I sat in my office for hours, trying to clear my head. No one came into my office, no one called me. I felt somewhat abandoned, like everyone was suddenly on her side, and I had no one in my corner. I had been friends with my team for years, yet here they were, turning away from me.
Then it hit me: it wasn't me vs Ruby, it was us against a problem. Although, the problem was her. Or the fact she was just suddenly sprung onto me, not her. None of this was her fault. I just needed to keep reminding myself that. She was innocent in all of this, there was nothing she could do, or could have done to have prevented this.
Suddenly, my phone rang, bringing me out of my thoughts. Pepper's number lit up my screen. I answered it as quickly as I could, "Pepper" my voice was breathless.
"Tony," Her voice was equally as breathless, and hers also shook, like she hadn't planned on me actually picking up, "I heard about Peter." She quickly said.
Guilt suddenly hit me again. I hadn't even went back down to check on him. "Yeah, he's pretty roughed up. He'll pull through though." I said, then silence filled the line
"How'd this happen, Tony?"
"I don't know, he hasn't been conscious to tell me." I quickly said
"No, Tony, I mean Ruby. How did this whole situation happen." She said.
"Pepper, I don't know how it happened. Well, I do, we had sex, but I don't know why she never reached out. I tried reaching out to her, I did, but she never got back to me. She never told me about Ruby. I just assumed the relationship was over, done with, I didn't know I had a daughter. However, the bottom line is I do, and she's still just a kid, and I AM her father. I have to take care of her."
I heard her crying on the other end, and I wanted to console her so bad, but I remained strong, waiting for her to anwer. "Tony, I want to make this work. I don't want to lose you."
Relief washed over me. "I do too, but you have to accept her. She isn't just going to go away."
"I know Tony. Please, just give me some time." Pepper said.
"Why don't you come home Pepper. I'll stay here for a few days, but you should be home." I said.
Silence filled the line again, this time longer than the last. "Okay." She finally agreed.
"Listen, I have to go, I will call you later, you call me if you need anything." I said.
She agreed and we said our goodbyes, and hung up the phone.
I figured Ruby would have went back to her room, I knew she was pissed but no one would have let her leave. I needed to get my thoughts in order before going to confront her and ultimately apologize profusely to her. I went to the infirmary first.
Peter was awake and sitting up when I walked in, he was all beat to hell. "Kid…" I said as I looked over him. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Mr. Stark… Who ever it is you had me watching, they're scary dangerous. They're into more than just drugs, its weapons and more too. I tried to stop them, but they got the drop on me. There's a lot of them. Mr. Stark, I failed. I more than failed, they know now. They know that we are watching them." He quickly said in a panic.
"Easy, kid. It's alright. They should know, because we are going to go after them, we are going to stop them. I shouldn't have sent you alone. I'm sorry kid." I said as I sat on the edge of his bed.
"You don't have to act like I didn't screw up." He said.
"Peter, trust me, after these last few days, I am the king of screw ups. I would know if you screwed up, and you didn't. Okay?" I said, trying to comfort him.
He nodded his head, then, with a confused look across his face, met my eyes. "Hey, did we get another Avenger?" He asked.
I furrowed my brows, "No? Why?"
"Last night, when I came here, I was really hurt, and there was a girl, she saved me. And I know she was really there, because I saw her walking through the infirmary, but when she saw me, she ran." He said.
"What'd she look like?" I quickly asked, already knowing who it was he was talking about.
"She was probably my aged, had the most beautiful skin and eyes I have ever seen, her voice was like an angel sent straight from heaven, she looked like a Goddess." He said.
I raised my brow at him, "Well, I don't exactly know who you are describing because those were all opinions, and lovely opinions at that, but I know for a fact that it was my daughter that I didn't know existed until yesterday who saved your life so I would assume you mean her."
"Your daughter…" He said, kind of a question, kind of a statement.
"Yeah, my daughter." I quickly said and gave him a smile.
"Oh." His voice was several octaves higher, "Listen, sir-"
"We'll talk about this later kid. Right now, I need to go check up on my daughter, and you need rest." I said and got up, not giving him another chance to speak.
I made my way to her room, putting the final words on my apology I would recite to her. I knocked on her door- nothing. So I knocked again, "Ruby… Ruby it's me, please let me in." I said. Nothing. I guess I should have expected that. I let myself in, but the room was empty. It didn't look like she had even come back here. I quickly shut the door and went to find the others, they all sat around a table in our main conference room- the same one I had gotten the news in. As soon as I entered the talking ceased, and all eyes were on me. "Where's Ruby?" I asked before anyone could say anything.
"We haven't seen her, I figured she went back to her room." Clint said.
"Yeah, she's not there." I quickly said, then turned to leave, them all following quickly behind me.
"What do you mean she's not there?" Clint asked, "Where did she go?"
