A/N - Here is the next chapter. I took a few liberties with cannon, but nothing all to jarring I don't think. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer - I OWE NOTHING! Ain't it sad.

Please Review.

Chapter Two:

Does It Come As A Surprise

For almost a month after her honorary Uncle's miraculous return from the dead where uneventful for Nariah Stane. She spent the seven days in a haze of yoga pants shirts that where so large they hung off of her shoulders and high ponytails with her bangs pinned back to avoid their interference with her work.

Sure her tutor was getting more intolerant of her distracted and often times disruptive behavior (Something Nariah couldn't understand, how could she be disruptive, she was the only student) and sure her grandfather was practically missing for the entire month but she never really noted either of these things anyway. Her tutor, for the most part, always where annoyed with her disdain in conventional learning and disinterest when they taught things she already knew and or when they took longer than necessary on a topic. (Really when was Mr. Greer going to learn, She had a thirst for knowledge after all, not a thirst for review.) Her grandfather was the right hand man to the ever distant, and recently even more so, C.E.O. of Stark Industries. Him spending most of his time in New York rather than Malibu was nothing new. In fact it was almost common place.

The only person who seemed to care that Nariah spent most of her time cooped up in the mansion was Sherman. In fact he spent almost the entire month attempting to get her out of the house, even if it was just to go on a drive. The girl didn't seem to budge though. Whatever she was working on had her undivided attention; he barely got her to eat a protein bar at every meal at this point. Almost a week into her newest mood Tony Stark had waltzed into the mansion bypassing security and holding a box of some foul smelling food he nodded to Sherman and threw open the door and began to talk half of his sentences nagging on her not answering his texts and or calls and the other half exclaiming that Nariah needed to eat Cioppino with him for lunch. Not that either Genius knew what exactly Cioppino was until they tried it.

Sherman had left his post then giving the two some privacy and general space. Something he knew both must be hard pressed for since the press conference. In the end Tony was only there for an hour before Pepper noticed he was missing and began to call out the troops. Tony in turn had practically begged Nariah to come and see what he was doing but the small blonde just shook her head saying how if she did she would miss some big lesson she had been waiting weeks for.

It was a weak excuse but after a few minutes and all his usual tricks Tony just nodded and pulled the girl into a hug promising 'later'. The fact the Billonare left that day without Nariah in toe only rooted Sherman more to the idea that something was wrong with Nariah. Sure she had never been the most sociable of people.

There was no protocol for moody geniuses, their P.A was supposed to be the one to keep them involved in the world rather than their work but Mrs. Williams, as always, took Nariah's inverted personality is stride spending her day doing busy work that somehow always had her ending up at Stark Industries and, if one asked for Nariah's input, into the bed of one Thomas Mann the head security guard at Stark Industries.

"Mr. Sherman please tell me Nariah is prepared," A woman Sherman had never met before walked up, high heels clanking and dress shorter and slimmer than strictly professional.

"Prepared for what?" He asked for clarification.

"Mr. Stane lands in twenty minutes. His driver is here to take her to the airfield now. Mrs. Williams assured me she would be ready ten minutes ago." Sherman frowned and crossed his arms over his chest before his hand swung down to knock on the door he had been approaching before being interrupted. He tapped out three beats to let Nariah know of the situation. In his long history with the girl the two developed a language of knocks and other universal gestures so they were able to communicate without actually talking.

"Miss. Stane is unauthorized to ride with any driver other than Mr. Stane, Mr. Stark, and myself after the crash two years ago." He said his gaze lowering on the woman.

"Mrs. Williams said you were busy." The woman supplied as answer to the unasked question.

"Well, I have cleared my shedual. We will be leaving in the next few moments. She will be at the airfield before Mr. Stane lands. Have a nice evening." He said with a smile before nodding to tell the woman she needed to leave. Turning around he punched in his key code to open Nariah's bedroom door.

