Funny thing about this chapter, it started out as several different drafts of the introduction of this same chapter which I just edited and arranged in chronological order. Haha.
Anyways, this is essentially filler. I just wanted some extra stuff so that in case it wasn't agonizingly obvious, Minnie and Peter and are like totally best friends. lol. Next chapter is definitely Hogwarts, I swear! And it's nearly halfway written, hopefully it'll be up soon-ish!
Chapter 5: Princess for a Day
A few days later
"Anthony Stark, what the hell happened? I visit the base for two days, and by the time I get back you've been labeled world's worst Dad! What did you do?"
"Oh calm down, I didn't do anything."
"Oh really, then what is this about losing your daughter? Why did you take her to Oscorp in the first place?"
"First of all, I didn't lose her, she was obviously kidnapped. Second of all you know how she gets. She wasn't going to just let me /not/ take her. I had no clue that some asshole was gonna try to snatch her.
"Dad?" a curious voice.
"Baby doll? I'm in here," Tony called, hearing Hermione walk closer to the living room.
"Uncle Rhodey!" she shrieked, jumping on his friend.
The black man caught her easily, ruffling her already unruly hair.
"You just came from the base right? Did you shoot anybody? Is your boss still an asshole?"
"Woah woah woah, language young lady!"
She gave him a disbelieving look.
"Daddy, you said it first."
"No excuses!" he said! A mock outraged look on his face.
She giggled as Rhodey set her down.
"No kid, I'm not on the front lines any more. I know how you feel about hurting people."
He said, and her face lit up.
Maybe Daddy will learn from you and stop making missiles," she said, sending a sideways glance at her father.
"Hey! Those missiles keep a roof over your head!"
"Yeah, a reinforced glass roof that is virtually indestructible and cost eighty grand," she mocked, shaking her head.
"You weren't complaining when you picked it."
"Because it's eco friendly and provides an energy source for my solar powered computer," she argued.
"Oh yeah? Well the only reason it needs that much power is to stop it from crashing every time you touch it," he said, grinning.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
He smiled and pinched her cheek.
Rhodey groaned.
"I always knew I'd die surrounded by nerds."
"Don't be so melodramatic, Uncle," Hermione said, the same time Tony said "You know you love us."
"Whatever," he muttered.
"So kiddo, other than getting snatched up off the streets did you like the Big Apple?" She nodded, a big grin on her face.
"I have a new best friend Uncle Rhodey. His name's Peter. He's a boy scout."
Rhodey gave Tony a look, and he shrugged.
"You remember Richard Parker? Well Peter's his son."
"Yeah, Dad, I think I wanna hire Petey when I grow up. That way I can work with my best friend, like you and Pepper," she said, smiling at the idea. Rhodey snorted, and Tony choked.
"Oh, no no no, you can't be like me and Pepper, ever. You're not even allowed to talk to boys unless their Me, Uncle Rhodey or Mr. Happy," he said, looking more than a little ridiculous.
"Uncle Rhodey, what is he talking about?"
"He's telling you to stay away from boys," the Colonel said with amusement.
"Oh! Daddy, don't worry about that. Boys are weird. But since you mentioned it, doesn't that mean that Pepper should stay away from you?
Tony spluttered, his face turning red, before turning on his heel and stalking out, probably in the direction of the lab.
She looked up at Rhodey, who was snickering.
"He always does that. Anyways, since you can drive and I can't, can we get Ice cream?"
"Sure Minnie, let me get my jacket."
Some months later
"Minnie! Breakfast!" Pepper called, setting a plate of pancakes on the counter, while Tony nursed a tall black coffee, dark, tired bags under his eyes.
She watched in amusement as the man's face started brightening as soon as he heard little Minnie racing towards the smell of Pepper's "Zillion Dollar Pancakes". Ten year old Minnie skidded to a stop just in front of the table and sat next to her Daddy, a contagious grin on her face as she sat down.
"G'Morning!" She just barely greeted before digging in, munching happily. Tony chuckled.
Pepper rolled her eyes.
"Good to see you're back from the dead. I told you not to stay up so late."
Tony snorted. "If you'd been revolutionizing the field of artificial intelligence, you'd be too excited to sleep too.
If possible, Hermione's eyes lit up even brighter than before.
"What'd you make Daddy? Can I see it? Can I?!" she asked, ignoring the look Pepper gave her for talking with her mouth full.
Tony smirked knowingly, and said, "Say hello J.A.R.V.I.S.," for apparently no reason at all.
Both girls looked utterly confused, until a display on the counter, formerly unnoticed, lit up, and a computerized yet decidedly British voice answered back.
"Good Morning Sir, Miss Potts, Miss Stark."
Minnie squealed with excitement.
"Do you have facial recognition, or do you recognize our voices?
"How many languages are you capable of understanding?
