A/N: Hello everyone, sorry it has been a bit of a wait for this chapter. Lot's going on and lots to do. But enough of that, please enjoy!

Ruby was sitting on her bed, her laptop in front of her and the room fill with several holographic screens. Since giving her father the password to access all the work she had been doing with the Arc Reactor, she had been doing her own little work.

The young Stark was determined to find out what was going on and who was behind everything that had happened to her and her father. She was not going to just let it drop, she was not going to have let those people get away with it. Ruby was dead set on finding out how Raza and the Ten Rings had managed to get hold of Stark weapons, and then she would finally tear them down piece by piece.

"Miss Matthews, your father is asking if you are awake yet." SWAIN called to her, causing her to let out a groan. "What do you wish for me to tell him?"

"Oh, I don't know. Tell him I decided to drink a bottle of his whiskey last night so I'm totally out of it still and will be for a few more hours." She replied, not liking being disturbed when she was scouring through the files on the Stark Industries server.

"I heard that, Ruby." Her fathers voice suddenly called through the intercom. "You better not have touched my alcohol, or you will be in some serious trouble."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she closed down all the screens around her room. "What do you want, Dad? I'm kinda busy here."

"Busy? What could you be busy doing?" Tony asked her curiously.

"Making some upgrades to SWAIN." She lied, knowing that if she told him she was digging around in the company that he would put a stop to it straight away. "About time I gave him a few new modifications. Might even turn him into a woman, you know, a girlfriend for JARVIS."

Ruby heard Tony chuckling over the intercom. "Somehow I don't think SWAIN is going to approve of that. Anyway, when you got a free minute, get down here." Her father told her. "And by when you've got a minute I mean now."

With a sigh, she closed the lid of her laptop and placed it down on her bed. "How am I meant to get any work done when he's bossing me around?" She grumbled to herself as she shuffled slowly over to her bedroom door.

"I heard that. I'm your father, bossing you around is in the job description."

"Oh, we'll see about that." She muttered, glaring at the door as she yanked it open. "We shall see." Tony chuckled a little more over the intercom before he finally cut the connection, since he knew his daughter was on her way down to him.

Ruby decided she was going to take her time to get to where he was, just to make him wait for bothering her in the first place. Her first stop was the living area, where Pepper was perched on the couch, busy doing some work.

The woman looked up from what she was doing and smiled at Ruby. "Good morning, Ruby." Pepper said to her, a smile on her face.

"Morning, Pepper. What you up to today?" She asked her, plonking herself down next to her and smirking a little. She knew her father would be watching her, and getting annoyed that she was taking her time and not just getting down to the workshop.

"Clearing up the mess that your father made." Pepper replied, a really hint of annoyance in her voice. "There's a lot of unhappy people out there, your father has really blown it this time."

Ruby suddenly felt defensive of her father, she was the only one allowed to bad mouth him, but he was her dad. "He's done the right thing." She said, shocking Pepper. "Shutting down the weapons manufacturing was the right thing to do. You didn't see what we did, if you had then you would understand." Ruby snapped.

"Ruby, I know what happened was terrible, and I can't begin to imagine the things that you saw out there, but what Tony has just done…" Pepper stopped and let out a sigh. "The company is going to suffer from this, you have to understand that. He has upset a lot of people, if he carries on, he is going to upset a lot more."

"You're right, you can't even begin to imagine what happened to us. The company will pull through, it's not the end of the world. And it wasn't just his decision, we both decided. Weapons aren't the only things that the company deals with. We have other ideas." Ruby told her, before pushing herself off the couch completely and heading into the kitchen. Pepper just watched her go, her mouth hanging open.

The young woman that she had just seen leave the room was not the same at the person who she had been shopping with, who she had had lunch with at Stark Industries. Pepper had learned, very quickly, that Ruby would voice her opinions, much like her father did. But the way Ruby had just spoken to her, it just wasn't like her at all, and it made her fill with worry.

Ruby just pulled open the door to the refrigerator and grabbed herself a bottle of water. She knew Tony was probably going to have a go at her for the way she spoke to Miss Potts, but she wasn't really in the mood to care. There was too much going on in her head to really bother with anything else.

She pulled open one of the cupboards, reaching right to the back behind everything else, and pulled out a packet of chocolate cookies. Her father wanted her to eat, he didn't specify that she had to be eating proper meals. So instead she was going to go down and see him in the workshop, munching away on a whole packet of cookies that she wasn't going to share with him.

When she made it down the stairs, she saw Tony sitting at his desk, his feet up as he looked at one of the screens. "Go back up there and apologise to Miss Potts." He called to her, the moment she had opened the glass doors. "Right now."

Ruby didn't turn around, she just carried on walking towards him. "What for? Everything I said was true, I'm not going to apologise for telling her the truth." She told him, taking a bite out of another cookie. "Now what did you want?"

