A/N: Hey everyone, I am really sorry for the long wait and the fact that I didn't post last week. Life's been hectic, that's all I can say. Anyway, here is the next chapter, so enjoy!

Tony sat there, checking Ruby over once more. He was more than just a little angry about what had happened to her. His blood boiled the moment he saw her when they decided to dunk her head into a barrel of freezing water. He had watched Yinsen as he inspected the bullet wound on her leg, and it made him feel sick. He was now filled with so many regrets, and even doubted himself as a father now.

Every time he asked her how to managed to get those marks on her face, she just shrugged her shoulders at him, as if it was no big deal and like it didn't really matter. To Tony, of course it mattered, he was meant to protect her and felt that he had completely failed at it so far.

"I'm sure they're looking for you both, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountain." Yinsen told him, finishing with Ruby's leg and helping her to move closer to the fire they had going in the room. "Look, what you saw, that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"

Tony sat there, his arm around Ruby, holding her close to him as he thought. "Why should I do anything?" He muttered. "They're going to kill Ruby, me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week."

His words made Ruby turn her head to him sharply, giving him one of her fiercest glares. She hadn't said a word to him since they had been reunited, in fact she was surprised that she wasn't still locked up on her own. She had been sure that they would keep them apart, use her to get Tony to do exactly what they wanted. They were not kind or compassionate, they would rather see both of them suffer, so why were they still in the same room together? It just didn't sit right with Ruby, and she was trying to work out what game they were playing and what their next move was going to be.

Yinsen had noticed the look she had given him. "Well then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?" He said, trying his best not to smile. "I think you need to talk with your daughter, find out how she feels about this situation." The man said, before wandering off to another part of their little cave to give them a little space.

Tony let out a sigh as he looked down at his daughter. He could see the glassy look in her eyes, like she wasn't really there. "Ruby, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He asked her quietly.

"What do you think?" She snapped, not bothering to look at him. "I've been shot at, beaten and tortured. I'm having the time of my damn life in this stinking cave." It all reminded her too much of what had happened in the past, the past she was trying her to get away from. Ruby knew that she had to keep it together, to not let the past catch up with her, to not give away what she was truly capable of.

"I should have listened to Pepper. You never should have come with me. You'd be safe back in Malibu with her, you wouldn't have been shot." He said, trying to think of something sensible to say.

Ruby snorted a little. "Yeah, because I'd just sit at home and fall apart, wouldn't I? You have no idea what the hell I am capable of, no idea who I really am. If I had stayed with Pepper, I would already be out hunting for you. And I'd be doing a damn better job than the army." Tony could tell from her tone that she was angry, and he didn't really know what to do to calm her down.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Tony remembered exactly what had happened. "Ruby, why the hell did you have guns with you?" He had been completely shocked by what he had seen, by what she had done.

"Why the hell didn't you have a gun with you?" She retorted. "You know nothing about me, about my past. I wasn't just trained in hand to hand combat, I was trained to handle weapons as well. From how to handle any type of gun to archery." Ruby could feel her temper flaring a little. She was angry for so many different reasons, and unfortunate for Tony Stark, he was the closest person to her, so was going to take the brunt of it all.

Tony let out a sigh. She was right, he didn't know nearly as much about her as he would have liked. There was so much about her past that he didn't even bother to ask her about, because he was worried it might upset her. "Okay, so you're pretty good with weapons. That doesn't really explain what the hell happened out there."

"Instinct." Ruby answered, still gazing into the flames from the fire before them. "I was trained by… well, some rather skilled people." She told him, her voice lowering slightly. She knew she wasn't ready to tell him everything, to tell him who she sort of worked for.

"At least you know how to defend yourself." Tony told her, wishing she would just looked at him. "Ruby, we will get out of here. I don't know how, but we will."

After letting out a sigh, she finally turned to look at him. But her eyes didn't focus on his face, they were drawn to the circular device that was stuck in his chest, attached with wired to a chunky car battery. "Maybe." She whispered. "But we need to do something about that first." Her head nodded to the device.