Noise ruffling from the closet told him that she was preparing. Not a minute later Nariah appeared in tights and a long black coat two inch heels in her hand and bag twisted over her shoulder. Sherman knew that Nariah was probably only dressed in a camisole and spank shorts rather than an actual dress. With the spotty work of Mrs. Williams this was not an unprecedented situation. As such they had emergency dresses in the car for that reason. Taking her hand to allow her to step into the shoes the two began their decent into the garage moving quickly As Nariah held to the left railing of the stairs and Sherman the right his other hand securing that Nariah did not fall.

"Did Mrs. Williams even say anything?" Nariah asked as her foot slipped and Sherman tighted his hand around her waist to keep her upright.

"Not that I recall Miss. Stane." He said as the two continued down. Nodding to the woman who had informed him earlier Nolan moved to the car he knew Mr. Stane preferred and opened the back door.

"Pink aline is in the Jag," Nariah said as she climbed into the car. After shutting the door Sherman moved to retrieve the wanted dress before slipping into the driver's seat and handing the black dress bag back.

"We are going to take the back roads, it will get us to the air field quicker, can you change in the vehicle or do I need to find a secure place to stop?"

"Vehicle will be fine Sherman," She said as she shed her coat revealing the camisole tank and spanks Sherman knew she wore. Averting his eyes he drove though the city streets illuminated only by moon light and traffic lights. Slipping into the dress quickly she began to fix her hair before pulling a ribbon out of her small cinch bag and tying up the high bun.

"Good?" she asked.

"Beautiful, Miss. Stane," He said as he pulled into the air field. Exiting the car he pulled open Nariah's door so she could step on to the gravel air field. The ride took them about seventeen minutes so they both turned their eyes to the sky awaiting the plane. Having fallen into silence Sherman leaned over so he would not have to raise his voice much above a whisper to be heard and inclined his head slightly toward the girl. This was a pastime of theirs, the partaking in odd and completely irrational childish joking.

"What do you call a cow with three legs?" he whispered.

"Do you have a website where you get these from?" Nariah whispered back.

"Lean beef," Nariah stifled a laugh. "What do you call a cow with no legs?" He continued.

"I don't know Sherman ,"

"Ground Beef," Nariah bit her bottom lip as the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

"What do you call a dog with no legs?"

"A hotdog?" Nariah guessed a genuine smile spreading across her face.

"You can call it what every you want Miss. Stane, it is not going to come to you." He said and Nariah let out a few laughs hiding them by biting her bottom lip and resting her finger on her philthrum as the plane came in to view. The plane pulled on to the run way that ran parallel to where they stood. Nariah straightened her bag and turned to face Sherman.

"Sherman,"

"Yes Miss. Stane,"

"Thank you for always being there for me."

"It is my job Miss. Stane."

Stepping out of the plane with his jacket tucked under one arm Obadiah turned to find his granddaughter in the field. Taking that as her cue Nariah moved forward to give him a hug.

"How was the meeting Grandfather,"

"Disappointing, we will discuss it later though. When did you get so big?"

"Probably sometime in the last decade or so, I doubt I went through a growth spurt this week."

"Good flight sir," Sherman nodded to Obadiah who offered him a hand shake.

"As always, grab the pizza will you Sherman? We are already running late. I told Pepper we would be there twenty minutes ago." He said leading her to the car. Obadiah said with a smile before slipping into the back seat on the opposite side of Nariah who already took a seat.

"We are going to Uncle Tony's?" Nariah said her voice no more than a whisper as she avoided her Grandfather's gaze.

"I thought you would be happy. You love going to the Malibu house."

"I am excited," she lied. Sherman caught her eye from the front seat and offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile. The ride to Tony's Malibu home was not very long. Stepping out of the car Nariah was met with the arms of Pepper Potts.

"Nariah, how are you?" He asked wrapping her in a hug.

"Good Pepper," Nariah said.

"Obadiah how are you,"

"In good health," Pepper shook Obadiah's hand and lead them into the house. Nariah gave a small wave to Sherman as he winked back before returning to the car, "how was the meeting,"

"As good as we can expect, where is he?" Obadiah asked.

"Down stairs in the lab, I will call him." Pepper said moving to the nearest J.A.R.V.I.S pad.

"I will get him Pepper, no need." Nariah offered.

