Author's note: This story was originally intended to end with one chapter but then I thought of more content to add. If you prefer a completed story please read no further.

"I have to go back to work today," Tony told Sam over a late breakfast the next morning. She had been up half the night finishing her shield and had succeeded in making it work. "I've been off for two days, the Avengers are gonna start getting after me for being soft if I take any more time off."

Sam nodded. "That's okay. I can stay here and find stuff to do." She said.

"You could I guess." It was July, there was no school to attend and she was fifteen years old, old enough to be left alone while he worked.

"Hey, I'm a lot better off being left alone here than with Dan." She pointed out.

"You'll get bored," He said. He would get bored if he were home all day. That's why he preferred to invest so much time working or maybe partying sometimes.

She shook her head. "No… I had an idea last night while I was finishing up my shield. I want to make it smaller. Small enough to be a necklace. And not an ugly necklace either. Something nice enough that women would buy it."

"If you did that, you'd make a fortune," He said, finding he was quite proud of her ingenuity.

"I know," She said with a grin. "That's kinda the point. That, and it could help people."

"Have you figured out how to make it small enough yet?" He asked her curious. He had a few ideas himself but it was her project, it would be rude to take over.

"Most of the parts can be made smaller. The problem is the power source. Maybe I could use something rechargeable?"

"Doesn't have to be rechargeable if it charges enough the first time." Tony pointed out.

Sam's eyes widened as if she'd just thought of something important. "Oh my god…" She got to her feet, her breakfast only half eaten. "I know exactly what to do!" And she ran out of the kitchen towards the lab. Then she came running back, gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, bye!" And she left the kitchen again.

Late that afternoon Tony was at Stark Tower working on some new fight simulations with Banner on the computers. Nat and Steve were sparring in an open area and the others were waiting their turn to fight. Jarvis had interrupted him several times to inform the team of any security issues that they should be aware of around the world, anything that could later become an assignment.

"Mr Stark, you are receiving a phone call from your house." Jarvis said over the speaker where everyone could hear.

Tony was busy typing in a set of codes and didn't want to stop until he was finished. He could just multi-task anyway. "Fine, put it through."

"I ran into a problem," Sam's voice came in over the speaker. "I'm kinda stuck."

"What happened kid?" Tony asked. For some reason this conversation had gotten the team's attention and they had stopped sparring. Tony was starting to wish he'd made it a private call.

"I readjusted the parameters for the new power source and everything worked great at first...then it kinda...exploded." Sam said, a little worried.

Tony stopped typing. "Jarvis put her on screen." He was more than worried. His team members noticed. The display screen on the wall soon showed a view of his lab at home. The place was a wreck, smoke and debris everywhere and Sam's arm was bleeding. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, I'm...I just have this cut on my arm. I'm fine. It's just that the room went into lockdown after the explosion and I can't get out." Sam explained. "Jarvis wouldn't let me out because I'm not authorized…"

"Jarvis, let her the hell out of there now. From now on Sam is authorized to give you commands." Tony said, angry at himself for programming Jarvis the way he had.

"Of course Mr Stark," The door to the lab clicked open on the screen.

"I'm really sorry about all this stuff…" Sam said.

"Don't worry about the stuff. It can be replaced. The only thing in there that can't be replaced is you. What did you do differently this time? How did you change the power source?" He asked, just wanting to know how it had happened.

"It was something new…" Sam went to the only computer in the room that was still working, "I'm sending it to you now."

The screen split in half and one side still showed the lab the other side showed a formula. "What the hell were you doing using this much power? You could have been killed!" Tony said.

"It wasn't too much power. It should have worked! Look." Sam sent him another file, this one showing the design of her miniaturized shield.

Tony looked it over for a moment and then shook his head. "The only way you're gonna fit that much power through the capacitor is with a lot stronger material than I have in my lab. You'd need something stronger than steel. The design is fine, it's just the materials couldn't handle it."

"I'm sorry…" Sam bit her lip, she was starting to cry.

Tony sighed. He felt guilty for yelling at her. Sam's project was still really well thought out and he'd been through a few explosions himself while making stuff. "Next time just send me your plans before you turn anything on and I can make sure it's safe."

"Sure. Whatever you say." Sam said and the fled the lab, leaving a view of only and empty smoking lab, and a mathematical formula on the screen.

"Was she….your daughter?" Nat spoke up, "Because she certainly looked like you."

"Yeah," Tony said, "Just met her two days ago," And he left it at that, not wanting to talk about it.

