A/N: Hey guys, I am really sorry for that fact that this is late. I had a bit of writers block, and then I just started uni again. And I'm sorry it's a little shorter than normal, but once you've read it, you'll understand why.
Ruby stood beside Rhodey as Tony Stark addressed the military. It was hot where they were, and Ruby was glad she had managed to grab her sunglasses that she had left in her father's car a few weeks back. She was also relieved to have heard from Fury, a quick message to let her know everything would be fine and that her two friends would never be too far away. That was what she needed to hear to help her relax a little.
"Is it better to be fearer or respected?" Tony called, grinning a little at Ruby as he did. "I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries Freedom Line." The young woman stood there quietly watching her father. She had been excited about this, about seeing him selling his products, and now she was. "it's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary Repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree." Ruby couldn't help but roll her eyes at this, and Tony caught her, smirking a little more as he continued to deliver his pitch. "I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far."
Ruby carried on standing there, her arms folded across her chest as she looked over to the new missile. It was huge, and she knew it would cause some serious damage. "Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves." Tony said, before giving the signal, making all the soldiers turn to look at the weapon as it fixed on its target.
A moment later, it fire, zooming off into the air and towards the mountains behind Tony. Suddenly it split into a mass of smaller missiles. "For your consideration, the Jericho." He said, just as they all hit the mountain. He raised his arms, as a shock wave rippled across the ground, sending dirt and dust and sand everywhere. Ruby had been expecting this, Tony had warned her and she had crept behind Rhodey just before the wave hit them all.
The US military all seemed to just stand there in awe, as Tony walked over to his daughter, pulling her out from behind his best friend, and over to a chest that turned into a mini bar when he opened it. He grabbed a glass of scotch, and a specially placed bottle of water for his daughter.
Ruby just frowned at him. "What, don't I get a proper drink? It's not like we're back home you know." She moaned, although she wasn't really that bothered about it.
Tony just chuckled at her as the military all gathered themselves and headed over to where Tony was. "I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more. To peace!" He said, before pulling out his phone and flipping the screen around.
"Tony, Ruby!" Obadiah called, seeing them both through the video call.
"Obie, what are you doing up?" Tony asked him, while Ruby just gave him a wave over her father's shoulder.
"I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went. How'd it go?" The man who was at home, lying in his bed, asked the pair.
"It was awesome! That mountain totally had it coming." Ruby shouted, twisting the cap of the bottle of water and taking a lug of it. "Seriously, that was very cool." She added, making Obadiah laugh a little at her.
"It went great. Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas." Tony told him, taking another swig of his drink as they walked towards one of the Humvee's that would take them back to base and the jet.
"Hey! Way to go, my boy, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
Tony frowned a little as he looked at the screen. "Why aren't you wearing those pyjamas I got you?" He asked, totally getting off topic. He wasn't actually planning on being there tomorrow, he was planning on taking Ruby on a little tour of Europe. First stopping in Italy for a few days, going to Madrid and Paris, before finishing in London where he was going to let her have a crazy shopping spree.
"Good night, Tony. And Ruby, behave." He said, before ending the video call with Tony.
The two Starks just carried on over to the vehicle and quickly got into it, Ruby getting in first to sit in the middle between her father and one of the service men. "Hey, Tony!" Rhodey called, coming over just as the door was closed.
"I'm sorry, this is the 'fun-vee'." Tony told him, making Ruby have to hold in a little laugh that was threatening to escape. "The 'hum-drum-vee' is back there."
Rhodey just rolled his eyes before smiling at the pair. "Nice job."
"We'll see you back at base, uncle Rhodey!" Ruby shouted over to him, just as the engine was started up and the last person got into the vehicle.
A few minutes later and they were on their way back to the base. Ruby was feeling so calm, because nothing had gone wrong. It was nearly all over and everything was absolutely fine. The closer they got to the base, the more she seemed to relax.
"So, what did you think then, Ruby?" Tony asked her, his drink still in his hand.
She looked over at him a smirked. "Best explosion ever." Ruby said, not able to wipe the smirk from her face. "I mean, that really was just amazing. Oh, I so want one of those. Can I have one? Please?" Tony just raised an eyebrow at her. "Pretty please?" Now she was pouting, giving him her best puppy dog eyes, trying so hard to get what she wanted.
"How about I get you one for your 18th birthday?" Tony suggested, making her eyes just light up.
"Really?" There was excitement in her voice, as well as a hint of surprise.
"Uh, no." He told her, making her face fall. "I know about your history with explosives, so no, Ruby. And what the hell would you want one for?"
"Fun?" She said, giving him a shrug before settling down in her set and starting to sulk a little. Ruby really did love her explosions, there was just something about them that enthralled her.
