A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay in the update. Dissertation due in 7 days, so working hard on that at the same time. Anyway, enjoy!
Ruby sat on her bed, her hands fisted as she rubbed her tired eyes. She had been awake for at least 72 hours now, working away with SWAIN and JARVIS, trying to find anything on the Stark Industries servers that could help. But she was coming up with nothing. Every time.
While she was struggling to stay awake, and contain the frustration that was building, her father was down in the workshop, hooked up to several machines and with Pepper just walking into the room.
"Hey, let me see them. Show me your hands." Tony asked, keeping an eye on one of the screens JARVIS had up. He had been keeping a close eye on Ruby, and he was starting to worry even more with the way she was behaving. "Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just need your help for a sec." He said, turning his attention back to his personal assistant.
Peppers looked down and noticed the blue glow that was coming from the circular device in her boss's chest. "Oh, my God. Is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" It was clear from her tone that she was a little shocked to see it.
"It was. It's now an antique. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future." He informed her, holding up the new miniature arc reactor that he had spent the past several days making. "I'm swapping it for an upgraded unit and I just ran into a little speed bump."
Pepper looked at him curiously, not entirely sure what was going on. "Speed bump, what does that mean?"
"It's nothing. It's just a little snag." Tony told her, tugging out the old reactor. "There's an exposed wire under this device. And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's fine." He passed the old device that his daughter helped him to make in the cave to his assistant.
"What do you want me to do?" She replied, having absolutely no idea what was going through his mind.
"Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant." Pepper done as he asked before looking back down at him. "I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out." He told her, glancing once again at Ruby's bedroom on the screen.
He couldn't help but frown. She seemed to be getting more and more angry with something, slamming her laptop closed every now and again before opening it rubbing her eyes. He knew that she hadn't been sleeping very well, and she had hardly been eating either. The only time he had managed to get her out of her room was by literally dragging her into the kitchen for some food.
"Is it safe?" The red head woman asked him, getting his attention once more.
"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes 'beep'." Tony told her, smirking a little at the thought of the game that he had played with Ruby's mother when they had been together. He even went and created his own version, just for them to play.
"What do you mean, 'Operation'?" It seemed obvious that Pepper had never even heard of the game, let alone played it before.
Tony let out a small sigh as the smirk faded. "It's just a game, never mind. Just gently lift the wire, Okay?" Pepper nodded. "Great."
With some courage behind her, Pepper slowly put her hand into the hole in Tony's chest, before quickly yanking it back again. "You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this." She told him nervously. "Maybe you should ask Ruby to do this, I'm sure she'd be a much better option than me."
"No, you're fine. I don't want to bother Ruby, she's stressed out enough as it is. You know how she is at the moment. Besides, you're more than capable. You're gonna do great. Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm kinda in a jam here…" There was a pleading look in his eyes, one that Ruby had perfected.
"Okay, okay." Pepper told him, before taking a deep breath and directing her hand into his chest. "Oh, there's pus!" She cried.
"It's not pus. It's an inorganic plasmatic discharge from the device, not from my body." Tony informed her, slightly amused at her reaction.
She quickly tried to cover her mouth and nose. "It smells." She moaned.
"Yeah, it does." Tony said, starting to think it might have been a better idea to get Ruby to help instead. "The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?"
"Okay, I got it. I got it." She called, the expression on her face showing that she was disgusted with what she was doing.
"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch the sides…" He flinched, as Pepper accidently let it touch the sides. "Argh! When you're coming out!" He yelled a little.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"That's what I was trying to tell you before. Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't…" Tony's warning and instructions to her came a little too late. "There's a magnet at the end of it. That was it. You just pulled it out." He told her, looking at the things now dangling in the hand of his assistant.
Pepper was no longer disgusted, she was more devastated at what she had just done. "Oh, God."
"Okay, I was not expecting… don't put it back in!" He warned her, seeing that she was about to do just that. "Don't put it back in!"
"Okay, what do I do?" She asked. Before Tony could say anything, all the machines he was hooked up to stared beeping and screeching. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'cause you yanked it out like a trout…" He moaned.
"What? You said it was safe!" She shouted at him, wishing he had just asked his daughter to help him with it and not her. She wasn't qualified for things like he had asked her to do, but Ruby was.
"We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this." Tony said, forcing the new device into Pepper's hands. "You gotta switch it out really quick."
"Okay. Okay. Tony? It's going to be okay." She told him in reassurance, as she tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths.
"What? Is it?" Tony wasn't so sure, and he kept his eyes focused entirely on Ruby in her room now. She was sitting on her bed with her head in her hands, her laptop now lying on the floor. He knew that as soon as he was finished, he would need to go and make sure that she was okay.