"This is amazing," Banner said, he had moved closer to the screen and was looking closely at Sam's project designs and formulas. "Tony you realize your kid is a genius right?"

"Of course she is," He said, trying to go back to his work on the computer.

"I think you made her cry," Wanda said.

"What choice did I have? She could have gotten herself killed." Tony argued.

"Maybe," Bruce said, "But this thing she made is beyond most people and you sort of treated her like she was stupid."

"I didn't…" Tony started to argue, then realized Bruce was right. "Okay, so maybe I'm not so good at this whole parent thing."

"Sorry to interrupt Mr Stark," Jarvis cut in, "You should be aware that Samantha has left your house with a credit card. She also also changed the security codes on your house and I am afraid you will be unable the get in when you return home."

"What the…?" Tony began.

Nat snickered a little.

"Jarvis, track her with her cell phone and let me know where she goes." Tony said.

"You're not serious?" Nat asked. "You're gonna track your own daughter?"

"I am, and Jarvis if she makes any calls, sends any texts, or buys anything then keep me informed." Tony said without bothering to argue with Nat.

A short time later Jarvis informed them that Sam had purchased multiple items from a hardware store in very large quantities.

"What do you think she's doing?" Bruce asked, thinking out loud.

"I have no idea. She's bought everything to make like 30 of her original shields and a few other things too." Tony said, still not quite understanding what she was up to.

"Tony, why don't you just talk to her and ask?" Nat said, still annoyed with him.

"Mr Stark, Sam is currently placing a call to someone by the name of Scaro Mithrax." Jarvis told him. "By all the records I am able to access, it seems that Scaro is not human."

"Can't call her now. Her line is busy." Tony said to Nat, then added, "Put up the call where I can hear it Jarvis."

"Who is calling me?" A raspy angry male voice picked up Sam's call.

"This is Sam Denver," Sam sounded rather angry herself.

"Who?" The alien rapsed.

"Maybe you remember me as Multi-Signal Girl." Sam replied.

"Oooohhh, Multi-Signal Girl! Yes I remember you. You send best signal of anyone in national science contest. You are calling me because you have changed your mind? You will send my message home now?"

"Nope. That's not why I am calling. I can do something even better. I can get you home." Sam told him.

"But I told you, without shields, my crashed ship can't get out of earth's atmosphere…" Scaro rasped, skeptical. "If you just send the message my people will come get me in a few weeks time. That's all I need."

"I am not sending your message." Sam insisted.

Scaro growled in response. "Then what do you want multi-signal girl?"

"Adamantium. You told me your ship was carrying three tons. I can fix your shields if you give it to me." Sam told him boldly.

"It isn't just the shields...I was not a science officer. Just a security guard. If something were to go wrong on the journey home I would be trapped in space with no communications system. Why not just send my message and one of my people can bring me home?"

"Because frankly I don't even like you Scaro, and I don't think I would like the rest of your people any better. I would rather that you went home than have you bring more of your people here." Sam explained, irritated. "So do we have a deal or not?"

Scaro growled again. "You can not treat me with such rudeness. I was a royal security officer. I will not tolerate such insults, especially not from a human child!"

"Well Scaro this human child is the only person who even has a clue about how to get you home. So you can stay trapped on earth for another twenty two years or you can accept my offer. What will it be?" Sam demanded an answer.

"Your shields are powerful enough to withstand earth's atmosphere?" The alien rasped.

"You can count on it." Sam said confidently.

"I will give you one ton of adamantium," Scaro offered. "I don't have all three tons anymore, I sold some of it over the years."

"What did you use to cut it?" She asked him.

"What?" The alien replied, confused.

"The adamantium? You told me it was in a solid block. If you sold some of it, how did you cut it?"

The line went silent on the other end.

"That's what I thought," Sam said. "I'll take all three tons and nothing less."

"Fine. Then we have a deal. You know the place to meet." Scaro said and he ended the call.

"Tony, you need to call her." Nat said as soon as the call had ended. She sounded worried.

"I'm on it," Tony said taking out his cell phone to make a private call this time. Sam didn't pick up her phone. He dialed her number three more times. She didn't answer. "She's not answering. I don't get it, I've only known her a few days but she always seemed so shy. There was nothing shy about that phone call."

"She's angry," Banner spoke up. "You made her feel stupid. Anger can do weird things to people, believe me."

"I wasn't trying to make her angry. I was just trying to make her safe." Tony argued.

"Look at it this way, if it were you, and your father wanted you to run all your projects by him, what would you do?" Bruce asked.