A short while later, after realising that his daughter was sulking and no one was talking, Tony spoke up. "I feel like you're driving me to court martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me." He said, with his music playing on the small CD player on the floor of the vehicle. "What, you're not allowed to talk?" He asked, still getting no response so turning to the soldier on the other side of his daughter. "Hey, Forrest!"
"We can talk, sir." The man replied, a little timidly.
"Oh, I see. So it's personal?" Tony asked, clearly not that bothered either way. He was just getting a little bored with the silent trip, even if his music was playing. It probably didn't help that his daughter was sulking and totally ignoring everything that he was saying. She was pretty good at doing that when she wanted to, and it bugged the hell out of him.
That was when the driver spoke up and answered. "No, you intimidate them."
Tony sat there in shock. "Good God, you're a woman. I honestly… I couldn't have called that. I mean, I'd apologise, but isn't that hat we're going for here?" He asked, making the soldiers smile a little. "I thought of you as a soldier first."
"I'm an airman." The woman driver replied, shocking Tony just that little bit more while Ruby continued to sulk. The expression on her face hadn't changed, there was just no emotion there what so ever.
"You have, actually, excellent bone structure there. I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now… is that weird?" Everyone but Ruby laughed, she seemed to be in a little world of her own now, Tony had seen her do it often enough. "Come on, it's okay, laugh."
"Sir, I have a question." The man sitting next to the driver up front asked, turning in his seat to look at Tony.
He let out a sigh of relief, finally getting them to feel more comfortable around him and talk. Tony Stark was a social person, an arrogant one, but still he did like to be social. "Yes, please."
The man looked at Ruby, then back to Tony. "Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's Maxim cover models?" He asked, speaking a little quietly, not knowing if he should have even asked that with Ruby in the car.
She didn't even look at him, in fact, Tony was sure that she wasn't even blinking. "Uh, you know what, I'll answer that one for you when we get back to base." He said, nodding over to Ruby a little, making the man understand why he didn't want to answer his question. "Anything else?" That was when Forrest decided to raise his hand, as if he were back in school. "You're kidding me with the hand up, right?" Tony asked, clearly not amused.
"Is it cool if I take a picture with you and your daughter?" He asked.
"Yes. It's very cool." Tony answered, before giving Ruby a nudge. "Hey, someone wants a picture with us, so don't be rude." He told her, finally getting her attention. There was a frown on her face, and he was sure something was wrong. "Everything okay?"
Ruby bit her lip a little. "Uh, yeah. No, yeah everything's fine. So who wants the picture?" She asked, looking over at the man to her other side. "Right, come sit between us, be a nicer picture that way." She said, getting up so that he could shift over.
"All right, I don't want to see this on you're MySpace page." Tony said, as the man in the front took the camera, ready to take the picture while Forrest made a peace sign. "Please, no gang signs." Tony added, making the man quickly put his hand down.
"No, throw it up. The old man is kidding." Ruby said, causing Tony to roll his eyes at her.
"Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace."
The man in front looked at the camera, not exactly confident with taking the picture. "Come on. Hurry up. Just click it. Don't change any settings. Just click it." Forrest said, before they all jumped as the Humvee in front of them suddenly burst into flames.
""No…" Ruby whispered. "No, no, no." The Humvee quickly came to a stop.
"What's going on?" Tony asked, as the woman driver started shouting orders before getting out, only to be shot at straight away, her body falling to the ground.
"Jimmy, stay with the Starks." The man who had been about to take the picture shouted before getting out as well.
He was shot, there seemed to be bullets flying from every angle and they had no idea what to do. Ruby's eye just kept darting around as Tony pulled her down onto the floor of the vehicle. That was when Forrest left as well, only from him to be shot as well. Everything was just turning into chaos.
"Oh, hell no." Ruby shouted, reaching deep into her pockets. She should have known that it had been too easy, that everything had just gone too well. Ruby should have known better than to let herself be fooled into thinking that nothing bad was going to happen.
Her hands came out of her pockets, a gun in each one. Tony just looked at her with wide eyes. "Ruby, what the hell are you doing?" He shouted at her, wondering why she had one gun, let alone two.
"Shut up, and stay down." She growled at him, in a voice that he had never heard before. All he could do was sit there and stare at her, at a side of her that he had never seen before. Sure she kept on surprising him, but this was something he would never in a million years had expected from his daughter.
She flung open the door, keeping low to the ground, watching as the other service men and women all perished as well. There were rockets flying from all over, blow up all the vehicles and everyone else near them. "Get out. Now!" She shouted, reaching in and grabbing Tony's arm, pulling him out just as a missile flew over them, exploding on the other side of the Humvee.
"Ruby, what the hell are you doing?" He shouted once more, as she dragged him away from the vehicles and pulled him down behind a few rocks.
