Stark, or, the lovely Ada Stark. Compared to me you're both prodigies." Tony narrowed his eyes when Hammer's attention focused on Ada, who merely crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Senator, if I may…" He said before walking to the front of the room, "I may not be an expert, but I do know who was the expert. Your dad." The glare Tony threw Hammer was priceless. Ada knew that Tony had rarely gotten along with Howard Stark, and, understandably so. Mentions of Howard only put Tony on edge, "Howard Stark was really a father to us all in the weapon's business and military age."

Ada only glared at Hammer when she realized what he was implying. It took everything she had not to spit at him. The way Hammer spoke just left her feeling angrier than ever. He always seemed to have a way of making it seem like he was the best at everything, and that he mattered the most to everyone. What annoyed her more than anything was the fact that some people were willing to listen to him. True, some of what he said made sense in some ways. But most of it was nonsense to build propaganda.

"But let's be clear, Howard Stark was no flower child." She just scoffed at that. People thought Tony was rude to most of the Senators and idiots that wanted to take away his suits. But, nope. Hammer took the books for being the biggest asshole out there. "He was a lion. In the last six months, Anthony Stark with some help from his adopted daughter, Ada, has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, he insists that it's a shield to protect us from our enemies. He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, I really do; enough to have my door unlocked when I leave my house. But this isn't Canada. We live in a world of great threats. Threats that Mr. Stark may not always be able to foresee. Thank you, God bless Iron Man and God bless America."

She couldn't help but glare at Hammer as he brought her into the conversation. Yes, she'd helped Tony design a few of his suits, and she helped make them more energy efficient. She could still remember talking to Jimmy about making the suit more energy efficient. He'd been ecstatic over the idea of helping design the Iron Man suit, especially since technology was his strongest forte.

Yet, she was still annoyed over the fact that Hammer seemed to drag her into all of this mess. She knew people would willingly believe him because he had a way with words, and she had a feeling nothing good would come out of that.

"Now, the committee would like to invite Lt. Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber," Stern announced once Hammer was finished with his speech.

"Rhodey?" Tony asked in surprise.

Suddenly, his interest was peeked, and Ada couldn't resist looking either. What was he doing here? She was sure it was some sort of secret military thing. But he was a friend of theirs, so why would he be supporting the Senator?

Sure enough the door swung open to reveal Rhodes, dressed in his military uniform. He looked slightly annoyed to be put on the spotlight, but aside from that he looked fine. Peering over, she couldn't resist giving him a hug as he joined them.

"Hey, Rhodes, this is a surprise!" she greeted him warmly as he returned the gesture.

By now, Rhodes had become a good friend of Ada's when it came to stepping in if Tony wasn't around to fill in the role of her father. The two of them got along, mostly because they shared the same view of Tony's often reckless behavior.

"Hey, buddy," Tony shook his hand.

"Look, I'm here, let's move on," Rhodes replied in a low enough whisper.

"Alright."

Tony pouted as Rhodes stood in front of the Senator. Stern began speaking some more before giving Rhodes a specific portion of the report he had submitted.

"Sir, a paragraph out of context won't mean much—"

Stern cut him off before he could finish. Ada didn't know what was more annoying – the fact that Stern seemed to enjoy cutting people off, or that he'd called in both Hammer and Rhodes to try and come up with a defense against the Iron Man suit.

"I know that Lt., just read it please."

Rhodes looked at him uneasily and coughed before speaking again.

"Let the records show the fact that he is reading only a portion of context shows that he isn't telling the truth," Ada pointed out.

"No, the record doesn't need that," Stern replied in a sharp tone.

"Should I also mention that the Senator is also being very rude in the public?" She added the last part with a smirk, knowing that she was getting under his skin.

She was half-tempted to make the water sitting in the glass on his desk move so that it landed in an uncomfortable position. She had to resist the urge, especially when she knew it would just give away her position.

"Just read the statement please." He let out a sigh of irritation and glared at Rhodes.

"Keep glaring like that and your face might freeze," she muttered under her breath.

By now, even Pepper was trying not to laugh. She tried keeping on a poker face while dad just grinned like an idiot. Rhodes just gave her a pleading look, but, Ada could only nod in encouragement. It's not like he could stop Stern, even if he wanted to.

"As he does not work in any branch within the government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and its interests. I, however, go on to summarize that the benefits of Iron Man outweigh its costs. It would also be in our interests to fold Mr. Stark into the chain of command."