"I'd do everything I could to finish the project without his interference just to prove that I didn't need his help, to prove that I'm not stupid." Tony admitted. "That's what she's doing, isn't it?"

"Kind of looks that way," Bruce said.

"Maybe I should just fly out there and get her. Jarvis where is she now?" Tony said.

"I don't think you should do that," Bruce said. "Just try calling her again."

Tony did, and to his shock, she answered this time. The call was still playing on the speaker for everyone to hear.

"What?" Sam said, in answer to his call.

"Jarvis told me you left the house and locked me out. I see you've been buying stuff too. What's going on?" Tony asked.

"I'm just getting together some stuff to finish my shield necklace." She said, a mixture of angry and careless.

"Then why did you lock me out of my house?"

"To keep you busy so you won't try to stop me."

"Sam, I'm not gonna try to stop you. I told you I thought your project was a good idea. I want you to keep working on it." Tony protested. "I'm not sure you're making a lot sense here."

"I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense for me to run all my projects by you first," She said, clearly angry this time. "I've been building stuff for years and I had to figure out everything for myself. There was no one around to tell me when I was doing it wrong. I don't see why I should start working that way now."

"It's not about telling you you're wrong." Tony argued. "A second pair of eyes can help prevent problems. I'm just trying to make things safer."

"Safer? Safer?" Sam's voice was strained. "I'm not scared of a stupid explosion, especially if I can learn something from it to make my projects better. Do you have any idea how many times Dan hit me in the last fifteen years? How many times I've had a broken arm, cracked ribs, stitches? How many times he beat the shit out of me just because he could? How many times he held me down and…?" Sam was crying as she tried to talk to him. "Nothing that happens to me in the lab can be as bad as he was."

Tony went silent for a moment. "Sam, I can't go back and change what happened to you. All I can do is keep you safe now."

"And you want to do that by going over all my project notes and seeing what stupid things I might have missed?"

"I never used the word stupid," Tony said. "And I am sorry that the way I handled things today was insulting and I'm sorry that I yelled at you...Sam, will please just come to Stark Tower and I can go with you to gather your stuff?"

"I have to be somewhere in two hours." She said.

"Then let me come with you?"

"I can do this myself," She argued.

"I know you can. I won't interfere. I'll just silently observe. I promise." He told her.

"Okay." Sam said quietly. "And Dad, I'm sorry too. I'll unlock your house."

"Wow, that was tense," Clint said, stating the obvious, as the call ended.

"It was tense but it could have been a lot worse," Steve pointed out. "My neighbor has a teenage daughter and she argues with her father all the time. Every day, sometimes for hours, I can hear them. I'd say Sam gave in pretty easily."

"Well, an apology goes a long way," Nat said. "Sounds like that's all she really wanted."

"So who is Dan?" Wanda asked. "She said Dan hurt her."

"He was her stepfather," Tony explained. "I met Sam's mom at a weapons expo. Had no idea she was married. She died when Sam was a baby. Her mom's husband Dan raised Sam, if you can call it raising. Seems like he spent most of his spare time abusing her. She figured out who her real father was a few months ago and kept following me around but was too afraid to tell me who she was. I only figured it out accidentally."

"She still had a bruise on her face on the screen up there," Wanda pointed out sadly.

"Yeah, and there are injuries you can't see too," Tony said.

"In more ways than one, I'm sure." Banner agreed. "How does she even sleep at night?"

"Honestly, she spent the last two nights on the couch in my room and she wakes up pretty scared in the mornings." Tony told them.

A short time later Jarvis informed them that the security codes on Tony's house were reset to normal and that Sam was on her way to the tower. This time, when the elevator doors opened, Sam didn't throw up. She stepped out, looked a little overwhelmed at being in a room filled with Avengers, and then she crossed the room and went to Tony.

When she reached him he gave her a hug. He knew by now that she liked hugs and after everything that had just happened, it was best if he were to just hug her before she could do so first. He hugged her a little too tight and she whimpered with pain.

"Still hurts?" He asked her, pulling away.

She nodded. After Tony introduced her to everyone, he was ready to admit that he had listened to her phone calls. He knew he would have to admit it so that he could ask what she was doing with the adamantium. Sam spoke before he could say anything.

"I already know," Sam said as he opened his mouth to say something.

"You already know what?"

"I already know you asked Jarvis to track me and listen to my phone calls. I know because I kinda asked him to keep me informed of what you were doing." Sam admitted, a little embarrassed to say so.

"You used Jarvis against me?" Tony didn't know if he should be angry or amused.