A small smile formed on Tony's face. "So, this work you've been doing on the Arc Reactor…"

"I've got a few ideas. But it's not going to be easy, and there are a few things we're going to need." She said, before finally letting her eyes connect with those of her father. That was all she needed to finally let everything catch up with her and for her emotions to bubble over. "I thought you were going to die." Ruby whispered, before the tears started rolling down her cheeks. "There was just so much bloody and I… I thought…"

With in a second both of Tony's arms were around his daughter, holding onto her tightly as the tears started to flow freely. "Hey, come on, honey. I'm okay, I'm alive. That guy done a good job, he kept me alive. And we're going to make it out of here, okay? We are going to make it home." He said, trying to assure her.

"I thought I was going to lose you, dad. I can't lose you. So don't you ever, ever, do anything like that again. You got it?" Ruby mumbled, still crying but managing to whack her father on the arm as she spoke as well.

Tony chuckled a little, over more than just one thing. "Of course, honey. I'll try to be more careful and not get blown up by any of my own weapons again." That comment just made her hit him again, but a little harder. "Ow! Hey, what was that for?"

"That wasn't funny. So shut up." Ruby muttered, before wiping her face with her bare arm. "I'm glad you're okay, dad."

"You know, that's only the second time you've actually called me 'dad'. And within just a few minutes as well." Tony confessed to her. "After what happened, I kind of thought you might want to disown me."

"Three times." Ruby mumbled. "You were sort of out of it from the attack when I first said it. And I thought you might want to disown me, what with me running around with guns in my pockets." She admitted to him. She had wondered how he was going to react to that, but she didn't have time to care when they were under fire. All she could think about was defending her father and holding their ground by staying alive until help arrived.

"Hey, I would never disown you, no matter what you may do or have done. You are my daughter, Ruby, you mean everything to me." He said, gently stroking her hair a little. He knew she was upset, and that she was doing well to keep herself together, but he knew that inside she must have been terrified. The moment he had seen her with those guns, he had been worried, then the moment he saw the determined look in her eyes, he was scared as well.

"Well then, I guess we had better get to work on my secret project then." Ruby whispered to him, not wanting to be over heard by anyone. "It's not going to be easy, but I really do have an idea. Like I already said, we need to get rid of that car battery." She said, smirking at him a little now that her tears had finally stopped. Ruby knew she had to pull herself together now, she had been trained to survive, and that was what she was going to do.

Tony couldn't help but smirk back at her. "I knew there was a reason I handed the Arc Reactor project over to you. So, what are you going to need?"

"Oh, I think you have a fair idea of what I need to get this started. We need to make a list, get phase one started and then focus on phase two." Ruby told him, making a list in her head of all the materials that they were going to need if they wanted to get out of there alive.

"Whoa, wait a second, phase two? What the hell is phase two?" Tony asked her, looking at her in confusion. He knew phase one was to get rid of the stupid car battery that he was hooked up to, but he hadn't thought past that yet.

Ruby just rolled her eyes at him. "Getting out of here, obviously. I always told you that the Arc Reactor could do so much more, now I'm going to prove it to you. I am a Stark after all."

Tony couldn't help but frown at her a little. He hadn't bothered her with the work she had been doing, he had just let her get on with it and do what she wanted. Now he was more than just a little intrigued in what she had planned. "Yeah, and how are you going to do that?" He asked her, just getting a smirk from her. "How much work have you actually done with the Arc Reactor?"

"Oh, a lot more than you think. I've always had ideas, even before I actually got my hands on all the information that I needed. But now, those ideas have turned into something so much more." Tony was pretty sure he could see the cogs turning in his daughter's head as she spoke. "I did warn you that my work was going to take away your spotlight."

"Well then, we better get started." Tony told her, still beaming away. He was proud at her, because she hadn't broken down and closed herself off. His daughter had fought back, tried to protect herself and him as well, and now she was coming up with plans to help with the shrapnel in his chest as well as getting them out of there alive.

After the pair had informed the other man who was being held with them of their needs, he got the attention of their captors and started to make them aware of what the Starks needed. A few hours later, and they were bringing in more and more weapons branded with the Stark Industries name. Ruby was cautious of the men around them, keeping her eyes moving and sticking close to her father.

"If this is going to be my work station, I want it well-lit." Tony said, with Yinsen translating it all for him. "I want these up. I need welding gear. I don't care of it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two, no three, sets of precision tools." He rattled, while Ruby continued to watch everything being brought in.

She was making a note of everything, and everyone. Most of them had guns concealed somewhere on them, but a few of them were completely unarmed. She was assessing everything she could, already letting her mind work on phase two. Ruby knew that her father would soon realise exactly what she was planning, he had caught onto her plan for the electromagnet quick enough.

