Hello to you all! Here is the next chapter for you all, I hope you all like it.

Ruby stood, leaning against the red sports car that she had borrowed from her father. She had made it to Stark Industries in record time, which just meant that she had an extra few minutes to spare before her friend arrived to collect her. She knew that her father would be more than just a little unhappy with her if he knew what she was really up to, but there was no other way.

A few minutes later, a sleek black car pulled up in front of her. Ruby wasted no time in opening the door and getting into the vehicle. "Agent Matthews." A voice said as the car pulled away.

"Agent Coulson." Ruby replied, with a nod of her head. "I take it Fury is getting a little impatient and annoyed with Mr Stark."

"Stark is being difficult." Coulson confirmed, sitting there with his shades on and keeping his eyes focused on the space in front of him. "There are a lot of unanswered questions still, and he isn't being very cooperative in finding the time to answer them."

Ruby already knew this, she knew that her father was preoccupied with something else at the moment. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on in his head, or what plans he had, but she knew there was something he was planning. "Well, what do you expect, it's Tony Stark." She ended up saying.

"The Director was hoping that you might be a little more helpful. And he would also like an update on your progress." The man told her.

She simply nodded at him, knowing that there were a lot of things that her father needed to sort out but just didn't want to. She was just facing it all head on, doing anything and everything she could to get through the whole mess and sort it all out.

The rest of the drive was spent in silence. Ruby was just gazing out of the window, her mind turning over everything that had been going on recently, and the way she had been acting. She wasn't acting like a real agent, she was having too many break downs but didn't want to admit that those three months had hit her so badly. Her coping mechanism was to keep her mind busy, but that wasn't really working this time.

Ruby completely zoned out at some point, as she didn't realise where they were until they were standing in front of the Director. "Agent Matthews, glad you could make it." Fury said, bringing her completely out of her own world.

"Rather be here than sitting in my room, destroying my laptop. I'm already in trouble for damaging one of my fathers cars." Ruby admitted to him, knowing that he would understand from that how difficult things were for her.

Fury nodded at her. "Agent Coulson, add a few extra training session with Romanoff." He said, causing Ruby to raise a questioning eyebrow at him. "It would appear Agent Matthews needs a few session with her to get back up to standard."

Ruby watched as Agent Coulson nodded at him, before wandering off and leaving the pair alone. "Why am I here, Director?" She asked him, getting straight to the point. He had contacted her, telling her she was to meet with him. She didn't even get a choice in the matter, and it left her trying to find a way to escape the mansion and get away from her father for a while.

"It has come to my attention that you are at breaking point, Agent Matthews." He told her, his tone rather serious. "So you need to pull it together. I had my doubts about allowing you to stay on this assignment, you are too involved with it. I understand that it is difficult for you, but you need to keep your head on the task at hand."

She knew exactly what he was saying. She was close to going off the rails, and that was not a good thing. Every waking moment, Ruby was trying to get any information she could about what was going on, it was wearing her down. "And how do you suggest I do that, sir?" She asked him, sounding a little more hostile than she meant to.

"I'm putting you back in the training programme. You need it, for more reasons than one." He told her, still being rather serious. Ruby didn't like it when he was serious like that, it just made her feel nervous. "You let yourself get beat up pretty badly, you're out of shape and out of practice. If you want to be back on my top team, you need to be in top condition."

Ruby's eyes widened at his words. She had never thought that she had been anywhere close to being on his top team. "When was I ever part of your top team?"

"I don't send anyone out with Romanoff and Barton, you know that they are my best field agents." Director Fury reminded her. "You have always had the potential to be part of that team, and you were part of it. If Agent Matthews wants to come back, then she needs to prove it." He said, before walking off and leaving her standing there on her own.

Ruby watched him as he went, trying to figure out her next move. She knew of several things that she could do now, but she knew exactly which one she was going to pick. The young woman turned on her heel and headed straight towards the training room, where she was going to work her backside off until the moment she had to leave to get back home to her father.

There was no doubt in Ruby's mind what she had to do, what she needed to do. Her father had enemies, that much was clear, and if he had enemies, then so did she. She had already lost her mother, she was not going to let any take away the father that she had only just found. They may not always get on, they may clash at times because of how alike they are in some ways, but she wasn't going to let anything happen to him.

