A/N: Hey guys, thank you for your reviews. Out of hospital now, and catching up with uni work, but still have more chapters written. And just to confirm what a few people have asked me, this is set before IM1 and I will be doing the movies.

Ruby rolled over in the bed, and cursed when she hit the floor. "Ugh, what time is it?" She called, putting the earpiece that had been on the table.

"Almost 4pm, Miss Matthews." SWAIN replied.

"Oh, okay, not good. I was hoping to do some digging around today." She moaned, rubbing her head as she pulled herself back onto the bed. "So, we know my mother used to live in LA. What was that company that you said she used to work for?" Ruby had to admit, sometimes she just didn't bother to pay attention and drifted off into her own little world.

"That would be Stark Industries, miss."

"Stark? As in that playboy, Tony Stark's company?" Ruby asked, slightly unable to believe what she had heard. She knew about that company, the things they made and the attitude of its CEO.

"That is correct. Although, this was almost 20 years ago." SWAIN told her.

Ruby bit her lip, she wasn't sure how she was feeling about dealing with that company. "We got any contacts at Stark Industries?" She had contacts all over the place, but it was never certain if they would come through for her.

"I am afraid not, Miss Matthews."

Ruby let out a sigh, that's exactly what she was afraid of hearing from him. "Great. That place is going to be like a fortress. No one there is going to want to talk to me and answer questions about my mother." She moaned. It really wasn't going to be easy for her.

"Miss Matthews, someone is trying to hack into my systems." SWAIN told her.

She sat up immediately and pulled her laptop out of her bag, "Oh, really? We'll see about that." She mumbled, tapping away at the keyboard. "Time to release the lions."

Tony sat at his desk with a frown on his face. "JARVIS, what the hell is going on?" He asked, watching as all the screens in his workshop went off.

"Sir, I have an incoming message." JARVIS replied, before every single screen came back on, all showing the same message, 'Enjoy the lions.' "Sir, it would appear someone has infected my system with a virus."

"What? That's not possible." Tony called, his hands moving rapidly across his keyboard as he worked. "How the hell did they get past your firewall and security?"

"It would appear they have access to some highly advanced technology, Si… Si… Si…" Tony's frown deepened as his artificial intelligence began to stutter.

"Come on, JARVIS. Help daddy out here." Tony mumbled, as he tried to get some form of control over his system again. Whoever had done this, knew what they were doing. They had blocked him out from everything, and completely taken JARVIS offline. "Oh, you are going to pay for this." He mumbled to himself.

Ruby was sitting there with a smug grin on her face. "How did they like their lions?" She asked SWAIN.

"The system is still unresponsive. I believe you have accomplished your mission of taking them out." He replied to her.

She couldn't help but chuckle a little to herself. Someone had tried to hack her, so she had just hacked them right back. That was why she loved SWAIN so much, he was excellent for hacking and sending out viruses. "Never mess with Ruby Matthews."

She tossed some jellybeans into her mouth and happily chewed away on them. She was feeling rather pleased with herself, until her laptop screen went black. "Um, SWAIN?"

'Game on. You have no idea who you're messing with.' Flashed up on the screen, followed by a blinking curser.

"Oh, is that so? I do love a good game." She said to herself, before typing a reply. 'Bring it. You have no idea who you're messing with.' She replied, grinning away. It was rather fun, playing a little game with someone who thought they could get the better of her.

'You know, it won't take me long to find you.'

'I bet I can find you first.' Ruby sent, not letting her grin fade. It had been a long time since she had done anything like that, she had put it behind her, mostly.

'Do you really not know who you're dealing with?' Flashed up on the screen.

She rolled her eyes. 'If I did, you'd already be down and out.' She grabbed hold of her phone, and started to reboot SWAIN, clearly the person had knocked him offline, that was how they had managed to get in.

'Is that a threat?'

'No. But I still know that I can find you, before you find me. So game on.' She typed, just as SWAIN came back online. "SWAIN, track it, right now. That asshole kicked you off and think's he can play with us. Let's show him what we are really made of."

"Tracking now, Miss Matthews."

'I could be on the other side of the world for all you know.'

'And yet here you are, thinking you're better than everyone else.' She was not going to let that person win, she was not going to let them think for even a second that they could out do her. "Come on SWAIN, I'm kind of in a hurry here."

A minute later, a new message appeared on the screen. 'Oh, I know I'm better than everyone else. It's time you realised that as well.'

"Origin seems to be located in Malibu. They are using several different satellites to reroute the messages, Miss Matthews." SWAIN told her.

"Thank you very much. See if you can get a more accurate pin point on them." She couldn't help but smile to herself, this was so much fun for her. 'How's the weather in Malibu?' She typed confidently. There was no way that SWAIN could be wrong, that just wasn't possible.