Stern was trying to cut him off towards the end, but Rhodes only looked at the crowd triumphantly as he finished his statement. If anyone could get the government on their side, it was Rhodes. He always seemed to have a good way of making it sound convincing, one way or another.

"I'm not a joiner but I'll consider secretary of defense, if you ask nicely," Tony said. The people in the room laughed at that statement. "We can amend the hours in a bit."

The Senator ignored dad's announcement and began showing images of what appeared to be suits that were similar to Iron Man's. He went on about Rhodes' reports and how suits were being made at this moment. Rhodes kept on telling Stern that it wasn't in the nation's best interest, but Stern ignored his pleads.

It didn't take Ada long to pull out her phone and use the technology that she and Jimmy had been working on. Not for the first time, she had to thank SHIELD for letting her use some of their technology in public. She and Jimmy often worked on lab projects to pass the time, and to keep other agents satisfied. None of them needed to know that the projects they worked on had been to hack into 'highly secured' technology.

"Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are attempts at making man copies of Stark's suit." Tony glanced over her shoulder to see what she was doing and grinned. She typed in a few codes and bypassed the security. He was doing the same with his phone. "It has been inferred that these suits are quite possibly at this moment, operational."

"Hold on a second," Tony mumbled as he bypassed the security. "Ada, you got that one?"

She simply nodded and aimed her phone at the right screen, while he aimed his phone at the left. Stern furrowed an eyebrow when he realized what they were doing.

Almost at once the command box appeared, showing the words 'Welcome, Miss Stark'.

"Well, that was quick," Ada whispered when Tony's name showed up seconds later.

"Time for a little transparency. What do you think is really going on here?" Tony asked.

"If you would all take a look at the screens here," Ada began as she scrolled through the images. "I believe this is North Korea."

The machine fell over and began firing wildly. Blood splattered across the screen, and the people in the room recoiled at the sight. While it wasn't the first time Ada had seen such violence, it was still enough to make her shudder. She hated to imagine the lawsuits that came from that incident.

Senator Stern began protesting that someone needed to turn the screens off as more and more images began to show up. She smirked as Tony began narrating the pictures showing up on the screen.

"And that's Iran…" The suit fell over in a puff of smoke, blowing up the camera in the process. "No grave, immediate threat here."

Ada couldn't help but giggle when she saw a familiar image show up on the screen. SHIELD had the file locked away, but somehow it had gotten onto Tony's files. When it came to hacking into anything, Tony was an expert.

"Is that Justin Hammer?" she asked in an innocent voice.

"How'd he get there?" Tony asked in a joking tone. Hammer was wincing as he tried turning off the screen. "Hey Justin, focus, you're on the big screen!" Tony called out. The robotic suit failed miserably, and Ada could hear Hammer swearing in the background. "Yeah, I'd say most countries five to ten years away, but Hammer Industries…"

"I'd say twenty," she said with shrug.

"Let the records be shown that no one was injured during that test," Hammer added.

He was trying to save his sorry ass, and he failed miserably.

"The point is I think we're done here—" The Senator was struggling to take control of the court again. But, dad cut him off once more.

"The point is you're welcome. I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. America is safe; you want my property, you can't have it! But I did you a big favor, I have successfully privatized world peace!" Tony stood up showing peace signs, and Ada only slumped further into her seat as people applauded for his success. "What more could they want? For now? We tried to play ball with these ass-clowns!"

Ada let out a sigh of annoyance as Stern began swearing at them. Tony just ignored it and led the way out of the room. She was relieved to leave the tension, and thankful they had won the battle. At least for now the Iron Man suit was still in Tony's hands.

…

Later that day, they were back at the mansion sitting in the gym while going through the list of interns that Tony was looking to hire. They'd already gone through several interviews, but, so far, none seemed to fit the bill. Tony, being the impatient man that he was, had taken his frustration out on poor Happy through a boxing match.

Ada sat beside Pepper while looking through the files that were sent to them. Pepper was the one who taught her the ins and outs of Stark Industries. So, Ada had earned her place among the board when it came to accepting interns and figuring out what needed to be done. With Pepper busy looking at her own agenda, Ada had noticed a name pop up on her list of interns.

Natalie Rushman. According to the list, she hadn't shown up, yet. Her guess was, the woman was running late. Or, rumors of Tony's reputation had reached her, and she was thinking twice about working with him as an intern.

"Hey, Pepper, have we seen her, yet?" she asked, catching Pepper's attention as the strawberry blond shifted in her seat.