"Oh of course thank you Nariah."

"No problem," Nariah said, taking for the swirling staircase she used to slide down when she was younger. Coming up to the bottom of the stairwell she pulled up the key pad and typed in her code.

She was met with the image of Tony elbow deep in what looked like a arm prosthetic his back facing the door.

"Welcome back to Weapons,"

"Not a weapon, flight stabilizer. I am really glad you're here, Dum-E made the elbow joint and he got the bolt set a bit too tight, can you help me loosen it." He asked she smiled before grabbing a small oil can and a wrench. The oil can was more for fun than anything else but Tony seemed to understand the humor.

"Oil can" he said though clinched teeth.

"If you are tinman what does that make me?"

"An apple throwing tree? You do seem to revel in my agony." He said and she let out a small laugh. "So going to catch me up on what happened while I was gone."

"Not all that much, Grandfather ran the company, Pepper was a mess, Mrs. Williams was annoying and committing adultery all the while lecturing me on moral responsibility" She rambled on about the day to day going ons and Tony listened as Nariah began to attempt to loosen the bolt. It was a few minutes before she finished her ramblings.

"What about your tech, any new bots?" Tony asked with a smile.

"I finished my Titan design." She said offhandedly.

"That was the bunker buster wasn't it?" Tony clarified.

"No that was Tiny the Titan, the world's smallest bunker buster. Titan is the hover-bot landmine detector. In theory he is supposed to work with Aricknibot to scope and clear battle field areas."

"You have the oddest names for your inventions," Tony said with a laugh.

"And yours are predictable, Jericho really. 'March around the wall seven times and…" she began in a taunting tone.

"Hey, Dum-E, U, Butterfingers, and H.O.G.A.R.T.H are all great names."

"You created Dum-E, You, and Butterfingers as a teenager, they don't count. "

"Are you saying I lost my creativity, I will have you know Riah Rose, H.O.G.A.R.T.H is genius." He said.

"H.O.G.A.R.T.H came from a movie, it was my idea, and it never worked. Doesn't count Uncle Tony" She said setting down the wrench that was now hurting her hands before cracking her fingers and trying again.

"Yes he did," Tony said after a few moments of silence.

"What?"

"I got the H.O.G.A.R.T.H design to work, well kind of. At least the basis of H.O.G.A.R.T.H, Instead of an android I made it a suit but same basic concept."

"Wh…when?"

"In the cave,"

"How did you find a viable power source?"

"I didn't find one; I just redesigned an old one." He said tapping the glowing light in his chest with his free hand. Nariah looked up giving one last pull on the wrench, the bolt finally gave a bit and his arm flopped down the plasma beam misfiring and breaking the window making both of them jump.

"Holy shit," They both said.

"J.A.R.V.I.S reminds me to recalibrate motion sensor in right arm piece, Oh and Riah, Language."

"You are one to talk."

"Do as I say not as I do, isn't that the saying."

"Of hypocritical family members, sure is." She said before moving to get a better look at the light. "Never mind that what is this." She said her finger brushing against its surface.

"Arc Reactor,"

"But the Arc Reactor unfinished, it has only ever worked on a scale too large to run a suit. Miniaturizing it is practically impossible, I've run the numbers and…."

"Dying is a great motivator Ri,"

"Dying…." Her voice sounded so much smaller than Tony was strictly comfortable with. He tried to avoid her gaze but ended up giving in looking down at the blue orbs that seemed to scream the word terror.

"Shrapnel, when the bomb exploded it imbedded itself in my chest. Only some was removable. This connects to an electromagnet that keeps the shrapnel from going any deeper." He explained.

"Dying," She repeated in much the same tone her eyes trailing down and capturing the Arc.

"Riah Rose, You see this light it is keeping me alive. Get it," He asked taking the hand that was not connected to the arch and raising her chin with it. Her head raised but her eyes stayed trained on the arc. He sighed after a long moment. "You want to run specks don't you, check my math, You wont find anything I am always right."

"Hey that one time,"

"It was one time and I was dunk off my ass, angry, and well…. Never mind, look behind you." He said turning Nariah found the small arc Pepper had helped him replace.