She didn't answer him, instead she poked her head up, managing to spot a few targets through the dust that had risen from the chaos. With both her guns tightly in her hands, she aimed and fired, taking out at least three of those who were shooting right back at her. "Where the hell are they?" She growled, wondering where Tasha and Clint were. They were meant to be there to stop this from happening, to get them out if something went wrong. "They better already be dead, or I'm going to kill them myself."
She was paying no attention to what her father was doing, she was now in full Agent mode, doing what she had been trained to do. She was protecting her father until her back up came. Her clip ran out, and she quickly pulled another from her pocket, changing it rapidly and then firing once more. Her eyes were darting all over the place, pin pointing targets, and taking them down. But she had no idea how many were out there, she didn't even know who 'they' were.
"Ruby!" Her father cried, before pulling her behind him as he tried to back away from something that had just landed on the ground. "Behind me, Ruby. Stay behind me!" He called, before they were both knocked off their feet by a close explosion.
Ruby let out a groan as she rolled onto her back. Everywhere was aching, and blood was pouring out from her leg. She took a quick look at it, and realised she had actually been hit with a bullet. But her eyes widened when she saw her father, lying on the ground, blood quickly soaking his shredded shirt.
She clambered over to him, completely ignoring the pain in her leg. "Tony, come on, keep your eyes open." She ordered him, slapping his face as little as his eyes closed. "Seriously, you need to stay awake. Help's coming, I swear to you, help is coming, but you need to hang on." She said, before taking a better look at the damage.
She knew the weapon that he had been hit with, and she felt her heart sink. "No, come on, you're gonna be fine." She said, her eyes already starting to tear up. "Please, just hold on. You're all I got, come on, you're a damn Stark." Ruby shouted at him. "Please dad…" She whispered, as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
There was a noise behind her, and she quickly pulled up both her guns. The figures running towards her were not ones that she knew, and so she fired, taking a few of them down and making the others duck in a vain attempt to protect themselves. "We're gonna be just fine, dad. We're both Starks, right? We're stubborn, we don't go down without a fight. You got that?"
Ruby was out of ideas. Wherever her friends were, they weren't there, and she needed them. It seemed like her and Tony were the only ones left alive from the convoy, and whoever had been attacking them, was now coming for them. She didn't want to give up, but she was quickly running out of ammo and ideas.
She wished they had been in the 'hum-drum-vee' with Rhodey. She didn't even know where he was, whether his vehicle had been blown up with all the others. All she knew was that it was her and her dying father against an unknown enemy. Ruby was cursing under her breath for her babysitters not showing up, for leaving her there without any help. They had promised to be there, that everything would be fine. But it wasn't.
Nothing was fine, because her father was dying and she was now totally out of ammo. There were people rushing towards her, guns held up and ready to fire. She was going to be killed now as well, she just knew it.
"We got him!" She heard someone shouting, but it wasn't in English. "And the girl." The figures came closer, and she could make out the men with their faces covered with cloth. They weren't from the military, they weren't from SHEILD, so Ruby could only assume they were terrorists.
"Stark's in trouble. But the girl's fine." One of them said through a radio, looking down at Tony and then to Ruby.
"Touch him, and you die." Ruby spat at him, as he went to reach down for her father.
The next thing she knew, a hand had connected with her face and she fell back. The pain was flooding through her cheek, and her head was ringing. Ruby went to get back up, only to feel pain coursing through the back of her head, making her vision blur. After that, there was nothing but noise and darkness.
The voices she could her became more and more indistinct, she couldn't make out a word that they were saying, but she felt someone pick her up. She judged from her position that they had thrown her over their shoulder. The pain was becoming unbearable, and her head was spinning so much that she thought she was going to be sick.
All she could think about was Tony, her father. He was going to die if he didn't get help, and she very much doubted that those men wanted to help them. They had been trying to kill them, so why stop now? Her mind was racing too much, and eventually she had to let the darkness claim her completely. There was nothing she could do, she had failed everyone.
A/N: Now do you see why it was shorter? I wanted to leave you hanging, almost. I didn't want to start going into the actual 'in the cave' part in this chapter. I really wanted to wait because I have loads of ideas.
Anyway, Ruby finally said it, she finally called him dad… and he wouldn't have even heard her since he was completely out for the count.
A lot of you wanted to know if she was going to be captured, or get away, or even be saved by her buddies. Well, now you know. Or not. I'm not going to make it THAT simple.
Expect a lot to come in the next few chapters. There is a lot more to learn about Ruby that is going to start coming to light as well. More than just her pulling a pair of guns out from her cargo pants.
On with the thank you's. Thank you to everyone who likes this story so much that they have favourtied/followed. You guys are brilliant. And you lot who have taken the time to review, totally awesome! Thank you all so much!
Pippa.