"What's JARVIS stand for?"
"Do you have access to the security systems-"
"Minnie, calm down will you? J.A.R.V.I.S. is still acclimating to the system, you'll overwhelm him if you give him too much information to-"
"Both. All of them. Just A Really Very Intelligent System. And yes. Speaking of which, Col. Rhodes is approaching the front door."
"-process." Tony finished, an amused annoyance on his face when Minnie smirked at him, before turning and sprinting towards the door.
"Uncle Rhodey!"
"Hey, kiddo, how's it going?"
Pepper doubted he understood her squeaking.
Tony's best friend walked into the kitchen with Minnie hanging off of him like a monkey.
"Hey guys. What's all the excitement about?"
Tony shrugged.
"New computer."
JARVIS made a sound like a snort.
"Oh yes, simply a computer that can operate your entire laboratory without a single command if necessary, and also balance your checkbook in the background."
Hermione squealed again.
"Oh my gosh did you hear that?! He can use sarcasm!"
She squealed.
TSE
Hermione waded through the crowd of paparazzi that had gathered upon seeing her and her Dad at the airport, ignoring the constant questions.
Daddy had told her that her surprise was waiting at Terminal A, and she couldn't decide if he was getting a pony, or if
"Uncle Ben! Petey!" Hermione squealed, nearly tackling the both of them.
Peter's hair was longer, and a bit darker, and he was taller than the last time she'd seen him, but even scrawnier, she realized with a snort.
"You came! I knew it! You're gonna be at my party!"
Peter grabbed her flailing arms and put them back to her sides, before hugging her back.
"This is going to be awesome!"
"You're kidding-"
"No, I'm not! Dad made a fully functioning A.I. in two days! He even has human like speech patterns and recognizes and understands regional vernacular! He can use sarcasm!" She squealed, looking like she might pass out from the excitement.
"Well? What is he going to do with it? He could sell that anywhere- hospitals, the military, schools even. Your dad could make a lot of money off of that technology."
She shrugged.
"Oh, I dunno. He makes really great smoothies though."
Peter stared at her for a long moment.
"Your Dad monopolized an entire branch of computer science. Again. And he's using it to make smoothies."
She considered that for a long moment, about to make an argument in her Dad's favor, then realized how silly it was and burst out laughing.
The Next Morning
Hermione watched with destructive fascination as the concoction in the beaker changed colors rapidly, bubbling over with a hot glow that reminded her of lava. She remained unmoved, sitting cross-legged on the countertop even as the acid dripped on to the lab table and immediately set to work eating straight through it.
It was only when heard an exasperated sigh that she looked up and grinned at her Daddy.
"You know, when I told you that this alloy was impervious to acid erosion, that wasn't a challenge," he said, watching with vaguely impressed disappointment as his hard work literally disintegrated in front of him.
"What that anyways?" he asked, not entirely sure he wanted know.
She scratched her head..
"Uhm…, I actually don't know. I think I just discovered a new isotope.
He rolled his eyes.
"J.A.R.V.I.S," he called.
"I'll take care of it immediately, Sir," the A.I. replied, his electronic voice sounding somewhat amused, as a mechanical arm pulled the ruined countertop out of place and took it to Chemical Hazard Disposal."
"Thanks," Tony said, glancing at Minnie pointedly.
She giggled, not the slightest bit remorseful.
It had become a game of sorts. Tony would build something, proclaim it Minnie-proof and feel proud of himself for all of two days before the kid found a way to destroy it all over again.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Not that he minded, really. Hermione used a level of creativity and competence he couldn't help but be proud of, regardless of what she used that creativity for. Besides, his inventions had benefited from a serious increase in quality and durability. Provided they were used outside the Stark House, of course. She'd also learned an extreme amount of control on her…powers, if Wanda was to be believed. She of course, rarely actually exercised this control, if the massive outputs of industrial waste his lab produced was any indication
Still, he could now trust her to actually be able to use her equipment, without destroying anything accidentally.
But the mischievous way she was eyeing the mechanical arm J.A.R.V.I.S had used brought him back to the real problem.
He couldn't trust her not to break anything on purpose.
He grinned at the thought.
'Daddy's little girl," he mused, his smirk matching hers.
"For the love of God, please tell me you all went to bed at some point last night," Pepper said, her voice amused but tired.
She grinned with false innocence up at her, before she noticed her Uncle standing beside her, and leaped off of her seat to nearly tackle him.
"Uncle Rhodey you're back!"
"Hey, kiddo, how's it going?" He asked, picking her up effortlessly and hugging her.
Pepper doubted he understood her shrill explanation. .
"Hey Tony, what's going on now?"
Tony shrugged.
"She just melted through adamantium plated steel," he said, deadpan, his eyes closed in some deep concentration.
