The Unknown Variable

(Edited as of 1/16/14 by Espacole)

Disney/Marvel owns everything from that universe, and Jk owns her own. I own my own universe, but most of you have yet to see it.

"Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety. If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." Tony said, he stood in the middle of the test mat once again.

He had both the boots and stabilizers on, both where connected to his Reactor, a strap when across one shoulder and under the other arm, connecting and protecting the wires. Tony looked exhausted.

In the past few weeks Tony and I fell back into a routine. I would ether sleep in Malibu or New Mexico, but either way, I made sure I was seen every morning by the camera's, and when Tony was otherwise occupied I went back to my house and worked on my dissertations in front of the living room camera. I was also careful to let random people in town see me every other day or so.

I spent most of my time in Malibu, ether helping Tony with the boots and stabilizers, or tinkering with the project I came up with for my Electric Engineering dissertation.

I was making small projector's that could be placed in strategic places to create fully colored realistic holograms.

Not only would the small Holo-balls (as I called them) be able to give me a bit more freedom with the bugs in the house, but they also would be a step forward in Hologram technology.

I actually got the idea when Tony was remolding the flight stabilizers on the hologram table, while Jarvis talked. More specifically, the AI and the Holograms gave me the idea.

Tony had made me more little Palladium balls, that way I could fry people, or things, without the whole… 'There's a bolt of lightning' thing. They were also easier to control and use.

Tony had made a six foot bulls-eye for me to practice my aim on. It was fun.

"All right, nice and easy." Tony said, looking right into the camera. I was standing behind U, who was on camera duty again; we decided that just in case someone got a hold of the footage, it would be best if I wasn't in it.

I shot Tony a grin, stifling giggles, and gave him a thumbs up. He gave me a small smile in return. Seriously, Tony going nice and easy? Not likely.

Sadly, since I had moved to New Mexico, our bonding time had gone down. We still got along, and stuff but… I don't know. It seemed as if Tony was being more distance.

On the other hand, Death finally showed back up. He now showed up any time I was alone. I had ordered a sign language handbook on the computer, and had it ordered to my house. I was slowly learning the language; and so was Death. We could finally have a two way conversation that didn't rely on facial expressions and hand jesters.

Tony must have sensed my lack of belief because he said, "Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity."

Huh, he was being serious. 'Good job Dad,' I thought a small smile on my face.

Tony took a deep breath, his knees were bent slightly, and his feet were spread apart. Tony had his arms slightly out to the sides, like when someone is trying to keep their balance.

"And three, two, one." Tony said, and the repulsors flared to life. Thankfully, while tony was thrown unstably into the air, the blast was nowhere near as bad as the previous ones and he quickly stabilized a few feet off the ground.

Tony floated around on the map, getting the hang of it for a minute before putting the power and landing on the ground. He stumbled a bit, but otherwise it was a much better outcome then the previous ones.

"Okay," He said, shooting me a smile before turning back to his task at hand. He looked over to Dummy, who was following him intently with the extinguisher. "Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously."

Tony scolded the robot, who hung his arm sadly. "Just stand down! If something happens, then come in."

Tony walked back over to the middle of the mad and said, "And again, let's bring it up to 2.5."

"Three, two, one."

This time, Tony was a bit more stable in the air, and much more mobile. He had quickly flown away from the mat, and across his lad. Turning so he didn't hit the wall, Tony ended up flying over his cars.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to me!" he cried out, in light panic.

He flew over the first car, a white one and cried, "Not the car, not the car!" Tony flew over every single one of his cars, roughing up the paint jobs and possibly denting them.

"Table!" Tony stated fearfully as he hovered over his desk, sending papers flying everywhere. Finally getting sick of ruining his lab, Tony put his arms out in front of him causing him to fly in reverse.

He managed to get back over the testing pad as he reassured the Bots…and me, "Could be worse! Could be worse! We're fine! Okay."

