The morning light shone through the massive windows overlooking the ocean. Mira never liked being woken by an alarm clock, but she never liked to sleep in either. The house was run almost entirely by a computer known as Jarvis. Although Tony was the one who built him and controlled him, Mira had full control when it came to her bedroom. She had asked him not to black out the windows and to just let the morning sun wake her up. Jarvis is able to detect when she does finally emerge from her bed and normally tells her the weather.
Her light brown eyes flutter open. She pushes herself up and leans her head against the modern headboard of her bed.
"Good morning, Miss Stark."
She tried to run her fingers through her think hair, but they got got in the curls from last night. "Good morning, Jarvis. What's going on today?"
"Did you want to news or the weather?" The automated voice spoke with a deep British accent.
"You know I don't care much for the news. Too depressing. The weather please."
"The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. Just how you like it."
Mira cracked her back and stretched her spine. "Perfect weather."
"Would you like me to run the shower for you?"
"Are you saying I smell, Jarvis?"
"No, but your hair seems to be have a serious case of bedhead."
"Always with the sass, Jarvis." Mira swung her legs over the king size mattress and her feet lightly touched the low temperature hardwood floor.
"I was built by Mr. Stark."
"That you were, my good friend. That you were." Her feet began to carry her to the exit of her room.
"The shower, Miss Stark?"
She halted and thought for a moment. "Um, no. I'll wait until I get some breakfast and some coffee. Did you make any yet?"
"Miss Potts did upon her arrival."
Confused, Mira looked to the ceiling as if Jarvis was actually there. "Pepper's here already? Jarvis, what time is it?"
"It is currently 6:45 am, Ma'am."
"She's early," Mira said to herself. "Okay, well, it's not like she hasn't seen me in this before." She adjusted her tank top and pushed back her hair before leaving her bedroom.
Morning light shone all through the house and reflected off of the white interior. The modern home may seem like a maze to anyone that first enters it, but Mira has lived there almost her whole life. Tony only remodels every couple of years to keep up with the times, but the layout was always the same. Her room was at the far end and had its own bathroom and walk in closet attached. When she was younger, Tony had two playrooms put in to accommodate a child: one across the hall from her bedroom that is now her office and one in in Tony's office/garage and has since been taken down to make room for more cars.
The kitchen laid directly next to the living room which was near the middle of the house. It was everything you expected a modern kitchen to look in the 21st century with stainless steel appliances and a sandy colored granite counter top. More windows brought natural light in and made all the steel shine. The smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the air.
Mira opened the top left cabinet and reached inside. She pulled out a special mug Tony purchased for her about ten years ago after they had their first really big argument. He wanted to protect her from the world. Tony didn't want to see Mira end up like her mother. Mira wanted to go to a friend's house across town to work on a big project. Tony didn't know the friend nor did he know her parents. He ended up telling her 'no' to going over there. He was afraid, now that she was in high school, she would go out like her mother did. The next day, Tony learned she was telling the truth about the project and she failed because he didn't let her go. When she came home that day, Mira's face was a dark, intense shade of red. She blew up. She couldn't take how he was acting anymore. The two argued for twenty minutes before it hit, her biggest episode to date. She huffed and puffed until she stopped breathing all together. Her face changed from dark red to a grape colored purple. Without thinking, Tony scooped her up and buckled her in the front seat of the fastest car he had. He peeled out of the driveway and drove 100 mph to the nearest hospital. The doctors informed him that if he was only a few seconds later, his dear niece wouldn't have made it. Mira spent two days in the hospital before her release. During those two days, she refused to speak to him. Tony couldn't tell if it was just her teenaged angst or if she truly hated him. Either way, he would never forgive himself for what happened to her. When he was finally able to take her home, he gave her a plain box with nothing written on it. "Here," he said as she strapped into the front seat. Inside contained a white mug with black lettering that read 'I'm still mad at you.' "Use this every time you're mad at me. That way I'll know that I still have to make it right." She used that mug for three weeks after that. Now, every time he messes up, Mira drinks her morning coffee out of that mug.
Mira poured herself a cup of coffee and added two sugars and two creams. The morning paper sat on the counter, so she picked it up and read the front page head line. 'Tony Stark Skips Out On Big Award Ceremony.' A photo of her uncle sat right underneath.
"That coffee was for your uncle, you know?" Pepper's voice carried from the living room to the kitchen.
"He doesn't need the whole pot."
Pepper entered the room wearing her usual outfit, black skirt and coat with a different colored blouse underneath. Today's color was baby blue. "What happened last night?"
Mira dropped the paper onto the counter. "Didn't you hear? Tony Stark skips out on big award ceremony."
"No. I heard all about that. I meant what happened with you, what isn't in the paper." Pepper leaned against the counter.
The young woman sighed. "It happened again."
"Really? You haven't had one in months."
"I know. Why do you think I'm drinking out of this mug?"
"I was hoping for a different reason."
"Tony?" a voice called from the living room.
Mira took a sip of her hot coffee. "Last night's guest perhaps?"
"Must be. Tony asked me to get rid of her." Pepper started walking out of the room.
"You would think he would have the guts to get rid of her himself."
Pepper chuckled. "Yeah, right."
Once Pepper was gone, Mira continued to read the article. Last night, Tony Stark was a no show to his own award ceremony. When his name was called, Obadiah Stane stepped forward to receive the award on Mr. Stark's behalf. In the short speech Mr. Stane shared with the audience he claimed that Mr. Stark was working. Guests of the hotel where the event was held claimed to have seen Mr. Stark in the casino instead of attending the event. Among the people there to support Mr. Stark on his award was his niece Mirabelle Stark. There had been reports that Ms. Stark had another even scheduled for that night, but canceled to attend last night's ceremony. She was later seen leaving the hotel with her uncle, but trying desperately hard to hide her face. Was she embarrassed of the way her uncle acts and just didn't want to be seen with him? An anonymous source confirms that Ms. Stark has plans to move out of Mr. Stark's home because she is fed up with him and his childish ways. More on this story as it develops.
Mira lowered the paper. "Where do they get this crap?"
A door slammed loudly at the front of the house. Mira picked up her mug and made her way to the living room. There, Pepper stood gathering a stack of papers she had left on the couch.
"Those all for him?" Mira asked.
"Yeah. He needs to sign a bunch of them and he needs to get his butt moving so he can catch the plane."
Mira nearly spat out her coffee. "Wait. He hasn't left yet?"
"Nope." Pepper ushered Mira to follow her to the garage to get Tony.
"Oh man." Mira took another sip of her coffee. "Rhodey's gonna be pissed."
"Oh he is. I got three calls from him already. Could you get the door?"
"Yeah, sure." Only a few people were permitted to be downstairs in Tony's garage. Jarvis controlled who could enter by the small blue panel next to the door. If anyone other than Tony, Mira, Pepper, or Rhodey tried to enter the room, Jarvis would deny access.
With the door open, Pepper and Mira were slapped with AC/DC turned all the way up. After knowing Tony for a very long time, both of them knew he had to have been working on something down there when he had his music turned up that high.
Pepper turned to Mira with a fake smile on her face. "Ready to kick his butt into gear?"
"Let's do this."