"It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay." She told him, but talking about more than just getting the device back into his chest.
"Let's hope so. Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you…" He let out a groan and the machines finally quietened down. "Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here. Nice." Tony asked, finishing fitting the device in himself now.
Pepper looked at him with concern in her eyes. It had been a terrifying experience for her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?" Tony asked her, letting out a little laugh.
She looked down at the mess that was now all over her hands. "Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again."
"I don't have anyone but you and Ruby." Tony informed her, feeling a pang of sadness s he did. "Anyway…"
"What do you want me to do with this?" Pepper asked him, pointing to the old arc reactor
"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it." He said, not wanting to keep any memories of what happened in the cave. It was too painful, because of what had happened to his daughter in that time.
Pepper just frowned at him. "You don't want to keep it?"
"Pepper, I've been called many things. 'Nostalgic' is not one of them."
"Will that be all, Mr Stark?" Pepper asked.
"That will be all, Miss Potts." Tony said, getting up from the chair he had been in the whole time and over to his desk. "Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff." He pointed to the mess on his desk, waiting for Pepper to leave before he went to check on Ruby.
He was going to get SWAIN and JARVIS to update him on what had been going on, and why she was in such a foul mood. He didn't want to go in there and have her throw things at him, because that wouldn't be the first time it had happened recently.
"JARVIS, what's going on with Ruby?" He asked, watching her go a pick up her laptop and yank the screen up.
"It would appear she is distressed with the lack of information she can gather, sir." The AI replied to him. "She refuses to sleep until she finds something of importance."
Tony let out a groan as he pushed his chair away from the table. He had no choice now but to go to her room and find out what the hell was going on. For one day he had seen her slightly back to the way she used to be, but that was quick to disappear after her little shopping trip and lunch with Pepper.
When he reached her room, he could hear her cursing at something, most likely her laptop since that was what she kept playing around with, and throwing around. "How many times do I have to warn you about your language?" Tony growled at her as he opened the door. Now that he was actually there in front of her, he could see just how bad she was.
Ruby's cheeks were tear stained, and there was a fresh wave ready to fall from her red, blood shot eyes. There were dark circles under her eyes, and the cheekbones that reminded him of her mother were much more prominent than they should be. Her skin was pale and it was clear she needed sleep and food. But he knew just how stubborn she was, and that there was nothing he could say to convince her to eat something.
"What do you want?" Ruby grumbled at him, glaring at her laptop with hatred in her eyes. You would think that, by the way she was looking at it, she was mentally plotting the downfall of whoever thought up all the technology that she was using. The look on her face really did look like she was planning on murdering someone.
Her father stepped into the room and gently closed the door behind him. "I wanted to see how you were. I haven't seen you for a few days, since you're refusing to leave your room."
Ruby didn't even bother to look up at him. "Yeah, well, you didn't really need my help, did you? You had all the research and materials. You made the new reactor and just had Miss Potts help you get it fitted."
Tony didn't know how she knew that, and he wasn't even going to bother to ask. There were several reasons why he hadn't told her he was doing it, or why he hadn't asked her to help. For a start, he didn't want her to be there if anything went wrong, the same reason why they waited for her to fall asleep to fit it when they were in the cave.
"Found anything useful?" He asked her, glancing at the screen and noticing that she was in the Stark Industries secure server.
"No." She replied, letting out a sigh. "Not a damn thing. There has to be something there, but I can't get access to everything from here. Your system totally sucks."
He couldn't help but chuckle at her a little for that comment. "What, because you can't hack into it?"
"No." Ruby answered sharply. "Because someone is hiding something and they are hiding it well. Now, who in the company would be clever enough to pull off something like that? How did they do it? How the hell did they get away with it?" She started mumbling as she started typing away again on her laptop, giving it another try.
Before she managed to get very far, Tony snatched the laptop away from her, snapping it shut and holding it under his arm. "Enough, Ruby. Just look at what you are doing to yourself. You don't eat, you don't sleep, all you do is sit here on the computer. You're making yourself ill, honey. And it needs to stop."
"I'm trying to catch the bastard who is doing all of this." Ruby growled at him, an animalistic look in her eyes. She truly did look terrifying in her current state. "I'm not going to sit here and let them get away with it. Who knows how many more people are going to be killed because of our name."
"This isn't the way to do it, honey. I want to find out who is behind all of this as well. I want to make them pay for what you were put through. But just look at what all this is doing to you, we need to think this all through, and find a way to work together on this." He told her, sitting down on the side of her bed. "We will get to the bottom of this, Ruby. I promise."
She didn't say anything, just nodded her head at him a little, finally breaking down and letting a wave of tears slide down her cheeks. Tony was quick to wrap his arms around his daughter, knowing he needed to be there for her. "I just want it all to be over." She whispered to him.