"Not really, I just wanted to know how mad you were," She told him.

"I wasn't mad."

"You sounded mad." Sam said, a little worried.

"That was concern not anger."

"I'd hate to hear what anger sounds like then." She quipped.

"Wait...what did you think would happen if I was angry?" He asked her.

"I don't know," She mumbled. "Probably nothing except maybe some yelling."

Her words were the right answer but Tony could see just the littlest hint of doubt in her eyes. "Sam...it doesn't matter how angry I get, I will never ever hurt you."

"Even if I'm stupid?" She asked.

"You're not stupid. Sam, you are one of the smartest people I've ever met. And even if you did make a mistake, there's nothing you could do that would make me hit you." Tony told her sincerely. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"I'm sorry I disappointed you…" Sam said and she started to cry. "It was really idiotic not to consider the conductivity of the type of metal. I should have thought of it."

Tony could well remember the feeling she was having at that moment, the fear that he had disappointed his father had been a big part of his childhood. Tony had been smarter than most people but only his father could pick up on his mistakes. "You didn't disappoint me. The shield you made is an amazing design. And you fixed the conductivity problem by securing a huge supply of adamantium. You'll be able to mass produce hundreds of thousands of those shields and make a good amount of profit. That is what the adamantium is for right?"

Sam nodded.

"I'm not disappointed," He reiterated. "I'm proud of you."

Sam started crying a little harder and she took a couple steps closer and hugged Tony. He held on to her for a couple of minutes while she cried. When she pulled away he saw that some there were several blood spots on her sky blue shirt.

"Your bandages…" He pointed out.

She looked down at herself. "It's okay, I don't have time to change bandages right now. I have an hour to make a shield generator for a Gentari space ship...I have to get started!"

"You want any help with that?" Tony offered, "I know you can do it yourself but you are short on time…"

"No, I think I am okay with it. I'll let you know." Sam said backing out of the room to head down to the lab where her purchases had been delivered. "If you want to help, you can help me think of a name for my company. It's gotta be a good name because I am gonna outsell Stark Industries in a year. It will be all over the news."

"Don't you think that might be a little overconfident?" Tony asked.

"Nope. Not at all." Sam shook her head, smiling as she left them.

"Okay, she is definitely your kid Stark." Nat said as they watched her go.

"You think so?" Tony said a little sarcastically.

Fifty minutes later the elevator doors opened and Sam was back carrying a three foot square black box with a thick wire hanging out the back and multi pronged plug like none of them had ever seen before.

"All done." she said, placing the box on a table in a corner.

"You're sure it works?" Tony asked her.

"The ship is nuclear powered so I don't really have a way to test it here...but...it works."

"Okay, then are you ready to go make the exchange?"

"There is gonna be slight problem with that." Sam said, a little worried.

"What problem?" if she was about to tell him he couldn't go with her she was going to be very wrong. He was going. No matter what.

"The thing is...I didn't think about the fact that I'm still bleeding...and Scaro...Scaro eats people. If I go there like this and he smells blood it is going to end very badly."

"He eats people?" Banner spoke up.

"Yeah, he told me that he can't digest much of anything on earth...except for humans. He supposedly only eats criminals but if he hasn't eaten in awhile...he's gonna need to feed before the journey home…I would just use my shield to defend myself but he has this phase weapon and I'm not sure what frequency it operates at. I think maybe he could get through…."

"Then you're not going. Tell him the deal is off." Tony said. There was no way this was a good idea.

"I am going and I am asking you to help me find a way to do it safely. I thought that was what you wanted?"

"Sam...you could very likely get yourself killed if you go anywhere near him."

"I have to do this! It's not just about starting my own company or about money. This technology could make people safe, could save someone's life, could save them from getting the crap beaten out of them day after day, could keep them from feeling scared every day. If I have to risk my life to make other people safe then I am willing to do that."

"Maybe I'm not willing to let you risk your life!" Tony was finding it difficult to keep from shouting.

Natasha came alongside Tony and put her hand on his arm as if to calm him. "It wouldn't be as much of a risk if you brought along some help." She suggested.

"She makes a good point," Banner agreed.

"Are you guys saying you want to help her do this?" Tony asked.

"I am not even human," Thor spoke, after being silent most of the day. "Scaro will not eat me and I doubt he can do me any harm. I will assist her."

"We will all assist her," Wanda agreed.

"Fine," Tony gave in. "If you wanna do this you'll have to accept some extra company." He told Sam.

She nodded her agreement. "Thank you." Sam grabbed her device and headed for the elevator.