In a traditional world, it's the father who protects the daughter, his little angel, his princess. But not with Ruby, she knew she was capable of protecting her father, and she was determined to do it. No matter what it took, no matter how many hours of training it took, or how many lies, she was going to make sure that her father was safe.

She had just beat the hell out of another punch bag when a voice broke her concentration. "Well, I didn't expect to see you here so soon." The female voice called. "I'd expect you to be making the most of the free time you have."

Ruby rolled her eyes before turning to face the owner of the voice. "You know me, Tasha, never could sit still for too long. I blame you for that." She said, before giving her a smile.

The next thing she knew, Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, was hugging her tightly. "Jesus, Ruby, what the hell are you doing to yourself?" The red head whispered to her in concern.

"Tasha, you know what I'm like. Sleeping and eating are low priority right now. Finding out who selling Stark weapons to Ten Rings is top on my list." Ruby told her, knowing that Natasha was worried about her current condition.

"That needs to change, Ruby." Tasha told her, turning very serious. "I've told you countless times that you will be no good to anyone if you are too weak or unhealthy to do anything. And I am not calling you weak, so do not even think of trying to prove that you are."

Ruby let out a groan. "Okay, who told you?" She asked, knowing that Natasha knew about her father's car and what she had done to it. "It was Fury, wasn't it? I know it was, the sneaky son of a…"

"Ruby, don't." Natasha warned her, knowing she was about to use a curse word. She had always tried not to encourage her to swear, or to use violence if there was another way. Ruby was the only one that the Black Widow had ever been patient with, to have scolded in the way only a concerned family member would. Natasha was like a big sister to Ruby, and neither of them would have it any other way.

"Oh, come on! I get enough of that from my father. I don't need it from you as well." She moaned. "I got to let of steam some how."

Natasha couldn't help but smirk at Ruby, taking a step away from her and unzipping her SHIELD jacket before taking it off. "Okay, come on then. Let of some steam, Ruby. You were beaten and held captive, you have to live with an egotistical playboy who thinks the world revolves around him. Tony Stark only cares about one thing, himself."

The next thing she knew, she was blocking Ruby's attacks. She knew what she was doing, she was goading Ruby, giving her a reason to attack, to get everything out of her system. "Don't you dare speak about my father like that!" Ruby growled as she threw a few punches at Natasha. "You know nothing about him, about who he really is."

The Black Widow couldn't help but smirk. "Sure I do. He beds a different woman every night. Sometimes more than one in a single night. He doesn't care, as long as they are hot, although he does have a thing for models." Natasha said, dodging another assault from Ruby.

She heard an animalistic growl coming from the young woman before her. "Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" Ruby shouted, before putting everything she had into her attacks. "You don't know me, and you sure as hell don't know him." She ended up screaming. "He lost his parents, my mother walked out on him, his life fell apart. Don't you dare think you have any right to say anything bad about my dad!"

Natasha didn't have any time to even think about what Ruby was going to do next, let alone block it. In a flash, Ruby had her pinned to the floor, a hand around her throat and a knee on her chest. She knew she had pushed her, that was the whole point of it, but she was now worried she had pushed it a little too far.

"Tony Stark is my dad, and I don't give a damn what the hell you or anyone else thinks of him. So he hasn't been the perfect roll model, he's done stupid things, but he sure as hell has never tried to hurt me." Ruby spat at her, the fire still raging in her eyes. "He may not be perfect, no one is, but he is my dad, and I love him. So don't you dare say anything bad about him ever again without knowing all the facts."

Once again, a smirk worked its way onto Natasha's face. "And that is the Red Cobra that I know."

Ruby just looked at the woman she had pinned down, and the fire in her eyes began to fade. "I hate you sometimes, Tasha." She grumbled, getting off the woman and sitting on the floor. "Thanks."

Natasha sat herself up and smiled at her. "Feeling better now then?"

"A bit, yeah. Truth is, it hasn't been easy. People are angry at my dad for shutting down the weapons manufacturing, but I know he is doing the right thing. Someone within the company is working with Ten Rings, without the weapons to ship to them, we have a better chance of finding them." Ruby told her, letting out a sigh. She knew she couldn't talk about any of this stuff with Tony, he just wouldn't understand how she was feeling. But she knew she could talk to Natasha.