"Hey, you okay there, honey?" Tony said, making her blink a few times and stare at him. "Lost you for a while there."

Ruby nodded her head at him. "As good as I can be in this place I suppose." She told him, realising that everyone was now clearing out of the room. It seemed that she had been in her own little world thinking for longer than she realised, as they were now surrounded by weapons. "So, everything all set?"

He nodded at her. "Yeah, just waiting for them to bring in everything else that we need. I have no idea how long that's going to be, so I guess we're just going to have to hang around and wait now. Are you sure that you're okay?" His face was just full of worry, and he was still blaming himself for her getting caught up in all of this.

"Yup, just planning ahead. There's something else I need to work on as well." Ruby told him, before pulling her tiny ear bud out from somewhere down the front of her top. "It may not be working now, but with the right amount of tinkering, I should be able to do something with it."

Tony looked at her in shock. "How did you get that?"

"It has been with me the whole time, but we're totally out of range. I need to do some tinkering, and get out in the open, and then I might be able to get a message to SWAIN or JARVIS, or anyone really. I just need to get it to send out a signal." She told him, looking down at the tiny thing in her hand. "I hid it the moment I realised what was going on."

The shock was gone from his face now, and he was smiling at her madly. "That's my girl. Smart and sneaky, and maybe just a little bit scary at times as well." He told her, giving her a hug.

"Well, I do have Tony Stark as my dad, I had to get it all from somewhere, didn't I?" Ruby told him, hugging him back and feeling just a bit safer knowing that her father was there and alive. "While we're waiting, we may as well get started in taking these apart." She said, glancing over at some of the missiles that were piled up around them. "It's going to take a while."

"Okay. You can help me with the first one, after that I'm sure you're going to be more than capable of taking them apart on your own." Tony told her, taking a look for himself at the amount of weapons that surrounded them.

Ruby just scoffed at him. "Oh please, I know what we need, and I know how to get to it." She said, making Tony look at her in confusion. "I… uh, I may have brushed up on your life's work back in Malibu. You know, blueprints and stuff. I know I can do this."

He had to admit, he was a slightly pleased with the fact that she had done some research without him even noticing it, but it also worried him. It worried him because he certainly did not want her dealing with weapons, even more so after what they were currently going through. Tony ended up running a hand through his already messy hair. "Right, okay. But this is not a race to see who can do it the quickest. These are missiles, they are live. You need to be careful, take it slow." He warned her.

"Yes, Sir." Ruby replied, giving him a small salute as she did. Tony couldn't help but chuckle at her and the way she was just carrying on as if this was just a normal day for her. Inside he was panicking, scared to death that they were not going to make it out alive. But not his daughter, she was acting with so much hope and confidence that it just made him think more and more about her past.

"Hey, Ruby, I want to ask you something." He said, following her over to one of the weapons to help carry it over to the work bench they had been supplied with.

"Uh, okay." Her voice came out slightly more nervous than she had hoped it would.

Tony had to think about what he wanted to ask her, to get the words right and so that it made sense. There was a lot he wanted to know, but was struggling to pull it all together in his head. "When they brought you in, and… uh, there was the… thing with the… the water, you were so calm." He said, noticing how she had flinched a little at the mentioning of it. "Why was that?"

"You ever had your head shoved down the toilet before?" Ruby asked him, trying to keep her attention on what she was doing.

"Uh, no. Can't say that I have."

"Then you wouldn't understand." She answered him sharply.

Tony let out a sigh. "Is that something else that they done to you at school? Shoved your head down the toilet?"

Ruby thought about it, yes they had tried to do that to her at school, but that wasn't the reason why she had been so calm while it was all happening. The moment she had seen the barrel, she knew what was coming and her heart started to pound in her chest. Memories of what had happened before came to the surface, and she had to cut all emotions and just deal with it. "Uh, yeah, they did. I saw the water, knew what was coming, and just held my breath for as long as I could."

"Ruby, I am so sorry you had to go through that. I wish I had known before, that you were out there. You should never have had to go through any of the things that you did, honey. And I'm sorry." Tony told her, once again pulled her towards him and hugging her tightly.

She sighed as she once more relaxed in her father's arms. "It's fine, dad. You have nothing to be sorry for. None of it was your fault, it just happens." A smirk quickly took over her face as an idea popped into her head. "But, if you really want to make it up to me, I wanted a pony for my eighth birthday. A puppy when I was around nine, and seven kittens when I was twelve."