She waited, and waited, but no response came. "The connection has been terminated, miss. I was unable to complete the full trace." SWAIN told her, as her laptop rebooted.

"Oh well, must have scared them off when I asked them about Malibu. Do we know anyone in Malibu?" Ruby asked, feeling a little deflated that the fun was over so quickly. Hacking was just one of her many skills, one that had gotten her into trouble a few times.

"I have no records of any contacts in Malibu, Miss Matthews."

"That's a shame. Guess we're just going to have to wait till he tries something else. Going to have to give you a little security upgrade tonight as well it seems." Ruby said, opening up a programme on her laptop and tapping away at the keys. She knew what she was doing, and it was going to take her a good few hours to get it finished. "Send Liam a message, tell him I'm fine and will call him tomorrow."

"Of course, Miss Matthews. Will there be anything else?"

"Nope, that's all for now, SWAIN. Just make sure that asshole doesn't do any serious damage."

While Ruby worked on upgrading the security for SWAIN, Tony Stark was doing the exact same thing for JARVIS. He was more than just a little frustrated now, because whoever that was, had managed to track him. They knew he was in Malibu, and yet JARVIS had been unable to find out where they were.

His mood wasn't improved by the fact that he still had no idea where his daughter was. He didn't want to admit it, but he really was worried about her. He remembered the way he felt after both his parents died, and then when her mother had left. He turned to the drink, and gambling, and sleeping with anyone and everyone. If Ruby really was like him, she could get herself into a lot of trouble.

He didn't want that for her. He didn't want her to take to the bottle, to think that alcohol could solve everything. He had learnt that it couldn't, but he still done it anyway, because what else was there left for him? Now he had a real reason, he had a daughter that he had never met, he had someone to look after and care for.

"Have you managed to get back into that system yet, JARVIS?" Tony called, taking a large swig of his coffee. He was planning on pulling an all-nighter if he had to, he had two things he needed to be doing.

"I am afraid not, sir. They were lost the moment you terminated the connection." JARVIS informed him.

"And what about Ruby?" He wasn't holding out much hope that there was going to be any news on her yet either. Wherever she was, he just hoped that she was safe.

"No, sir. I am sure she is capable of taking care of herself, sir. After all, she is your daughter." JARVIS replied.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Tony asked in a bit of a huff. He didn't like it when his A.I got clever with him. He was meant to be the genius, not the other way around.

"Sir, I was only saying that she is probably tougher than she looks. Did you not say she had the Stark intellect as well? I am sure she is capable of looking after herself."

Tony knew he was right, but he couldn't stop the worry. "Fine, let's just get this upgrade done." He muttered, still feeling rather low.

All he wanted was to know that she was safe for now. The moment he had seen her, standing over her mother's grave, something had sparked inside of him. Over the years, many women have claimed their children were his, of course the DNA tests proved otherwise and the cases were dismissed. This time it was different, because he knew Jasmine wouldn't lie to him. She had no reason to.

Most of the time, the women wanted money or attention. If Jasmine had been desperate for money, she could have told him the truth sooner. And it was clear that she didn't want the attention of him nor the media for herself or their daughter, that was why she had kept it a secret. He trusted her, and the moment he saw Ruby, he knew she was his.

Ruby woke up, lying in an awkward position on the hotel bed. She couldn't remember what time she had finally fallen asleep, but judging by the brightness outside of the windows, it must have been well into the early hours.

"Morning, SWAIN." She called, putting her earpiece back in. That was the only problem being away from home, she always had to have the earpiece in to hear SWAIN.

"Good morning, Miss Matthews. The security upgrade has been completed and there have been no more attempts to infiltrate my systems." He replied to her.

"Good. One less thing to worry about today. I'm going to go and take a nice, long, hot bath. Order me some room service, please. You know what I like in the morning." Ruby called, heading into the grand bathroom in her room.

She had been longing for a bath, and now she was finally getting the chance to relax and enjoy it. She really did need some down time, and a good soak in the bath sometimes helped her to think.

Ruby had only been in the water for 10 minutes when something sprang to her mind. She leaned over and grabbed her earpiece. "SWAIN, I need you to do a search for me. I can't believe I didn't just do this before. Search Jasmine Matthews Stark Industries." She called.

"I believe your lack of sleep and food may have been the reason why this did not occur to you sooner, Miss Matthews." SWAIN replied to her.

She let out a sigh. "Just… do it. Please. I'll take a look at everything once I'm done in here." She tugged the earpiece away and dropped it on the towel beside the bathtub, before immersing herself fully under the water.

She loved it under the water, ever since she was a kid. It used to scare the life out of her mother sometimes, because she would panic and think she was drowning. But there was a reason she liked it under there, no one could see the tears.