"Do you really think he had nothing to do with it?" Natasha asked, getting a sharp glare from Ruby. "Who's to say he wasn't part of this weapons deal?"

"I know he wasn't. Tasha, you know what I went through, what he went through. Who would willingly go through all of that? I mean, he nearly died." Ruby protested, just knowing that her father was innocent it all of this. She was confident that he had nothing to do with it, that he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

The woman beside her nodded a little. "That may be, but you can't rule it out. Until you have concrete proof that he had nothing to do with it, he is still a top suspect." Natasha informed her.

"And who else is on that list? Me? Pepper Potts?" Ruby spat at her. Natasha knew it was going to be a sensitive topic for Ruby to talk about, but she needed to talk about it and get it all out of her system.

"There are several people at Stark Industries that we are keeping a very close eye on. I am not going to tell you who, because you are already too involved in this." Natasha told her, trying to be gentle and not get her any more aggravated. All she wanted to do was get Ruby to talk, not pick a fight with her, at least not this time.

"Of course I'm involved, Tasha." Ruby told her, throwing herself back so that she was now lying on the cold floor. "I'm Ruby Matthews-Stark, only child of Tony Stark, heir to the Stark empire, oh, and a smart-ass working for a super secret organisation."

Natasha couldn't help but chuckle a little at her description. "Who really needs to knuckle down and work on her hand to hand combat. You've let yourself go, Ruby."

All Ruby could do was roll her eyes at her. "Yeah, well, I've been stuck on research, not in the field. It's been a few years since I've trained with you and Robin." She said, pushing herself up on her elbows a little. "Where is he anyway? I want to kick his ass now."

"Out on assignment. But as soon as he is back, I'll send him your way, okay?" Natasha told her, a smirk working its way back onto her face. She knew that Ruby could take him if she really wanted to, she had taught the woman when she was younger, and she had taught her well.

Ruby nodded at her. "Fury is putting me back in training." She said after a few moments of comfortable silence. "Thinks that I'm about to explode and go on a rampage. I think he may have actually been right."

"We know what you're like, Ruby. As soon as we had you back, we knew it would happen sooner or later." Natasha told her, watching her as they both sat there. "You have a lot of people around here who care about you, and we don't want to see you crash and burn. Getting you training helped before, it will help again."

She let out a sigh, knowing that Natasha was right. The way things were going, the way she was behaving, it was just going to bring her down even further. Before she could say anything else, her phone was beeping at her, reminding her what time it was. She pulled it from her pocket and quickly sent a message to her father, doing her two-hour check in with him.

A few moments later, she had a message back, reminding her that she needed to be home by six. Ruby couldn't help but smile to herself, as far as he knew she was still at the office, and not off somewhere else. Natasha couldn't help but notice the look on her face. "Oh, no. I know that look. What have you done, Ruby?"

"I haven't done anything." Ruby quickly protested, playing with the hem of her top. "I was just checking in with my dad, he thinks that I'm at the office."

Natasha rolled her eyes as she finally decided to get herself up and off the floor. "You do know that you're going to have to tell him at some point." She said, towering over where Ruby was still sitting, looking a little intimidating. "Your mother was okay for you to be here with us, because it helped you. But your father may no feel the same. You will only land yourself in more trouble the longer you keep it from him."

Ruby let out a sigh as she decided to get herself up as well and stand in front of her friend. "I can't tell him. Not right now. There is just too much going on for him at the moment. I think… I think that if I told him, he would do more than just flip out."

"Is he really that unstable?"

She shook her head. "No, not unstable, just… lacking support. Everyone is against him because of what he said and done at the press conference." She told her, knowing that she needed to let it all out to Natasha. "No one wants to listen to him, to what he has to say, they're only thinking about the company."

Natasha nodded at her, knowing that her father was in trouble with a few people because of shutting down the weapons manufacturing. "And what about with you? How is he with you, Ruby?" There was a slight hint of concern in her voice, and she was trying her best to disguise the fact that she was worried about her.