Tony said, as he straightened his arms and legs, causing him to remain in place for a moment before he cut the power.

He stumbled once again on the landing, and looked a little green, but was otherwise alright.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

Tony looked over at Dummy who was raising the extinguisher, and we both cried, "No!"

Causing the bot to hang his arm in a very pout like state. I found it completely adorable.

"Yeah," Tony said, with a small smile on his face, "I can fly."

"Just make sure you're here by seven, alright?" Tony said, I was about to Zap back. Someone had dropped a letter off, after the mailman came, and I was curious.

"I'll be here Dad. I probably won't even be gone an hour." I told him, and tried to hold back a blush. I had been slipping more and more recently. I called him down more than I called him Tony.

Tony noticed my blush and put both of his hands on my shoulders, "Hey," He said, causing me to look at him. "You can call me Dad…if you want." Tony told me awkwardly.

A smile appeared on my face and I threw my arms around him. He pat me on the head and I could feel the tension in the air.

"Thanks…Dad." I said, a shy smile on my face, as I pulled back.

A half grin appeared on his face as he said, "Well, it'll defiantly take some getting used to…but I like it."

I grinned once again as I opened the secret door, "Just remember…" Tony shouted.

"Seven, I know!" I called back as I charged up my sparks. At seven the Mark Two armor would be done, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

My sparks danced around me as I touched the metal pole, and shot off across the sky.

I landed in my office just fine, an after a moment of checking on some programs I had running through SHIELD, it wasn't anything important. I was just keeping an eye out on anything that could concern myself or Tony. I walked out to my mailbox, waved to my neighbor who was watering her small garden and reentered the house.

'Really? Who tries to have a garden in the middle of a desert?' I wondered.

The random letter was actually an invitation to 'accompany' the local scientists when they presented their most recent finds to a group of investors.

But it wasn't for another six months.

'Why send this now?' I wondered as I refolded the letter and placed it on the kitchen counter. I grabbed a glass of water before heading back to my office.

It was six thirty; I didn't want to be late.

As I charged up the sparks underneath my skylight, I saw clouds gathering. Not wanting my laptop to get wet, I set an automatic timer to close the skylight after I left.

Soon, I shot into the sky. Zapping was a strange experience. It felt as if every part of my body was getting electrocuted…but it didn't hurt. I couldn't really see anything, it was mostly instantaneous. At one spot one second, a half of a second experiencing something that felt like an electric high, and then someplace else the next second.

That was how I knew something was wrong. The high lasted longer, it intensified, and then, I solidified as my body could no longer control the energy.

I gasped as large grey clouds appeared around me, flashing with lighting. The sky was filled with thunder; it was so loud my head throbbed.

Wind whipped against my face, and it wasn't until I spotted the approaching tree tops that I realized that I was falling. Hundreds of thousands of feet, I tried to pull my electricity back to me, to Zap someplace, but the air was so heavily charged, I could concentrate enough to get a location in my mind.

I felt as if I was falling, but my sparks felt as if they were drunk. They defied me, as I tried to call to them. They had a mind of their own now.

I closed my eyes and panic flooded me as darkness crept at the edge of my vision. Suddenly, I felt Deaths cold hand on my shoulder, but before I could even register that Death was there. Something slammed into me from the side, not the bottom, the side. In the middle of the air. Not normal. My eyes opened as I felt Death's hand being pulled off of me. My eye brows knitted together as all I saw was green.

I could still tell we, whatever was holding me, were still falling. There was a loud explosion as we impacted, my head jerked back. I saw the blue sky for a moment before my vision went black.

"Never…Zappin' into a thunder storm again." I heard myself mutter as my brain turned off.

A bit shorter than normal, but hey! Interesting ending huh? For some reason I don't feel like this chapter is up to par… could be that I'm just in the mood because my phone was taken but hey… oh well.

Thanks for Beta'ing Espacole, and every other wonderful person out there:)
Cp