Tony was still more than a little irritated at the fact he being put on semi-house arrest, so he devoted most of the week in upgrading the new armor he made.
Though he did make an extra set for Jazz, one that would be made once he had a scan of her body measurements. The suit he had in mind would be fitted to one person only and have the AI running most of the 'boring' stuff so the one inside could focus on the important things, like flying.
It also gave him more time to focus on a smaller version of the arc reactor.
However it was when he went to get the medical scan of his daughter that he hit a major roadblock he never expected to find.
While the 'naughty bits' were more or less covered by the bra and female boxers she was wearing, the rest of it wasn't. Dr. Strange had been very thorough when she had to sit through the physical (though he still wondered why she insisted an ex-surgeon with a really weird idea of fashion do the exam) and documented everything.
Which was why Tony was staring in abject disbelief and no small amount of horror at the sheer number of scarring on her body.
He even included helpful tidbits like the most likely 'cause' of the injuries and roughly how old she would have been at the time. Some of them didn't make sense, like the line of weird divets that went down her back from her right shoulder down to roughly where the kidneys were, or the hole that almost looked like a 'through and through' on her right arm, or the scarring on her left hand that clearly read in almost neat penmanship "I must not tell lies."
Tony couldn't look away or pretend he saw nothing. Just reading the 'cause' section along with the 'age' made his blood boil as it was very, very clear his daughter had been abused from early childhood until she left England. He had thought she had merely suffered from general neglect and emotional trauma from the cupboard, and hadn't that been a horrific discovery that the investigator shared...learning Jazz had quite literally lived in a cupboard under the stairs for close to ten full years before finally getting a proper bedroom that the investigator had been appalled to find had no less that six locks on the door and a cat flap of all things, never mind the signs that there had also been bars on the windows that had been ripped out at one point.
She was somewhat underweight, showed signs of malnourishment and a few lingering traces of conditions that shouldn't exist these days in civilized countries like scurvy, and there was a look in her eyes that said she had seen hell and survived.
Tony had filed the knowledge that Jazz had a really rough childhood, but it wasn't until he saw the scans that it really sank in just how much of a survivor his daughter was. It was no wonder she was so much more mature than him, or why she was so independent.
For a moment, Tony almost contemplated avoiding the rest. But now that he saw with his own eyes how bad things had been, he couldn't look away.
He read the rest of the document and felt pissed all over again.
Strange had apparently gotten help with this part, because there were signs of several ad-libs and code words that only barely made sense to someone like him.
The thing that alarmed him the most was the fact that Jazz had enough snake anti-venom in her system to quite literally kill several grown men, and there was a notation in her file that because of it she would never be able to donate blood. It was simply too poisonous and it was a miracle she was even alive, much less fully functional. There was also an odd note in her file that said she had part of a snake's tooth deeply embedded in the same area as the near through and through in her right arm. It was apparently impossible to remove, though there seemed to be no ill effects of it being there.
The thing that bugged Tony the most was the 'size' of the chip in her arm. He wasn't an expert, but even he knew that snake fangs didn't grow that large. Not unless she was bitten by a monster of a snake or something, which was ridiculous.
It was official...he was going to make her a suit of armor if it killed him. The idea of his own kid having to go through that much crap without it pissed him off something fierce.
"...JARVIS, is there any reason Tony requested a copy of my physical and medical scans?" asked Jazz. Nyx had sent it, but had only told her who it was for after the fact.
"His current project requires details about your height, weight and body measurements. He thought the medical file would be the most efficient route," explained JARVIS.
Jazz paused, before sighing.
"Exactly how much has he read?"
"He hesitated to read the other half of the report regarding internal and biological matters, but he seemed rather perplexed at the fact you have a large shard of a snake fang embedded in your right arm."
Great...she might have to explain about magic sooner than she thought. She had hoped to put it off until Tony was a bit more stable.
She put it out of mind until she and Pepper stumbled across Tony wearing a rather odd suit of armor that he was having great trouble removing after he tested out the flight systems.