"When we first came back, he didn't like letting me out of his sight, he would full out panic. He's keeping a really close eye on me, hence why I have to check in with him every few hours. But it's getting better." Ruby told her, knowing that he wasn't panicking as much as he first had. Their first night back had been the worse, because both of them were freaking out and having nightmares.

"I still think you need to talk to him and tell him the truth, Ruby. The longer you drag this out for, the worse it is going to get. He probably won't be happy, but that's understandable."

Ruby let out a sigh, knowing that Natasha was going to keep on pressing the matter until she told her father everything. "Not yet. I will tell him, when the time is right. Tasha, there is way too much going on at the moment, like I said, he'd blow a fuse."

"I see you've already started your training." A voice boomed through the room, causing the two woman to quickly turn their heads towards the source of it.

"Director." Natasha said, giving the man a polite nod as we walked further into the room.

"Agent Romanoff, I hope you were helping Agent Matthews, and not just standing here talking the whole time." He said, giving them both a look.

Ruby couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at him. "Tasha done a pretty good job at getting me riled up, resulting in me wanting to knock the hell out of her." She told him. "Just what I needed."

He looked at them both and gave a very, very small smile. "I expect to see you around here a little more often, Agent Matthews, and for you to keep in better contact with Agent Coulson. He will be your point of contact, do not pester Romanoff, Barton, or myself." Fury warned her, since she had a habit of hacking into the system and calling him, or bothering his top agents when they were out on assignment.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Ruby called, giving him a salute. Natasha had to stifle a laugh. Ruby had never been one to stick to the rules, and she wasn't about to change that now. "Can I get back to some training now? Or did you want me to hack into the database and start changing everyone's names again?" She asked him, a smirk on her face.

Fury knew that she would do it if she was given the chance, so he needed to make sure that she was kept busy while she was there. "Get back to work, both of you." He said, growling a little, which just made Ruby laugh. He shook his head as he walked out of the room, leaving the pair of them alone once more.

"Why do you always do that, Ruby?" Natasha asked her, as they walked over to where the training weapons were kept.

Ruby looked at her, pretending to be all innocent. "Do what, Tasha?"

"You know what. Wind him up, do anything you can to annoy him and get a reaction out of him. Why do you do it?" Natasha asked her, grabbing a few long wooden sticks.

The young Stark shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, because I can? Because it's fun? Because he's a big softie really and you just need to break past that stone cold, hard exterior that he uses to gain respect and scare you all." She told her, picking up a few sticks herself.

"So, you're not scared of Director Fury then?" Natasha asked her.

"Nope, not at all. Just like I'm not scared of the Black Widow or Hawkeye." Ruby said, swinging her weapon around a little as they moved to the centre of the training room. "You're all big softies really. At least, you are to me."

Natasha shook her head as she rolled her eyes. "Well, don't go telling everyone that, you'll damage my reputation."

"Oh please, like I could ever do anything to damage the reputation of the infamous Black Widow." Ruby replied, just as Natasha went to strike her. "Who are they going to believe? You, or me?"

The woman smiled at her as attacks were blocked. "Well, you are pretty well known around here. All your little pranks and the way you just refuse to conform to the rules. You left leaving behind a legacy of your own."

Ruby couldn't help but scoff at that. All she had done when she was younger was cause trouble, especially when she was bored. She didn't just hack into their systems, she decorated the helicarrier with pirate flags one time, painted one of the jets neon pink, and put food dye in the mashed potato for a week. Every day it was different, green, blue, orange, and even black. It was the kind of thing she did, to keep herself entertained when she was bored.

"That's not legacy, that's just stories. There is no evidence that any of those things were ever done by me." Ruby told her smugly. She had made sure to cover her tracks, and fiddle with the CCTV to make sure she wasn't caught on camera. "You have absolutely no proof at all."

All Natasha could do was chuckle at her. She knew it had been her, so did many other people who had been around at the time. Ruby was the youngest person there at that time, just a child, with a very active imagination. She could deny it all she wanted, remind them that there was no evidence, but Natasha knew that it was all her.

By the time Ruby's phone went off two hours later to remind her to check in again, she was lying on her back on the floor, completely and utterly exhausted. "God, I really am out of shape, Tasha." She breathed, her legs and arms aching like crazy.