"I'm obviously trying to figure that out." I said. If she had left, it had been hours, who knows where she would be.
I went to the security room and followed her from my office, to the infirmary, tears streaking her face, back to the elevator, and straight out the door. "We have to find her." I said as I practically ran from the room.
"We'll split up, look all over the city." Bruce said.
"Wait," Natasha said, "Maybe we should just let her have some time."
I stopped, and quickly turned to her. "She is 16. She can't just wander around the city alone." I snapped at her.
"Tony, I'm just saying, she thinks she can take care of herself and she probably can. She will come back, or turn up." Natasha said.
"No she won't." Clint interjected, "Not after everything you said to her Tony."
"What did you say to little Ruby, Tony?" Thor asked.
"Terrible things, Thor. That's why we need to find her." I said.
"We can't just use all of our resources on finding her." Natasha said.
"Fine." I snapped as I turned around, "You stay with anyone else who feels the same way."
Thor, Clint, and Bruce followed me closely. "I'm going to see if I can sweep the streets and try to find her Tony, Hulk won't do much good." Bruce said.
"Thanks big guy." I said, knowing he was right.
We decided to drive around first. Maybe we would find her before nightfall, and it would be safer for all involved. However, when we tried the girls home, and when we tried a few other hang out spots and day began to fall into night, I knew we needed to suit up. So that's what we did. We searched until the early hours of the morning, following the leads Bruce threw at us from spotting her on street cameras. We were about to give up, it was the early hours of the morning and we were all exhausted when Bruce radioed in for the first time in hours. "Tony, she's on the west side of the park, she's being chased towards the riverside warehouse buildings."
We went there as fast as we could, but we were one step behind her and Bruce had lost her. I heard the sound of a trash can, one of the old metal ones, being thrown, and I trusted my gut and flew to it.
She was pinned on the ground by a huge guy, the same guy she was seen with earlier, her friend was with, the guy who had been chasing her. I slammed into him and slammed him into the wall. "Please, I'm sorry, let me go." He cried as I cut off his air supply.
"Tony, let him go. Ruby needs you. I'll take care of him." Thor said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. I slammed the guys head into the wall again before letting Thor take over. Ruby laid on the ground, her face already bruising, her nose bleeding, and she had her arm wrapped around her ribs, her face twisted in agony
"Easy Ruby, you're okay." I said, fighting tears as my mask revealed my face.
"You came for me." She said as she coughed.
"I'm so sorry, Ruby." I said.
Clints voice caught me off guard, "Tony, get her to the Tower." He barked.
I gently picked her up, just letting her relax in my arms. She let her body loosen up, she wasn't stiff anywhere, at one point as I flew us home I thought she might be asleep, but I looked down to see her eyes cracked open. Mostly she kept them close. She felt so helpless, so defenseless in my arms. She was hurt, and it was my job to protect her, I had failed. She felt broken.
I took her straight to the infirmary, doctors already awaiting her arrival. I laid her on the bed, and they all crowded around her. "Mr. Stark, you should go." One said as she pushed me out the door. I listened, not wanting to be in the way. I walked to the waiting room, where the team sat. "They told me to go." I said.
"Tony, she needs you." Thor said.
He was right, I nodded and quickly ran back to the room. When I got there they still all surrounded her, but she wasn't awake. They stuck needles in her left and right, and were putting a breathing mask on her. "Mr. Stark, please." The same doctor said.
"That's my daughter. I will stay out of the way, but I need to be in here." I said.
"Let him stay." The lead doctor, Dr. Anderson, said. "Besides, right now we need to get a CT scan on her, see how extensive her head injuries are. She's got a few good contusions, one on the back of her head and one on the side. It looks like the back is from a fall, while the side is from blunt force if I had to guess, probably a fist. She also has a broken nose, while they get the machine up, lets get that set. If she is still stable, next is an xray on those ribs."
Every word he said made me cringe. She was hurt badly. They let me stay in the room as they took her down the hall for the tests. I sat, it felt like hours before they brought her back, but in reality, it was probably only 30 minutes. One doctor stayed while the others went to look at the results, Bruce was with them. It only took about 15 minutes and Dr. Anderson, and Bruce came back in. Dr. Anderson put the x rays up on the illuminator.
"Mr. Stark, Ruby has suffered from a fractured rib and one has a clean break. She also has some bruised spots too." He said as he pointed to them, "However, none of the breaks are towards the lungs, so that is very good. We will treat them, and they should heal just fine. From the shape and nature of the bruising I would say that what did this was the man's boots- probably steel toes. She had a broken nose, and we have reset it."
"Tony, the real concern is the head injuries." Bruce interjected.
"Yes, the head injuries. The good news is that we can't find any place that's bleeding." He said as he showed me a picture of her brain, "However, do you see this abnormal spot here on the left cerebral hemisphere across the frontal and temporal lobes, that is definitely swelling. We are going to keep a very close eyes, but it does cross the hippocampus, which-"
"Which is responsible for the memory portion of the brain, I know." I said as I rubbed my face.