Suddenly the strange reports Nyx found made far too much sense.
Jazz sighed.
"Let's be honest, this is far from the most compromising position you've found me in," said Tony somewhat sheepishly.
"Well this explains why you needed my medical scans," she said exasperated.
Though she had to wonder... Did Tony pick Gryffindor colors deliberately or was that a very bizarre coincidence?
Once he was out of the suit and eating some pizza Jazz ordered earlier, he looked at them both expectantly. Jazz, more than Pepper though.
After coming back from being held captive, he had found it easier to relate to his daughter than to Pepper. Jazz understood what he went through, something he was rather worried about discovering the details of if he could tell even a fragment of how rough her childhood was from the medical scans alone.
He had the feeling he had only begun to see the tip of that particular iceburg and it was only going downhill from here.
Tony looked at Jazz, waiting for her reaction to the armor.
"If you're expecting me to bite your head off for making a suit of armor, you'll be sitting there for a long time. Considering the fact that it looks like certain powers are starting to wake up and take notice of humanity again, it's probably a good thing you've found a way to fight back. Though please, don't go the whole Batman route," said Jazz, sipping her chai tea.
"What does that mean?" said Tony baffled. He only vaguely knew what Batman was.
"No emo avenger crap, no angsting and you will learn to play nice with others. I will not hesitate to cut your ego back down to tolerable levels if you start to take on the wrong sort of responsibilites. Leave politics to people who can stomach them," said Jazz bluntly. "The last thing we need to deal with is you taking on responsibilities that weren't your problem in the first place out of some mistaken sense of guilt."
Tony was highly unstable at the moment, and if he didn't have someone to fall back on to reign him in, he could go down a dangerous route and become a control freak.
Pepper was a decent stabilizing agent, but he needed someone on the same level as him to bring him back down to earth. Someone who he could relate to and could act as his consience.
For someone like Pepper, that was asking a bit too much. If she felt that sort of pressure for too long she might just leave.
In a strange way, Jazz was almost glad her biological father was something of a glorified man-child that was rather high maintenance. Being able to deal with his problems helped her to forget her own, as it was a full time job and Tony didn't look to be maturing into an actual adult anytime soon. There was also the fact that the second she found out he was her father, any "romantic" desires died a permanent death. She could care for him without any notions of trying to bed him, even if she had discovered a preference for older men.
Those her age were all horribly immature and too annoying for her to deal with.
Pepper looked at her aghast.
"You're okay with this?"
"Why wouldn't I be? I mainly had a problem with all the explosive weaponry he insisted on making like the Jericho missile. The armor looks more like a precision weapon that requires actual tactics and skill to use as opposed to mass destruction and has other applications than just being a weapon," said Jazz shrugging.
"It can fly too," said Tony.
He had to wonder at the sudden intense look he was getting from Jazz.
"Could you repeat that?"
"It can fly too, at supersonic levels. Pretty sure I broke the sound barrier at one point while testing it, and that wasn't even at half power. Though I did have to adjust the metals I used...it froze over when I went too high," said Tony.
Was Jazz drooling?
"Are you telling me that you found a way to create a suit of armor that allows for supersonic high-altitude flight that also protects the one wearing it from the forces that would rip it apart and is highly maneuverable?" she asked intently, stars in her eyes.
Tony grinned and nodded...to think he had been worried that Jazz would be against his new toy!
Pepper eyed Jazz oddly.
"Are you actually drooling?"
Jazz wiped her mouth, before saying sheepishly "Maybe? I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie and ground-based stunts simply don't appeal to me...flying is one of my passions though."
Tony was positively grinning like an idiot. Yet another thing to prove she was his daughter!
"I almost have a suit ready for you, but I would rather have current schematics to work with. It's supposed to be a fitted piece."
Tony almost blinked when he saw the dust cloud. Apparently Jazz was very, very eager to fly.