Tony gave her a very firm look. "Ruby, there was no reason for you to speak to Pepper like that. You were rude and frankly nasty to her. Go and apologise." He ordered her, a little more seriously than he had said it before.

"Hmm, yeah, later maybe. You got me down here, now tell me why?"

He let out a sigh, knowing that she was in a bit of a mood and was just going to give him the teenage attitude that he wasn't used to dealing with yet. "I've had a look at your work, and I got to say, it's not bad." Tony told her, trying not to let the frown on his face be replaced with the smile that was fighting its way out. "I'm actually rather impressed with it, really, I am. So I've had a look, and drawn up a few specs for you to take a look at."

Ruby stood there, shoving another cookie into her mouth, waiting for him to actually show her what he had been working in. She couldn't really explain why she was in such a bad mood, but she knew that she did have to apologise to Pepper for snapping at her like that. The woman was simply telling her what her father's actions had done, she was just telling the truth.

Soon enough the room filled with holographic screens, just like she had set up in her room before her father had decided to disturb her. She could see that Tony really had been looking through her work, her ideas and her plans. The screens were showing her what he was planning, what he had wanted to look at her work for.

Her head nodded in approval. "Shouldn't take too long to pull together. You got better materials here than we did in that hovel, better quality as well. When do we start?" Ruby asked him, finally deciding to offer her father one of the cookies she had been crunching away on the whole time.

"JARVIS is getting everything together, everything that's needed. And it's not 'we', it's just me." Tony said, causing her to snatch the cookie away from him before he had a chance to sink his teeth into it. "Hey, what was that for?"

"We're in this together, remember. This was my project, my ideas, my calculations. And you, you're just going to kick me off it?" Ruby asked him, looking at him with wide eyes that were swimming with not just anger, but disappointment as well.

Tony let out a sigh as he looked at his daughter, know that he had unintentionally hurt her. "Ruby, there is no way I am going to let you work on anything yet. You're still too weak." He told her, watching her eyes darken. "You need to get more rest and get yourself back to full health before I even think about letting you get involved."

Her eyes only seemed to darken more at her father's words. "Still too weak am I?" She asked him, before walking over to one of his beloved cars. Tony was going to ask her what she was doing, when she suddenly kicked the car, leaving a huge dent in the side of the car.

"Ruby!" Tony shouted at her, jumping out of his chair and rushing over to her. "What the hell has gotten into you?" He could see it even more now, that something was wrong with his daughter, that something was different. He really didn't like it.

"Still think I'm too weak, dad?" Ruby asked him, the darkness in her eyes fading and starting to be replaced with tears. She was trying so hard to keep herself together, to not let any of it really get to her, but it was already too late. She was broken, and she knew it, and no amount of glue or tape was going to fix her.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant, honey." He replied, approaching her slowly and trying to get her to calm down. "You're a wreak, Ruby, we both are. I'm not just talking physically, I'm talking about in here." He said, pointing to her chest as he stopped in front of her. "And here." He told her, finally seeing that she was about to break down and kissed the top of her head.

Ruby shook her head at him and tried to take a step back, but Tony was quick to wrap his arms around his daughter and hold onto her tightly. Every time he held her, he could feel a swelling sensation in his chest. It was caused by a mix of things, the fact that he had a daughter, the memory of Jasmine, and everything the pair of them had been through.

"We're going to get through this, Ruby. I promise you, we will get through this." Tony assured her, knowing that everything was going to come to a head soon. "But you really need to talk to me, honey. You need to let me know what's going on in that genius head of yours, otherwise I can't help you, no one can."

She turned her head slightly and looked at her father's car. She really had managed to do some damage to the side of it with her Converse covered feet. Ruby hadn't meant to kick it so hard, but she was just so damn frustrated and fed up with everything that she needed to let the anger out one way or another. "Sorry about your car." She mumbled to Tony, just knowing that she was in some serious trouble for what she had done.

Tony let out a sigh and looked over at it himself. It was pretty beat, but getting it repaired wasn't going to be an issue for him. "Don't worry about it, Ruby. I'll just send you the bill and ground you for a while, okay?" She nodded at him a little. "Now, you really do need to start talking to me. Sure, I'm not the best dad in the world, but I'm trying here, Ruby. I really have no idea what the hell I'm doing."

"You're doing okay. I've never had a dad before, so we're both in the same boat here." Ruby replied making him chuckle a little. "Can you call Happy? Send him on a major food run?"

Tony pulled away a little and looked at her. "You actually want to eat something?" He asked her, sounding a little shocked. Since they had been back she had been dead set against eating, no matter what he tried. All he had seen her go for was those cookies, he hadn't seen her really eat anything else apart from a few bites of pizza.

"Uh, yeah. You're right, I look like I've been dragged through a forest, thrown in a ditch, and crawled across a muddy field." She said, knowing that it would at least make him happy if he knew she was trying to get back on track and act more normal.

