Second Chapter. Letting you all out of misery. Sorry about that.

Sarah fidgeted as she sat next to her mother at the table. The clothes she had chosen – a lilac silk top and dress pants – were not her usual attire, and when she had come down the stairs in nice jeans and a jacket, her mother had sent her back up to change. When Sarah arrived, she realised why. And now, sitting at an elaborate antique table with ornate china in front of her and a colossal chandelier above her, she couldn't have felt more out of place.

In the car ride to the dinner, her mother had filled her in on most of the itinerary. When she had moved from Australia, a government agency had picked her up. Being a world-renowned free-lance detective with a serious resume to boot, the jobs came thick and fast. But apparently, this one was a big one. Titanic proportions, was what her mother quoted. And the 'please, honey, let me do the talking' was quick to follow.

But when her mother shook hands with the host, Sarah was more than willing to keep her mouth shut and be a picturesque child.

That was when her mother shook hands with Nick Fury, head of SHIELD.

Sitting at the table eating quail and multiple vegetables that she couldn't name, listening to her mother chatting to Fury about foreign affairs and past cases; yeah, it was challenging for her not to excuse herself and have a panic attack in the (probably) gorgeous bathroom that this mansion held. Finishing the quail breast, she realised that the talk about the past cases had stopped, and the serious business was underway.

"I'm not going to lie to you." Fury placed his cutlery on the plate and thanked the waiter that took it away. "We're stuck. SHIELD is a corporation where we don't usually go looking for help from the outside. We have too much information that we need to keep in." Leilani smiled.

"I understand completely. Confidentiality is vital."

"That's why we've hired you. With your past experience and reputation, we're relying on you. It would be safe to say that security of America is resting in your hands." Sarah stiffened. Her mother had been one of the people to take down past security threats, but this sounded a tad more serious.

"That is a huge compliment, and I thank you."

"We thank you for your time." Fury and Leilani stood, and Sarah followed suit. Shaking hands, the two agents said their goodbyes and a butler ushered Sarah and Leilani out of the mansion and to their car.

The ride home was excruciatingly painful. Sarah knew that her mother was not going to tell her, even if she asked, and so it was either ignore it or spy. And the spying didn't work out that well last time.

"Sooo…" Sarah dragged the word out.

"Sooo… no."

"Damn. Really? Just a hint?"

"Nope." Sarah sighed. Her mother was good, she gave her that. Reaching the house, Leilani unlocked the door and let them in. Saying goodnight to her mother, Sarah made her way up to her room. The welcoming sight of her photos and the comfy bed made her want to fall in and go straight to sleep, but the flashing from her phone gave her a good idea that she would regret leaving it until the morning. Picking it up, she grimaced at what she saw.

Messages:

54 messages received from Pepper.

1 message received from Unknown.

The fifty four messages she would deal with later, it was the one message from the Unknown that she had a look at.

Hey Sarah, it's Tony. Pepper was determined to get in contact with you, so she made me text you. Hope you make it out from under the massive stack sent from Pepper :)

Sarah was one of the first to arrive to school the next morning. She sat down in the Physics classroom and pulled out her notebook. Along with her photography, engineering was her other love. Having a mother that was an Oxford graduate set high expectations. But she didn't inherit the engineering from her. No, the engineering came from her father. The man that had broken down to tiny pieces and to pick himself back up had turned to alcohol.

The door flung open, making Sarah jump, but it was just Gene, one of the people that she had met the day before on the rooftop. He raised his eyebrows at her, and so she gave him a glare and went back to her notebook.

"Hey." Slamming her notebook closed, she glared up at him as he took a seat on the table across from the one that she was sitting at.

"Hi." Slipping the notebook back into her bag, she pulled out her textbooks and the notebook that contained all her previous notes from her class back in Australia. "What is it that we're doing at the moment?" He, again, raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged.

"I wouldn't have a clue. Last time Tony was going over some gismo that he designed." Then, from the hallway, she could hear people coming closer to the room. She could easily make out Pepper, and from there she guessed that the people with her were Tony and Rhodey.