Rhodey just shook his head. He'd grown used to this. Between Tony and Minnie, one of the Starks was always rambling about some scientific advance that he didn't really get.
He shook his head.
"Hey kiddo, where's your friend?"
"Petey? Oh, uh, about that-"
"Minnie! Is this the Sonic Screwdriver you were talking about?" The boy appeared in the doorway, looking very sheepish when he realized that the adults had found them.
"Hi Mr. Stark, and Miss. Potts, and Mr. Rhodes," he said. Unlike Hermione, his upbringing had been comparatively normal, and his voice showed it. He definitely sounded like a kid in trouble.
"Peter wanted to go to bed at nine-"
"Oh, you mean like a normal kid?" Pepper said with amusement.
The girl rolled her eyes.
"Yes well, it's my birthday week, and there's just no way I could show him everything in the lab in just one day, and proved to him that it was way too exciting to go to sleep."
The adults present collectively sighed.
"Yeah yeah. Alright Mini Me, Peter, go ask J.A.R.V.I.S. for breakfast, we've got big plans for today.
"Are we talking "Stark Industries big plans or we're going somewhere fun big plans?"
He thought about it for a moment.
She watched him expectantly.
"Definitely somewhere fun."
"Okay!" She grinned, showing her missing front tooth before she ran off, dragging a just as excited Peter Parker behind her.
Pepper looked between the two men curiously.
"Do I even want to know where you're taking those kids?"
Tony grinned.
"Shhh, you'll spoil the surprise!"
TSE
Disneyland was one of those places that you'd hard pressed not to enjoy, no matter who you are. So the group consisting of Playboy-Billionaire Tony Stark, Hardened Military man James Rhodes, no nonsense Assistant/Girlfriend Pepper Potts and two 9 year olds were having the time of their lives; even if the kids where hyper beyond all reason, the various rides were making Pepper nervous and Tony's techno-babble about why the rides were perfectly safe wasn't helping at all. Even if the crowd of people watching their every move was getting damn near stifling. The place was called the Happiest Place on Earth for a damn good reason. And that reason was, if you could watch a pair of almost annoyingly cute kids having the best moments of their lives and not smile, you probably shouldn't be there in the first place.
The best moment, in Tony's opinion, was when they stopped for a break just outside of Cinderella's castle, and ran into the employee wearing the Minnie Mouse costume.
"I hear your name is Princess Minnie," the actor said cheerfully, and Tony would've rolled his eyes if the look on his daughter's face wasn't the best thing he'd seen all day.
She looked so damn happy that he took the camera from Pepper and took twenty pictures of the moment himself.
Of course, she got pretty tired of being called "Minnie Mouse" all the rest of the day.
It took all of their concentration to keep the kids awake long enough to get home, because they were far from done, not that you could tell from the look of them. Poor Peter was out cold, and Minnie's excited rambling was making a lot less sense than it usually did.
So Tony did the only thing he could think of. He waited until Pepper wasn't looking, and did the unthinkable.
He gave them candy.
By the time they got to the Malibu house, the adults were just shy of being forced to put the hyperactive little monsters on leashes…possibly muzzles too, and Tony definitely in the dog house.
"Go on inside kids," Pepper ordered, giving Tony a look that promised shouting.
"We'll catch up."
So Peter and Minnie skipped up the steps, and J.A.R.V.I.S. let them inside.
"Surprise!"
From a glance around the room she saw Grandpa, Uncle Kurt, Aunty Roro Uncle Hank, Jean, Scott, and Logan; Uncle Reid and Aunt Susan, Ben and Johnny, Wanda, Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Bruce! She hadn't seen them all in one place in…ever, because they were always off doing missions or working, or in Uncle Bruce's case, hiding.
"Yes yes yes yes yes! Best birthday ever!" She squealed, practically running around in circles, while Peter tried to make sense of the bizarre group in front of him.
And that was when Peter found out that Hermione Stark didn't just have an odd family. She had a family of freaking superheroes.
Hooray! It's done! Finished all in one day! For you guys! You'd better be bloody grateful! Goodness! XD
Haha, in all seriousness though, I'm terribly sorry for taking so flipping long, especially for chapters that ended up pretty danged rushed.
Anyways, on the bright side, Hermione definitely gets her Hogwarts letter next chapter, so that's something to be excited for, right? Yes!
Alright, quickie guessing game-
Who's Auntie Roro? That nick name is so funny to me for some reason. XD
Anyways yah. Also in the last few chapters I made a couple references and I wanted to warn you guys- I don't necessary follow everything I make a reference to, I just do it for the lolz. So If you come to me saying "Eff yes, Star Trek! Don't you just love (blank)?" The answer is no, cause I don't actually follow Star Trek. Or Pokemon. Doctor Who I do know and love actually, but still, you get the picture. Sorry. But if you've got a fandom that you think I should mention, go ahead! I'm game!
Til next time!