Tony chuckled at her sneaky suggestions. "Well, I think you're a bit too old for a pony now, don't you?"

"So I want a horse then. And a puppy, and seven kittens." She told him, making sure that her tone was still serious, even though she really wasn't.

"Nice try, Ruby. Not going to happen." He told her, kissing the top of her head and letting her go. "If you're really good, I might buy you a goldfish."

"Awesome, there's a few experiments I've been wanting to do and a goldfish will be perfect." She said, her eyes lighting up.

Tony caught the look on her face. "Uh, yeah, maybe not then."

Ruby couldn't help but pout at him a little. "Well, that's just so unfair." She mumbled, as Yinsen finally came back over to the pair. "Guess we better get started with all this then."

"I guess we should. You sure you know what you're doing?" Tony asked her, getting a nod from her in response. "Right, just remember that…"

"They are weapons, they are live. They are not toys. Yes, I got it." She told him, sitting down on the dirty ground, her tools beside her with the missile. There wasn't really enough room on the workbench for both of them to work, and she was happy to do her work on the floor.

After that, Ruby was so deep in concentration that she hadn't realised her father had started on his one as well. "How many languages do you speak?" Tony asked the man standing next to him, watching him work.

"A lot." Yinsen replied, watching at Tony started taking the missile apart. "But apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian."

"Hungarian, Turkish, Gujari, and I think I heard some Afsar as well." Ruby called, making both the men look at her in slight shock. "What? So I recognise a few other languages as well. No big deal." She added, carrying on with her work.

Tony just shook his head at learning yet something else about his daughter that surprised him. "Who are these people?" He asked, not noticing the way that Ruby tensed up slightly at the question.

Yinsen, however, did notice. "They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings." He said, watching as Tony pulled apart more of the weapon he was working on. "You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process."

"Yeah, hu." Tony said, totally ignoring the man, before pulling knocking the nose off and pulling something out from inside the missile. Ruby just let out a sigh as she carried on working away, knowing that the sooner they got this all done, the sooner they could get the hell out of there.

Once again she drifted off into her own little world while she was working, only to be brought back when something was tossed onto the floor. "We don't need this." Tony called, before holding something between the points of his pliers.

"What is that?" Yinsen asked, looking at the tiny sheet of metal that he was holding.

"That's palladium. 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 10?" He asked, before looking over at Ruby.

She was sitting there with a smug grin on her face. "Uh, you mean the other 7, don't you?" She said, walking over and dropping the pieces of palladium that she had already removed. "You work too slow, old man."

Tony looked at the pile before him. "You really managed to do all that, while I was still working on the first? You broke down 3 of them all on your own?" Ruby just smiled at him. She had, because she had been more focused and less distracted than he had been while working. "That's my girl right there." He said, beaming away at her. "But don't think I'm going to let you get away with call me old again. I remember the last time you done that."

"What you going to do about it? Ground me?" She asked him, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to do that. "I worked quicker because I was less distracted and completely focused, while the pair of you have been chatting away."

"Yeah, actually I am going to ground you. The moment we get home, you are so grounded, young lady."

"Oh, I am so scared." Ruby told him, pulling a rather amusing shocked face. "Now, I have something else I need to do a little work to. Think you can manage the next one without my help?"

Tony nodded at her, knowing exactly what it was that she needed to work on. "Sure, you go ahead. Good work, Ruby. I'm proud of you." He said, getting up and giving her a tight hug. And he was, he was so proud of her. She was being so strong, keeping herself together and just getting on with everything. She hadn't broken down, not really, and she had keep focused on finding a way out of there. He wondered, if she hadn't have been there, if he didn't know anything about her, would he even be so bothered about getting out of the cave alive?

A/N: Well then, that's another chapter over. Seems like Ruby isn't going to let being trapped in a cave get to her that much. But will it last? And what the hell happened to Natasha and Clint? You'll find out in a few more chapters. Maybe.

Anyway, a big thank you to everyone who has followed or favourited this story. It means a lot to know that so many people are reading and enjoying what I write.

And also a massive thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review. I love reviews, they make me smile, and grin like a madwoman (which I probably am anyway), so reviews are more than welcome.

Fingers crossed life doesn't get in the way and I get the next chapter out on time!

Pippa.