All he could do was smile at his daughter. "Sure we can. What do you want? I can get him to get you anything." Tony told her.

"Pancakes, lots of them, with blueberries and chocolate." Ruby informed him, thinking about what else she wanted. "French toast, some strawberry muffins, croissants, and some frozen yoghurt."

Tony was just standing there with his mouth hanging open. He had only expected her to ask for something small, like a bagel or something, not a whole bunch of different things. "Anything else?" He asked her finally. "You want some bacon and eggs to go with those pancakes or anything? Maybe a tub of ice cream, covered in chocolate and jelly beans?"

Ruby just nudged him, getting him to shut up. "I'm a teenager, not a pig."

"Oh, right, of course. I didn't know there was a difference." Tony told her, glad to see that she could still give him a smile and take a little joke from him. "JARVIS, let Happy know that this pig of a teenager wants."

"Of course, Sir. Will there be anything else?" JARVIS called, amusement evident in his voice.

"I don't know, better ask the pig." He said, turning to look at Ruby. All she did was glare at him, and that gave him his answer. "Uh, yeah, that's all, JARVIS."

"So, is there anything else you wanted me down here for?" She asked him, going back to shoving cookies in her mouth. "I was actually doing some work myself. Like I said, SWAIN needs a few upgrades, and a bit of a clean up. While we were gone, he was working with JARVIS to try and get a track on us. I need to go through all that data and clear what we don't need."

Tony frowned at her a little. He wasn't sure he fully believed what she was saying to him. "And that's all, is it?" He asked her, ready to challenge her. "You're not up to something else?"

Ruby let out a sigh and moved away from her father and over to the desk where all his screens were set up. "Why do people always think I'm up to something? Tasha and Robin are just the same, convinced that I'm up to something because the truth seemed too simple. Even Liam…" She stopped herself from finishing that sentence. She still hadn't spoken to him again, and she didn't know how angry he was with her still.

It appeared that her father had noticed her sudden change as well. "Liam will get over it. Just give it a few days and he will be grovelling for you to forgive him for the way he spoke to you. And if he doesn't, I'll have his ass on a plate."

All she could do was shake her head, getting rid of all thoughts of the man who was supposed to be her best friend. Instead she pulled up a few things on the screen to show her father. "There's a lot of stuff that they had that really can be disposed of. The only things I want them to keep would be our location and anything else that we can link to those bastards."

Tony snapped his head at his daughter. "Ruby! Language!" He cried, not liking to hear her swear.

She looked at him and hung her head a little. "Sorry, I just…" Ruby knew that her father really didn't like to hear her using bad language, he didn't like to hear her curse, it just didn't seem right.

"Just don't do it again. Got it?" He asked her, getting her to nod in response. "Okay, I get what you need to do. Sort through all the data and get rid of anything that isn't going to be useful. But that is all you are going to be doing, got it?" Tony warned her. "I'm going to have JARVIS and SWAIN both keep an eye on you, just to make sure."

Ruby rolled her eyes, having already known that he was going to get like that. She knew he was only worried about her, and wanted to make sure that she was oaky, but she knew how to look after herself. "Yeah, fine. Can I get back to work now?"

"What? You don't want to hang out down here with your old man?" Tony said, only making her glare at him even more. "Wow, chill. You can go and do all your super secret stuff until Happy gets here. Then you're going to sit in the kitchen and eat. Got it?"

She let out a sigh, knowing he wasn't going to just leave her holed up in her room for days on end. "Okay, fine. You win this round, but I'm still ahead of you by, what, a hundred?" Rub told him, before starting to walk back towards the glass doors so she could get back to her room and focus.

"Excuse me? Ahead by a hundred? Oh no, I don't think so missy." Tony said, starting to stalk after her. "What makes you think that you're at least a hundred ahead of me, huh?"

"Because I'm about to go apologise to Pepper."

That just confused Tony even more. "Which means you're doing what I said, which means I win that round as well."

Ruby just turned and looked at him as she bounced up the first few steps. "But I get brownie points with Pepper, you don't. So I win." She told him, smirking at him before rushing up the steps and to the living room where Pepper was still sitting. "Um, Pepper?" She said when she saw the woman, her voice suddenly sounding small and nervous.

"Yes, Miss Matthews-Stark?"

The young Stark froze on the spot. 'Oh, last name, she is totally pissed with me.' She thought to herself. 'And I bet anything that Tony is down there laughing his head off right about now.' She shook her head and let out a sigh. "I'm… I'm sorry for what I said early, and for how I acted."

Pepper still didn't look up from her work, and Ruby knew that what she had said earlier had really hurt. It wasn't her intention to hurt or upset anyone, she was just so sick of everyone thinking that her dad was the bad guy in all of this. She knew that he wasn't, and she wanted to prove it to the world, she just didn't know how.