The whole being strong and not letting things get to her act was starting to break, and if she weren't careful, she would get herself into trouble. She couldn't do that, not when there was no one left to bail her out, literally. She had been arrested a few times, well taken to the police station and had a stern telling off.

The one time she got into serious trouble, someone she had never met before stepped in and helped her out, wiping her record clean. When she had asked her mother about him, she just said that he was a friend, looking out for her and that he would help her again if she needed it.

She wondered if she needed that man now, to help her find her father. No, she was going to going to give it a damn good try on her own first. If her mother thought she could find him on her own, then she would.

Ruby finally got out of the bath when the water started to make her shiver. It was getting colder, and she was completely relaxed now. She had let the tears out while under the water, so she felt emotionally ready now as well.

She picked up the towel and wrapped it tightly around herself. "Okay, SWAIN, what have we got?" She asked, sitting with her legs crossed on the bed and pulling out her laptop.

"There seem to be several articles featuring your mother and a certain Anthony Stark." SWAIN told her.

Ruby almost choked on the strong back coffee she was drinking. "I'm sorry, my mother and that playboy? Are you being serious? Maybe they screwed up your system when they got in last night."

"It would appear that your mother and Mr Stark were very close."

She let out a sigh, she had a pretty good idea of what was coming next. "And by very close, you mean they were dating, right?"

"That is correct, Miss Matthews."

Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, when does the media say mother walked out on him? And if you say 8 months before I was born, I'm going to turn you into a female." She threatened.

"As you wish, Miss Matthews." SWAIN said, before falling silent.

Ruby frowned. "SWAIN…"

"I am rather accustomed to this voice, Miss Matthews. I would prefer it if you did not make unnecessary modifications to my system."

She shook her head and turned her attention back to the man on the screen. He had been at the funeral, with the other woman, with strawberry blonde hair. "You have got to be kidding me. That cannot be the guy that mother was always talking about. Are there any other connections to her and Stark Industries? Apart from working there and dating that man?"

"I am afraid not, Miss Matthews. It appears you have completed your mission."

"Not yet I haven't." She mumbled. "You know what we have to do now, right?"

"Who would you like to be today, Miss Matthews?" SWAIN asked her.

"Well, since the man loves the press, let's go for Miss Lowes, haven't done the reporter act for a while." She said, getting off the bed and rummaging around through her bag. "Let's just show up at Stark Industries and give the guy a surprise."

Ruby pulled out a sleek black skirt and a pale purple shirt. "Of course, Miss Matthews. Will you be requiring Maggie-May?" SWAIN asked her.

"Not today. Last time I was in LA, I didn't really get to see too much, we might as well take in some of the sights while we're here." She called to SWAIN as she got herself dressed. "Remind me again what colour Miss Lowes hair is?"

"You shall require the long chestnut and the hazel contacts, Miss Mathews."

"You know, SWAIN, I think this is actually going to be fun." There was a smile on her face as she said that. It wasn't the first time she had used a false ID and dressed to play the part as well, and she really hoped it wouldn't be the last.

It wasn't long until she found herself standing outside of Stark Industries. She had to crane her neck to see the top of the building. She wasn't really that impressed it with all. She had done her homework and knew that the company made their name by making weapons. Ruby had hoped that her mother hadn't been involved in that part of the company, and was relieved when SWAIN told her that she was in administration.

"Okay, so what are the chances that we are just going to randomly bump into him without having to go inside that place?" She asked nervously. She never let her nerves get the better of her, but for some reason, that place was freaking her out.

"They are very slim, Miss Matthews. You're best chance to speak with the man is by going inside of the building."

She let out a sigh. "Great, just want I wanted. Let's just scope the area out first." Ruby really wasn't feeling very enthusiastic about the whole day. She didn't want to believe that the man whose name was on the top of the building was the man her mother loved.

As she wandered around outside of the building, trying to build up her courage, she overheard a conversation, from two people she had seen before. "I'm going now." The man said, seemingly a little bored.

"Tony, you can't keep walking out of meetings. And you can't just not show up either." A female voice said to him.

Ruby turned her head sharply and saw Tony Stark standing only a short distance away from her. "I have other things to do, Miss Potts."

Ruby decided that it was either now or never. "Excuse me, Mr Stark?" Ruby called, jogging over to where he was, her reporter's notebook in her hand.

He frowned when he saw her. Something looked familiar about her, but he couldn't quite place it. "The one and only."

"Katie Lowes, Time magazine. You got a few minutes to spare, Mr Stark?" Ruby asked, giving him a hopeful look.

Tony just looked her up and down, before giving her his best smile. "Bit young to be a journalist aren't you? You must be what, 18, 19?"

She just smiled back at him. "Internship. Getting a few words from the great Tony Stark could get me a permanent position there."

"Okay, shoot." He said, putting his hands in the pockets of his suit trousers.