Tony had to admit, he did not see this coming.
Jazz was always so mature, down-to-earth and generally reserved. She was practically an adult in a teenager's body, with world weary eyes.
The second she put on the armor and got the hang of flying (which took about ten to twenty minutes, compared to the two or three hours it took him) she started putting the armor through moves he would have balked at.
Like the near collision before pulling up at the last split second before impact...he knew he heard the metal straining!
On the plus side, he now knew who to act as a test pilot, if she was this much of a natural in the air. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if he would survive her inclination to do beyond dangerous stunts.
Was this karma coming back to bite him in the ass for all the crap he put Pepper through? Or just the same general payback that came from being a parent?
When she finally did land and go in, Tony had to cringe at the amount of stress she put the suit under.
On the plus side, at least he was finding this out now as opposed to when he was in a fight.
"When you said you were a natural at flying, I didn't expect that," said Tony.
However there was no way he could take the suit back now. Not after seeing the shadows finally chased away in her eyes and the way she looked like a happy teenager.
The only thing he could do at this point was damage control.
"If it makes you feel any better Tony, I've been taking self-defense lessons with people who actually know what they're doing and aren't in it for belts."
The group Dr. Strange was a part of practiced a lot of different martial arts, and none of it was for competitions. She joined in regularly at least three times a week once she was out of the office to practice with the sling rings and her own magic.
She was becoming quite proficient at using tessen and staves. Never mind the fact that quite a few of the things they taught allowed her to expand her knowledge of magic.
Hermione would have a fit if she knew all the neat tricks she was learning and none of it was regulated by any Ministry!
"Strangely that does make me feel better. Think they would let me join?"
"For basic martial arts, possibly. For the real stuff, no. You don't have the predisposition to use the advanced moves, but I might be able to convince one of them to give you hand to hand lessons. Boxing will only get you so far. That, or I could introduce you to the Professor and show you his special room."
Tony gave her a hard look at that. Jazz snorted.
"It's not what you think. He's managed to recreate the holodeck from Star Trek... he calls it the Danger Room. Basically a live-combat situation that can take place anywhere without the risk of anyone actually dying. Occasionally I join in with his students in running combat scenarios out of boredom. Far more useful than a simple capture the flag scenario."
It was through the Danger Room session that they found out she had a natural predisposition to leading people.
She had, more than once, lead her 'team' to victory despite going up against far more experienced opponents like Logan or Scott.
Tony looked thoughtful at that.
"Do you think he'd be open to sharing some of the tech to make that so we could create a training facility for soldiers and cops?"
Let it be said that Jazz had finally corrupted Tony to her way of thinking. Maybe not to the extent she herself would do it, but enough that he could finally make some progress away from the 'weapons designer' mindset.
"I bet you anything if we could create something like that for multiple bases, it would get the government off our ass about the contract... preferably before we expose the suits to the general public. I'm not going to say you can't go around acting as a sort of vigilante and doing things to help people, but I really don't want to deal with those idiots trying to get their claws on a suit they can't even afford."
Tony snorted at that.
Tony's first meeting with Professor Xavier was interesting to say the least.
And by that, she meant the fact that Xavier had deliberately brought one of the more obvious mutants with him to judge Tony's reaction.
Beast was perfectly polite and able to answer several technical questions Tony had about the Danger Room...even if he wasn't wearing his special watch that made his appearance more human.
Tony took queues from Jazz, who happily shook Beast's hand and didn't even bat an eye at his appearance. And once Tony really got into it over the technical specifications about the machine, he started to forget that the man before him was blue and had fur all over.
By the end of it, Tony's unease with Beast had switched more to curiosity than anything about mutants.
Xavier was more than happy to elaborate on what mutants actually were and how their powers manifested, with Jazz adding her own input to make it easier to understand.
In her opinion, mutants were nothing more than people with an extra quirk like having two different colored eyes or an extra toe. Not exactly something to be alarmed about or hostile towards, unless they were hostile first.