"I know, Ruby. I know." Her father said to her softly. "And it will, I promise you it will all be over soon."
"I'm so tired. I'm scared of going to sleep, because every time I close my eyes, we're back in the cave. Everything that happened, it happens all over again." She told him, the tears still rolling. She had been having more nightmares, but had made sure that JARVIS and SWAIN kept it quiet. Ruby didn't want her father coming and checking on her at all hours, he had to get some sleep himself.
Tony had the suspicion that she hadn't been sleeping, and he had already put it down to nightmares. What he hadn't known was what they were about. "It's okay, Ruby. This isn't all just going to go away over night, it's going to take time. But trust me, whoever is behind all of this, is going to pay for what they done." He informed her, a fire starting to burn in his eyes. He was going to make them pay for what they had put his daughter through.
He ended up staying there with Ruby for a while, letting her cry some more until she finally fell asleep. Tony still had his arms wrapped around her, and he just didn't have the heart to wake her so that he could leave her to sleep in peace. "Hey, JARVIS?" He called in a whisper, not wanting to disturb his daughter.
"Yes, Sir?" JARVIS replied, his volume rather low and Tony only just able to hear it.
"Tell Miss Potts that she might as well go home. There's no point her hanging around her, Ruby and I are going to get some shut eye."
"Of course, Mr Stark." The AI said, before dimming down all the lights in the room.
Tony hadn't original planned on getting some sleep, he had only wanted to check in on Ruby and make sure that she was okay. But he knew that a few hours sleep wasn't really going to do him any harm. He had been working pretty much constantly, only stopping for food and to check on his daughter.
Eventually, he did actually doze off. He let out a groan as he forced his eyes opened, and almost jumped off the bed when he couldn't see his daughter there. "JARVIS, where's Ruby?" He called, trying not to sound too panicked at the moment.
"She is in the kitchen, sir. She has been staring at a mug for the past 34 minutes." JARVIS informed him. "I have tried speaking to her, but she has not responded."
Tony let out a sigh as he pushed himself off his daughter's bed and rubbed his eyes a little. After the way she was the day before, he should have expected her to be pretty out of it the next day as well. "How long has she been up for?" He asked, opening the door and shuffling out of Ruby's room.
"Miss Matthews-Stark woke up roughly two hours ago. Since then she has opened the refrigerator eight times, boiled water twelve times and picked up the mug twenty three times." JARVIS told him as he made his way to the kitchen to find out what was going on with his daughter.
"You know, staring at it isn't going to make anything happen." He called to Ruby as he walked into the room. Tony didn't miss the way she had tensed up just before he walked into the kitchen. It was as if she knew someone was coming, but didn't know who it was.
"Can't decide if I want a hot drink or a cold drink." She said, wandering over to the refrigerator and pulling it open once more.
Tony raised an eyebrow at her as he flicked the coffee machine on. "After two hours, you still can't decide?" He asked her, resting against the counter and looking at her with worry.
Ruby turned her head and looked at him. "What? I haven't been in here for two hours." She told him, picking up a bottle of water before putting it straight back.
"Uh huh, yeah, sure. JARVIS, how long has Ruby been in here for?" He called.
"She has been in the kitchen for a little over two hours now, sir." JARVIS replied.
"Oh… I didn't…" Ruby said, once again closing the door and walking over to where he empty mug was still sitting. "Sorry."
Her father frowned at her. "What are you saying sorry for, honey? I can see that you're not exactly with it at the moment, can't say that I blame you. If you want to talk about anything…"
"No, I'm okay. I told you last night what was bothering me." Ruby told him quickly. "I, uh, I was wondering if I could borrow a car today? Mine is still in pieces and I want to go to the office, check a few things out."
"I don't think that's a good idea. Obie told us to lay low for a while, let him handle things." Tony replied quickly. The truth was, he didn't want her going anywhere on her own. "If you have to go in, then Happy can take you."
Ruby knew she was going to have to pull out all the stops if she was to get out for a while. "Dad, please. I just need to clear my head a bit, and driving helps. And it's not really fair putting Happy on babysitting duty when he can be of more use to Pepper at the moment. She's working so hard to keep everything running, to keep the company standing. Please?" She asked, giving him her best puppy dog eyes and pout.
He knew exactly what his daughter was doing, her mother used to do the exact same thing to get what she wanted and to get her own way. Tony wanted to say no, to stand his ground and not be a total push over. But he knew he couldn't do it. "Okay, here's the deal. You can take a car, but I want you home by six at the latest. You check in with me every hour."
"Every three hours." Ruby said, trying to bargain with him.