"Right, and that is where the majority of the swelling is." He said, "But, there is no bruising, which is a good sign."
"Will she be alright?" I asked.
"I think so. We are going to do everything in my power to ensure it."
I stayed with her throughout the night, and she only woke up once. She was drenched in sweat, screaming and flailing. I gently held her, trying to tell her it was alright. Doctors ran in and sedated her. They laid her back down after ensuring nothing was ripped out. I sat on her bed, gently stroking her hair and face. Tears streaked my cheeks as I looked at her broken body, and thought of the worst.
"Tony, are you okay?" Clint asked, "We heard her screaming, the doctors told us."
"Yeah, I'm okay, Clint. You guys should all go, go get some sleep." I said, not turning to look at him.
I heard him step closer, and then he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Tony, she will be okay. We will all be here to help her."
I just nodded my head, I couldn't get any words out. I heard him leave and I hung my head, sobs escaping my lips. "Tony?" Peppers voice caught me off guard. I turned around slowly, wondering if I was just hearing things. She ran to me, wrapping me in her arms. "Nick called, he told me what happened. Is she okay?" She asked as I sobbed into her shoulder.
"She has swelling in her brain across the frontal and temporal lobes. On the hippocampus. They are concerned with it. She also has two broken ribs, a couple fractured ones." I said, my throat hoarse, "She just woke up, screaming and flailing, begging for him to get off of her. Begging for help." I said.
"Tony, she will be alright." Pepper said as she rubbed my head.
"I really screwed up. It was my job to protect her Pepper, and I failed." I said.
"Tony, she will be okay."
We got comfortable in the chairs by her bed, and after a while the constant rhythm and beeps of the machines put us to sleep. Several hours later, a doctor cam in, gently shaking us awake. "There's nothing you guys can do here. You should really get some rest."
Pepper looked up at me, exhaustion filled her eyes. "You should go home Pepper. I'm gonna go up to my office." I said.
She hesitated, then nodded. I kissed her on the forehead goodbye, and then put her in the elevator so she could go home, and I went to my office.
I fell asleep, and woke up some time later. I went to go to Ruby's room, to get her some fresh clothes for when she woke up, and found her trying to enter her room. "What exactly are you doing?" I asked, trying to not be extremely angry.
We had a lengthy discussion about why she should be in the infirmary, the dangers of not being there, and I finally got to give her my apologies. I told her that she had to understand I had no idea that she existed, that I needed to adjust. Most importantly, I told her I wanted her. She understood, and although she wouldn't let it show, she seemed grateful. I took her back to the infirmary where I got her settled into her bed, she was still so sore. I had just got her comfortable when Dr. Anderson came in.
"Good, Mr. Stark, you're here. We need to talk about Ruby's results. Why don't we go to the conference room." He said.
"I wanna hear too."Ruby said as she tried to push herself forward, a look of pain flashing across her face, and then the other doctor caught her arm.
"No, Ruby, you need to rest." Dr. Anderson said as the other doctor pushed a syringe into her arm.
I lunged at her, "Hey, what the hell!" I yelled, but Ruby's eyes were already shut.
"Mr. Stark, listen-" Dr. Anderson started, but I was quick to stop him.
"No, you listen!" I yelled, "That is my daughter, you cannot just treat her like that. You can't just do that!"
"Tony," Bruce's voice stopped me. "We really need to talk."
I followed them to the conference room, where they sat me down and sat down across from me. "Is it bad?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"Well, Tony, the thing is, she still has the swelling, but after a second look it doesn't look so much like swelling, and the way she is up and walking around, talking, I don't think it's that. A concussion, yes. Swelling…. I don't know."
"Are you saying it's a tumor, Bruce?" I asked.
They looked at eachother. "Maybe, but I don't think so." Dr. Anderson said. "It seems like… Something else. I know you know of mutants, sir, and her eyes make me think maybe she has a mutant gene outside of just her eyes, so strong it goes to her eyes when it's not a physical appearance type of mutation."
"What are you trying to say?" I asked.
"Tony…" Bruce started trying to find the words, "Maybe there is a reason just outside of her needing a father, her needing your help, that Sophia brought Ruby here. Maybe it wasn't just on a whim or because they were starving. Maybe she needed help in different ways."
"Mr. Stark, if you just let us run some tests-" Dr. Anderson started.
"No, no. You aren't running any tests. I am taking her home, you are done." I said as I stood up, "My daughter is a normal kid. She's not some mutant. Not a witch. Leave her alone, she has been through enough." I said, and then walked out.
I went back to her room and waited for her to wake up. I had let her down once, I hadn't protected her, and I was never going to make that mistake again.