"This is amazing,"

"Mark 1 of the Arc I finished that one in the cave. Changed it out for the Mark 2, Pepper asked if I wanted to keep It, I am not nostalgic but I figured you could get some use out of it. It is yours, well kind of, I don't know who to trust at Stark Industries right now and your house is usually flooded by employees so I am it is not leaving this lab, however, you can tinker with it all you want." Tony was right the Arc Reactor technology was always Nariah's favorite of all the projects Stark Industries created. Sure it was a little more than three decades older than her and since its original make had not led to any breakthroughs for the company. Still fusion energy was exceedingly interesting and Stark Industries and the Arc Reactor Tech was one of the first to actually work, and not only work but be efficient enough to create enough net energy to run the rest of the California offices. The problem, as Stark Industries saw it, was that the Arc was not cost effective. Understandable at its current size it really wasn't cost effective. But if one could make it smaller, if one could miniaturize it. It would be unbelievable.

"Miss. Potts approaches."

"Shit, help me out of this,"

"I should have known not to send you down here Nariah; you are as bad as Tony when I let you lose in the lab." Pepper said Nariah twisted using her body to cover the metal connected to Tony's arm. Her movement however was not fast enough as Pepper caught sight of it.

"I thought you were done making weapons," Pepper said her voice choked.

"Technically it's not a weapon. It's a flight stabilizer." He said moving around the arm which the stabilizer was attached to.

"Uncle Tony," Nariah moved to protest a second to late as another plasma blast emitted from the arm piece shattering the window. Pepper jump and cursed as well watching the window shatter her breathing became shallow as she tucked a now stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Recalibrate, I forgot about that." Tony murmered under his breath.

"Are you alright Ms. Pepper?" Nariah asked.

"Perfect Miss. Stane, Obadiah is up stairs, will that be all Mr. Stark,"

"That will be all Ms. Potts," He nodded as Pepper looked to Nariah before she turned. Nariah offered an apologetic smile before following Pepper upstairs. Tony came up a few minutes later and as always business talk ensued.

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it didn't go well." Obadiah said as his hands, that had been fluttering over the grand piano stopped and he raised to enter the family type room with the rest of them.

"It usually does," Nariah said.

"But not always, It would have been better if you were there Tony." Obadiah said to the billionaire who had already begun to eat the pizza. Nariah wondered how long it had been since Tony ate. He was known for forgetting to eat when working.

"Nuh –huh, you told me to lay low. I lay low you take care of the press. That is what I am doing,"

"In public Tony in the press. This was a board of directors meeting,"

"Was it really,"

"The board is filing an injunction,"

"A what,"

"The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress, they want to lock you out."

"Why because the stock dipped forty points, we knew that was going to happen."

"56 and a half," Pepper said.

"Stocks dropped 62 and a fourth after the Dubai house incident last year."

"Exactly and we recovered from that just fine."

"This isn't about the stock dip Tony,"

"It doesn't matter; we own the controlling interest in the company."

"The board has rights to. Tony, the board is making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

"I'm being responsible that is a new direction for me, for the company, I mean for me on the companies behalf being responsible. …" Tony floundered before he sighed. "You know what; I am going to go down to the shop, Coming Riah?" Tony said grabbing the pizza box and turning to go back down the stairs.

"Sure," shrugging Nariah got up to follow.

"Tony, why don't you let me take this in, have the scientists run some specks on it," Obadiah said pointing to the Arc.

"No, absolutely not"

"Come on, it will give me a bone to throw to the boys in New York,"

"No Obie this one says with me."

"Then these stay with me," Obadiah grabbed Nariah's arm and the pizza box from Tony's hand. Tony leveled Obadiah with a puppy dog face that usually saw the billionaire genius getting his way.

"Fine go on," Obadiah gave in pushing Nariah forward, " Here take a piece, go on take two." he offered the box. "mind if I come down and see what you are working on."

"Goodnight Obie,"

"Goodnight Grandfather."

A/N -

PLEASE REVIEW.