Ruby wondered how to jump in, and what to ask him. Before she realised it, her mouth was moving and words were coming out. "Sources say you were at the funeral of Jasmine Matthews, care to confirm or deny that?"

His face suddenly fell, and Ruby wondered if he was even going to answer her. "Yeah, I was there. If you've done you're homework then you would know…"

"That you and Jasmine Matthews dated, you were pretty close. I have done my homework, Mr Stark."

Tony continued to eye her suspiciously. "Clearly. She was a close friend of mine, I went to pay my respects."

Ruby decided to bite the bullet and see what else he knew. "Rumour has it that you were more than just close friends, and that Jasmine Matthews was the mother of the child you didn't know you had. Want to comment on that?"

"Where did you get this information?" He asked, clearly not happy with the fact that she knew. He wasn't ready for the world to know he had a daughter, not until she was there beside him and he knew it was what she wanted.

"You ask the right questions in the right place, all the information falls together." Ruby told him, holding her head up high and not letting him intimidate her. "So, what do you have to say about that?"

"You know, I can make sure you never work in the media industry ever again." He told her. Ruby knew that she had struck a chord, and she decided that she was going to play it just a little bit more.

She shrugged at him. "Are you embarrassed at the fact that the great playboy, Tony Stark, has a child? Not ready to face being a father yet?"

It was pretty easy to see that he was getting frustrated with the woman now. "I think we're done here." He said, starting to walk away.

"I've done my homework, Mr Stark. Soon enough the name Ruby Matthews is going to be everywhere. I hope you're ready."

That made him stop dead in his tracks and turn back to her. "My daughter has just lost her mother. She doesn't even know who her father is. I don't care how much homework you've done, kid, you leave her out of this." He growled at her.

Ruby didn't really know how to respond. That wasn't the kind of answer she was expecting from him. "So, have you ever even met your own daughter?"

"Why are you so interested in her? You think I'm going to just tell you so that you can make a story out of it all?" He asked her.

"You answer me truthfully, give me a reason not to publish a story about you and your mysterious daughter." She replied calmly. She was actually shaking on the inside, she had no idea how this was going to turn out.

"Fine, here it is. Ruby doesn't know I'm her father. Put yourself in her shoes, would you like to find out by reading about it in the press? She'd be hounded. She isn't used to that kind of life. I don't even know where she is right now."

She nodded back at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Thank you for your time, Mr Stark. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"And you, Miss Lowes. Good luck with your internship." He said, hoping she would get the message that he did not want her to print anything about him and his daughter.

"Hey, it's only an internship. And besides, there are plenty of other magazines out there." Ruby replied, shrugging her shoulders at him. "I've actually been thinking of a career change anyway. I've always had a thing for mechanics."

Tony raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? Well, maybe there's a spot for you somewhere at Stark Industries." He turned to face Pepper who was still standing behind him a little. "Miss Potts, give Miss Lowes a contact number." She nodded at him before looking at Ruby again. "I look forward to hearing from you."

She couldn't help but smile. "Oh, you'll be hearing from me, Mr Stark. This is too good an opportunity to miss. I'll let you go now, thank you for your time."

He smiled at her once more before walking away, leaving Pepper to hand her a card with his number on it before she chased after him, starting to moan at him the moment she was close enough.

"Well, that didn't go too bad." She mumbled as she looked at the card in her hand.

"May I enquire as to what your next move shall be, Miss Matthews?" SWAIN called in her ear.

"There are two options on the table here. Continue to find out more about him as Katie Lowes, or show up on his doorstep. What do you think?" She really didn't know what to do. She wanted to find out more about him, but she was desperate to put everything to rest as well.

Ruby knew that the press were going to have a field day when they found out the truth, and Tony had been right, she would get hounded. She didn't know if she was ready for that, but then she didn't know if she would ever be ready. He had grown up with that life, her mother had kept her a secret so that she could live a normal life and just be a kid.

She wasn't a kid anymore, and her mother was gone. Talking to Tony Stark, she saw that her mother had meant a lot to him, he hadn't denied going to her funeral, or the fact that they had a daughter. He was already accepting it, and maybe she should just do the same.

"The longer you keep up this charade, the more trouble you will get yourself into, Miss Matthews." SWAIN informed her. And once again, he was right.

"Fine, let's just get back to the hotel. I need a drink." She said, turning away from the huge building and making her long walk back to her hotel.

The whole conversation she had with the man just kept replying in her mind, and the way he seemed to want to protect his daughter. He didn't really seem like a father figure, but then he had not had the best of relationships with his own father.

A/N: Again, thank you for the reviews, they make me smile and it's nice to know someone is reading this.

I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for some coming chapters, as well as the movies. I already have my post-it notes all over the place with ideas scrawled on them.

Pippa.