"C'mon guys, she didn't text me back! What if she got kidnapped or something? What about if her mother is actually a spy in disguise and has been kidnapped by, oh I dunno, the Mandarin?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gene stiffen at the mention of the Mandarin, and before she could register that this was probably something wrong, being the daughter of a detective and all, Pepper had entered the room, seen Sarah seated at the table and ran, literally, over to where she was, take the seat next to her and start talking.

"Hi! Why didn't you answer my texts? Why didn't you answer the one I made the others send to you as well?" Sarah assumed that Rhodey had ignored Pepper's request, and she gave him eyes over Pepper's shoulder. Rhodey gave her eyes back and shrugged. Sarah smiled at his response and turned back to Pepper.

"Hi to you too. Well, I went out to dinner with Mum, so I couldn't reply to your texts and by the time I got home it was too late."

"It's never too late."

"Debatable." She saw Tony and Rhodey smirking at how she was handling Pepper as they took their seats on the table to the right.

"Whatever. Who did your mum go out to dinner with?" As she blabbered on to Sarah, the teacher walked in and saw her blabbing on as well.

"Miss Potts, I don't want to have to deal with you talking to..?"

"Sarah Marley".

"Oh that's right. New?" Sarah nodded. "Miss Potts, I don't want to have to deal with you talking continuously. I would like to run a class without interruption. So please, swap places with Mr Stark." Pepper went into argument mode, but there was nothing she could do. Grumbling, she swapped places with Tony.

"Okay. So, Mr Stark, would you kindly continue your explanation from last lesson?" Tony stood up and the teacher moved to the back of the class. Detailed diagrams filled the boards, and everyone in the class was asleep by the time he finished explaining his diagrams.

"This is the repulse technology that I designed, it cuts through the ground like a laser, if you wish to call it, and it can be modified for flight. But I just can't figure out the supersonic levelling…"

Tony fiddled with his diagram, and Sarah realised that this lecture was no more than time for Tony to design this invention and perfect it. Taking to her feet, she moved to the boards and took the pen from Tony.

Tony looked at Sarah as she took the pen from him and observed his design. Was it possible that she even knew what he was talking about, or was she way over her head? Most of the class was asleep, but he didn't really care.

Sarah observed and commented.

"Have you tried doubling back the rotations through the core on the repulses, then modifying the core shaft to increase electron movement, and through doing that also increasing the proportion of power to the stabilisers?". The look on Tony's face was priceless.

Tony could only stare. She knew what she was talking about. And as the words made it to his head, he realised that everything she had just said could and may work.

"Oh, and if the maths is correct, which..." she grimaced "...most of the time it is, that should work for the amount of power that you're getting to those repulsers." He nodded.

"Your right."

Then continued to stare at her.

"What?"

"I…am amazed."

"Well, going by your look, I'm not surprised."

"Where the hell did you learn all that?"

"You're not the only child protégée in the world, Tony. I'm an engineer." He went to say something but words failed him. Looking like a goldfish, he gulped for air as the bell went. Sarah smiled and gave him back the pen. She grabbed her books and walked out of the classroom.

"Sarah!" She paused in the doorway and turned to look at him. "You'll sit with us at lunch?"

Sarah felt pulled in two directions. She wanted to run away and hide, since last time she ever told anyone about her engineering she was nearly kidnapped by terrorists (her mother had pulled a few strings and led the rescue mission herself). But then again, she was standing in front of the one teenager that would be able to understand her in the whole world.

"Okay. But, please, no mention of the engineering. The only reason I said anything is because they're all asleep."

Tony nodded and watched her walk away. Pepper and Rhodey made their way to him with questioning looks. Before Pepper could say anything, he answered the unspoken question.

"Don't panic Pepper, she'll sit with us at lunch again, I made sure of that. And, well, I could see how enthusiastic you both are when it comes to my designs." He smirked and grabbed his books, and the three of them moved to their next class.

So, how was that? Some of you may be thinking you've made her to awesome, she's too mary sue. But, what's the fun in having a boring character. Don't worry. She'll have faults, and so will Tony. So, no Mary sue-ing.

Your reviews, watches, fav stories; they all made my day. I apologise for the long time before updating. I get inspiration in the shower at 10 at night.

Review! :)

PS – The random science talk, I made up on the spot. If it doesn't make sense, that is why. It's fictional. Please, no flames because I broke something like Newtons First Law or whatever.