The woman in question was a redhead, with curly hair and piercing green eyes. As Ada studied the image, she realized with a start that she recognized the woman from somewhere. She'd seen bits and images of the woman through SHIELD's database, of all places.

"No, she gave me a call earlier this morning and said she would be running late," Pepper replied after noticing what Ada was looking at. Well, at least that made sense. Ada frowned as she studied the image a bit further, hating that she recognized the woman, but, couldn't explain why, "I'll be back in a few," Pepper warned her after receiving a phone call.

She just nodded and watched as Tony suddenly slugged Happy across the face, hard. He hit the bell seconds later as Happy staggered to his feet, trying to recover from the shock of the blow. Ada just rolled her eyes at the sight, wondering how reckless Tony could get.

"That was a cheap shot, Tony," she muttered, ignoring the look he gave her.

"Doesn't matter; I still won," Tony replied without missing a beat.

Ada was about to make a retort when she noticed for the first time, how exhausted he looked. She narrowed her eyes after scanning with her phone when she spotted the tattoos that marked his neck. For one thing, Tony didn't have any tattoos. For another, his exhaustion was something that shouldn't have been overlooked.

"Tony, we have a visitor," Pepper warned him after returning from her phone call.

She quickly put her phone away after noticing the woman from the picture standing behind Pepper. Natalie was exactly what she expected out of the picture. Ada couldn't help but tilt her head to one side curiously as she noticed something vaguely familiar, about her.

"Got it; take a break," Tony ordered Happy, who looked more than relieved with that prospect.

While Tony was busy speaking with Natalie, Ada did her own research. She rose an eyebrow as she moved into SHIELD's database. Her eyes narrowed when she finally understood why Natalie looked so familiar.

She was also known as Natasha Romanoff, AKA, the Black Widow. She was infamous throughout the agency, being a former master assassin and taking on missions that most agents tried to avoid. Ada had only seen pictures of the redhead, and heard stories from Clint, who also happened to be Romanoff's partner.

"How many languages can you speak?" Ada asked, glancing in Natalie's direction as she felt the woman's glare piercing through her.

"Several, including Latin and a few other dead languages," Natalie replied, narrowing her eyes as if daring Ada to give her position away, "I've heard you can speak several, as well."

She was ignoring Tony's presence as she looked at Ada with an expression that could be described as, 'If looks could kill'. Ada nearly rolled her eyes at that, knowing full-well that Natalie would kick her ass if she called her out.

"C'est pratique," she said, speaking in French. Natalie raised an eyebrow, actually looking impressed.

"Je suis sûre que ça l'est," she replied.

Tony just looked at them both in confusion before leading her to the fighting ring. Ada rolled my eyes when Pepper whispered something to him, but he cut her off while taking a swig of his drink. she didn't even want to know what it was he drank.

"Happy, why don't you show her a few moves," Tony said to Happy as he finished speaking.

Natalie glanced over at Happy warily as he stood up.

"What are you doing?" Ada demanded in a low whisper as dad joined us by the chairs.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he muttered. "So, who does Natalie work for?" he asked as he started typing away at the computer.

"She said it's legal," Pepper told him.

Legal. Otherwise, she meant, 'classified'. Ada had no doubt that Natalie was just trying to keep an eye on Tony, through whatever SHIELD had told her. Though, she couldn't shake off the sense that SHIELD was also trying to keep an eye on her, as well.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when Happy was suddenly thrown down to the floor. Natalie had her legs wrapped around his neck seconds later, clearly not taking any chances with the bigger man. Ada could only watch from a distance as Happy struggled from her strong grip. Natalie was not the kind of person she would want to piss off.

"Happy!" Pepper exclaimed in horror.

Ada narrowed her eyes at Natalie, having seen Clint use that move on her more times than she could count during their training sessions. She'd returned home multiple times with injuries that she just couldn't explain to Tony. Not without giving away her own position in SHIELD.

"TKO," Tony announced while ringing the bell. Natalie stood up after releasing her grip from Happy, who was gasping for breath. "You're a keeper!" he added once she recomposed herself.

She couldn't help but look down at the floor when they left the room, still chatting away. Considering who Natalie really was, she had no doubt the woman would give Tony a run for his money once she started 'working' for him. This was not going to end well.

AN: Changed the French around thanks to Nogly; thanks for sharing that; obviously, French is not my first language, but, it is one of my favorite languages, and I apologize for any mistakes I made ^^

'It Comes In Handy' - c'est pratique

'I'm sure it does' - je suis sûre que ça l'est