Natasha just walked over to her and tossed an ice cold bottle of water at her, which landed on her stomach. "It's only to be expected, Ruby. I know you didn't keep up with your training when you left us, and with everything else that has happened, you've lost a lot of muscle." She said, sitting down on the bench at the side of the training area with her own water in her hands. "But don't you worry, I'll have you back on form in no time."

Ruby couldn't help but let out a loud groan at the though of getting her backside kicked by Natasha several hundred more times before she was strong enough to keep up. "Tasha… I can't open it." She whined, struggling to get the plastic cap off the bottle. "Help?"

The woman shook her head slightly, letting out a sigh as she got herself back up and went over to the youngster on the ground. "Really, Ruby? You can't even open a bottle now?" She asked her, before twisting the cap off and dumping half the contents straight over Ruby.

Ruby let out a yelp as she jumped up and let the water drip down her. "Tasha!" She cried, looking at her soaking wet clothing. "That wasn't funny. I've got to leave in about ten minutes, I'm going to end up going home wet. My dad is going to get suspicious."

Natasha just leaned in a little, a smile on her face. "Then tell him the truth." She whispered, before passing her the bottle. "Be careful, Ruby. And I'll see you in a few days." She added, before giving her a smile and walking out of the training room, leaving her in there alone.

The young Stark let out a sigh and she looked down at her dripping top. All she could do was hope that it would dry off on the drive back home. If it came to it, she would just have to tell him she spilt her drink or something.

By the time she did make it home, after being dropped back off at Stark Industries, it was almost six in the evening, and her father was down in the garage, which was now even more of his workshop, waiting for her. "Right on time, good girl." He called to her, watching her closely as she slowly, and painfully, walked towards him.

"Hi, bye. I'm going to bed." Ruby mumbled at him, tossing him the keys to the car and shuffling over towards the door.

Tony frowned at her, knowing that something was up. "Everything okay, Ruby?" He asked her in concern.

She nodded at him a little. "Yeah, fine. Been a long day, kind of exhausted and really, really, want to get some sleep."

He looked at her with slightly wide eyes. "You actually want to get some sleep? You're admitting to being exhausted?" Her father asked, getting up from where he was sitting and striding over to her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"The whole day has just knocked me out, dad. I guess the fresh air and change of scene has helped with that." Ruby told him, hoping that he would believe her. "I just want to curl up in bed and sleep for a week."

At first, Tony wasn't so sure of her reasoning, but the moment she rubbed her eyes and tried to hide a yawn, he knew she was telling him the truth. "Okay, honey. Have you had much to eat today?" He asked, wondering if he was going to have to get Happy to go out for food or order something in for them.

"I stopped for something on the way home, so I'm good." She told him, rubbing her eyes a little more. She was just in pain and wanted nothing more than to lay down on her bed. "Can I go to bed now?"

"Of course you can, honey." Tony replied, surprising his daughter by giving her a hug and kissing the top of her head. "I hope you sleep okay, but you know where I am if you need me."

Ruby nodded at him, after having hugged her father back. "Sure, thanks dad. Night." She mumbled at him, getting him to let her go so that she could stumble over to the glass doors and drag herself up the stairs.

By the time she made it to her bed, she was already half asleep. At one point she didn't think she was going to make it at all, and that she would end up just passing out where she stood. But in the end she had managed it, and the moment her head hit the pillow she was out like a light. Her training with Natasha had killed every muscle in her body, and Ruby knew it was going to take a while before the exhaustion and pain would lessen. At least she had something else to focus on, a way for her to find some control over how she was feeling. She had her family of spies and assassins still watching over her after all those years and everything she had done.

A/N: I was starting to miss Romanoff, so I thought this was a fun way to get her and Ruby together for a little. We will be getting through the bulk of the movie quickly, I hope. There are a few things I still need to figure out in my head and so on, but we are definitely going to be flying through this soon.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who has hit favourite/follow, I'm glad you liked my writing. And for those select few who have taken the time to review, thank you so much! You guys are awesome, and I love reading your reviews.

Well, that's all for now, until next time!

Pippa.