"I guess sorry, doesn't really cut it, does it?" Ruby asked, trying to work out what would and wouldn't be good to say. She didn't want to do anything that would make it worse. "What I said, I said out of anger. I don't like the way people are talking about my dad, the things they are calling him. They weren't there, they didn't get put through the hell that we did." Pepper finally stopped typing and kept her hands still. "I don't… I don't have many people I can talk to anymore. I never had many friends in the first place. Sometimes I just explode because I can't handle it all, and sometimes I don't know when to stop."

Finally Pepper let out a sigh. "Ruby…"

She quickly shook her head as the woman looked up. "No, it's okay. You're only doing your job. You're looking after the company while my dad tried to pull himself together. You're doing what you can to control the damage. I don't expect you to forgive me for what I said, because I really was out of line. But I really am sorry." Ruby said, before turning away and getting ready to head to her room.

She didn't manage to get very far, as someone quickly latched onto her hand causing her to turn her head and look. "Ruby, it's okay, I do forgive you. I can see how hard all of this is for you, and everyone is entitled to a moment of craziness every now and then." Pepper told her, her eyes glistening with tears a little. "I just hope that next time, you can come and talk to me about it before it gets to bad, okay? Doesn't matter what time it is, I'm here if you need me." Ruby just nodded at her, actually surprised that Pepper was saying this to her. "I know I can never replace your mother, and I would never even try to, but I will always be here. I do care about you, Ruby, there are plenty of people who do."

Ruby couldn't help but scoff a little. "Liam doesn't any more. He's blaming all this on me still, he doesn't want to know me any more."

"You know that's not true. He's a man, he's just being stubborn because he doesn't like to admit that he was wrong." Pepper informed her, trying to reassure her. "Valarie has called me a few times, asking how you were. Liam isn't doing too well, she catches him sitting there with the phone in his hand, ready to call you. He's broken three since what happened in the car."

"My dad scared the hell out of him, and I'm still a fraction annoyed with him as well." Ruby said, remembering how the phone call had gone in the car. Liam had been so angry, that he blamed it all on Ruby. "If Val calls, can you let me know so I can at least talk to her? I don't want to call in case Liam is around."

Pepper nodded at her. "Of course I can, Ruby. Now, are you really okay?"

She shook her head at her. "Not really. My head is a mess and I don't know what I'm doing half the time."

"Tomorrow, we go out. No arguments." Pepper told her sternly. "Just us, lunch, dinner, shopping, whatever. Okay?"

Slowly, Ruby nodded at her. "Yeah, okay."

"Good. Now, have you had anything else to eat apart from a whole packet of cookies?" The older woman asked her, a hint of disapproval in her tone.

"No, but dad sent Happy out to get me some things." She saw Pepper's eyebrow raise, as if questioning her and what she asked for. "Pancakes, uh… croissants, French toast and muffins."

Pepper seemed to nod her head in approval. "Good, at least you're eating something now. How about I convince Tony to order some Chinese for dinner tonight? I know that's your favourite."

A small smile crept onto Ruby's face. Pepper really had been paying attention to her, what she liked and what she didn't like. "Yeah, but only if you stay and join us, otherwise, no deal."

It seemed that Pepper couldn't help but smile as well. "Well, how can I not stay for dinner? Now, I think you should probably go and get showered. You look like you could do with it."

Once again Pepper had been paying attention to her. Ruby knew she looked and mess, and a shower always helped her to calm down a little, but a bath was always better. "Yeah, I guess I should. So, you're not still mad at me for what I said?" She asked, hoping that she really had accepted her apology.

"No, I'm not. I wasn't really mad at you in the first place, just upset and annoyed. If you can't talk to your father, you can always come and talk to me, remember that Ruby." Pepper told her, before giving her a tight hug.

Hugs, the solution to everything sometimes. "Thanks, Pepper. I'll see you in a bit." Ruby told her, before heading off to her room for a quick shower before she got back to work with what she had doing before her father had interrupted her.

There was so much that she needed to do, that she needed to find out. Fury had put eyes and ears all over Stark Industries now, just like she had asked, but it was too early to find anything out. It was going to take a few days, and she knew that, but she didn't want to wait a few days, she wanted to find out how this all happened and put an end to it. Ruby knew that she wasn't going to stop until it was all over, until she had ripped Ten Rings apart. They had been in her life for far too long now, and it was time to finish what she had started when she was only a kid.

A/N: Well, there goes another chapter. There is a reason for everything I do and everything that happens. You'll find out eventually.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and again I am sorry for the rather long wait. A big thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed, glad you're enjoying this story of mine. And of course, a super massive thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave a review. You guys, you are awesome!

So, I'm hoping the next chapter isn't going to end up being so late. I better make sure I go and finish it off now. Love you all!

Pippa.