"Two hours. And if you go anywhere but the office, you need to check with me first. I will be watching you. JARVIS will be tracking you the whole time."
She nodded at him, accepting his deal. "Check in every two hours, and check with you if I want to go anywhere else. Back here by six at the latest." Ruby repeated, just to let him know that she understood the deal. "Got it."
"And do not let anyone tell you what to do." Tony told her firmly. "You have the power to fire their ass if you want, so don't let anyone pester you, okay?" He was worried about her going in there and people starting to hound her, asking her a million and one questions about what happened when they were both missing. He didn't want her to go through that, not when she was hardly coping with it all as it was.
"If anyone even thinks of pissing me off, I'll fire them, and have Happy escort their sorry backside from the building so quickly they won't even have time to clear out their desk." She said, making him chuckle a little. "And hey, if he isn't around, I'll just do it myself."
"That's my girl." Tony said, stepping over to her and wrapping an arm around her should. "Just take it easy when you're driving. I don't want to see a scratch on whatever car you take. You already owe me for one car, don't make it two." He told her, reminding her of the car with the side kicked in.
Ruby hung her head slightly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I don't really know what came over me, I guess I was just angry and frustrated."
Looking at her, Tony knew that she hadn't quite been herself in that moment. So he was ready to forgive her for it, and wipe the slate clean. "Well, I'm willing to forget all about it of you come here and give your old man a hug." He said, open his arms wide and waiting.
After a little hesitation, Ruby walked over to him, and let her father embrace her. She was starting to forget how good hugs could feel. Her mother used to hug her at least once a day, it was just something that she always done. But since she had gone, Ruby hadn't been getting those hugs, and now she was really starting to miss them. Without realising it, she let out a small sob.
But Tony noticed it. "Hey, what's the matter, honey?" He asked her, determined to make the moment last. He had so much that he had missed in her life, and even though he knew he could never make up for it, he was at least going to try.
"Times like this I miss my mom. She always knew what to say to me, what to do. When I came home from school with bruises and blood all over me, she'd always manage to make me laugh." Ruby mumbled, remembering all the times that her mother had brightened up all those horrible things that happened.
Tony understood what she was saying, she missed Jasmine comforting her, making everything better in a single moment. "I'm sorry, honey. I wish there was something I could do to help, but I really just don't know." He told her, before letting out a sigh. "I'm really not very good at this, am I?"
"You just need some more practice." Ruby mumbled to him. "You're doing great so far."
He chuckled a little, which only make Ruby let out a short laugh as well. A few minutes later and Ruby seemed to have calmed herself down and pulled herself together. "I need to have a shower, before heading to the office."
Tony was quick to stop her from going anywhere. "Uh, you can shower in a bit. While you're here you need to eat."
"But I'm not hungry." Ruby moaned like a small child, pouting as she did.
Her father simply shook his head at her. "Nope. Not going to work. No food, no deal, which means no leaving this house. You got that?" Tony warned her, knowing that she really did need to eat something, even if it was just a few bites of toast.
Ruby let out an annoyed groan. "Fine, but don't expect me to make anything." She said, sitting down and going into a little sulk. "Eating wasn't in the original deal."
All Tony could do was roll his eyes at her. "It shouldn't have to be part of the deal, you should be eating anyway. I shouldn't have to keep reminding you to eat, Ruby." He told her, pulling his flashy phone out from his pocket. He messed around with it for a few moments before looking back at his daughter. "Food ordered. You got about thirty minutes to get showered and dressed before Happy gets here with it. So get moving."
This time it was ruby who rolled her eyes. She should have know that he would contact Happy to go and grab them some food rather than letting her sit there and not eating. She was planning on getting away with him not wanting to make her food, not basically order out for breakfast. "Fine. But it better be worth my time." She commented, before stalking off to her room.
She was kicking herself for phasing out like that in the kitchen, and for being caught doing it by her father. Ruby had been thinking, thinking about everything that was going on, and everything that she had to do. She had bigger plans than her father knew about, that anyone knew about. There were things that the young Stark needed to do, and no one was going to stop her from doing it.
A/N: Well, that's another chapter done. Now, some of you are expecting Ruby to make a suit with Tony for herself. Some of you don't think she is going to get one at all, I'm just going to throw a spanner in the works and not give you any clues at all.
There is a lot still to happen, much of it about Ruby. We've had a few more father/daughter moments with Tony and Ruby, and I hoped you liked them. I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, without too much of a long wait.
Anyway, thank you to everyone who has favoutired/followed the story. It's such a nice feeling to know people are reading this, and enjoying it. Which brings me to send out a massive thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review. I love reading them, and hearing that you really do like my writing. You guys are awesome.
Until next time…
Pippa.