The thought of staying in the mansion that night made her sick, her feet fleeing all on their own. She grabbed Rhodey's car keys from the valet, driving away with the windows down, the wind streaming through her hair, drying the tears stinging her brown eyes, no direction in mind. Amelia just drove. She didn't know how long she was out there, the California lights dying on her the longer she stayed out, winking out one by one, until she pulled up in front of Pepper's place on the outskirts of the city.

Happy took her home after the party, now snoring away on Pepper's couch, his tie loose around his neck, but the ginger waited up for her, somehow just knowing this was where she'd come. Pepper had Amelia change, wrapping her in a fuzzy blanket and setting a cup of tea in her hands, the two of them content to sit in an understanding silence.

Neither of them saw tonight coming, and only one of them truly understood why. Should Amelia tell Pepper, right here, in the middle of the god damn night after Tony just blew up his house? God, to anyone else that might sound like a trip gone wrong, and yet with Amelia it was just another day at the office.

Yet this time Tony came so close to breaking his promise. Fighting with Rhodey wasn't unusual, the two did it all the time, but this time it dug right through to Amelia's heart. This time it wouldn't go away easy and she was caught right in the middle, a plaster stuck over her knee. That's what kept Amelia up even after Pepper went to sleep, even after the sun started to rise.

Not even the sugary delight of his box of doughnuts could rid Tony of the nuclear pounding in his head, lounging atop the ginormous pastry, not caring about the frosting he smeared all over his beard as he shoved one in his mouth.

"Sir."

Tony winced at the interruption, recognizing that deep voice immediately and stared down at the street, tipping his glasses down his nose to see clearly, without the red tint, making sure it was the man himself and not Tony's ugly imagination.

"I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the doughnut." Fury squinted up at him, at least if you could squint with only one eye, his hands resting on his hips, and ducked inside the dessert shop once Tony spotted him.

Didn't even wait for a reply, just disappeared, leaving Tony to haul himself out of the massive sign, awkwardly climbing down with his box tucked protectively under his arm, following him inside and awkwardly sliding into the booth with him. "I told you," Tony grumbled, propping his head up with his hand, "I don't wanna join your super-secret boy band."

"No, no, no." Fury chuckled, "See, I remember, you do everything yourself." He lifted his coffee cup, tipping it towards Tony. "How's that working out for you?"

Tony stuttered as he tried to form a sentence, sighing wearily, gaze flickering between the patch and the eye, skating over the jagged scars. "I'm sorry, I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot, do I look at the patch or the eye?" he paused, "Honestly, I'm a bit hung over, I'm not sure if you're real or if I'm having…"

"I am very real." Fury interrupted, leaning in, "I'm the realest person you're ever gonna meet."

"Just my luck." Tony grumbled and glanced over the very empty diner, "Where's the staff here?"

"That's not looking so good." Fury reached over to nudge the collar of Tony's suit, the top of the circuit like rash zigzagging up Tony's neck.

"I've been worse." Tony took a sip of coffee, the bitter liquid burning as it ran down his throat.

"We've secured the perimeter." A fresh voice announced and footsteps echoed off the linoleum floor as someone approached the booth. "But I don't think we should hold it for too much longer."

Tony's brow furrowed in a quizzical frown, knocking his glasses down his nose, peering intently at the redheaded assistant as she stopped by the table, dressed head to toe in some catsuit straight out of comic con. Now Tony was sure he was hallucinating. "You're… fired." He blurted and removed his glasses.

"That's not up to you." Natalie smirked, settling into the booth beside Fury.

"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff." Fury introduced, putting his hands around her shoulders fondly but his frown didn't go away.

"I'm a SHIELD shadow," Natasha explained as Tony rubbed at his forehead, "Once we suspected you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."

Once they suspected? Who could have possibly…

Amelia.

"I suggest you apologize." Tony prompted, she did say she would find a way, but he didn't think SHIELD were anywhere on her radar, at least he hoped not.

"You've been very busy." Fury removed his hands from Romanoff. "You made your girl CEO, you're giving away all your stuff, you let your friend fly away with your suit." Tony dropped his hand. "Now, if I didn't know better…"

"You don't know better, I didn't give it to him." Tony interjected, "He took it."

Fury's eye went wide, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, he took it?" Fury recoiled incredulously, "You're Iron Man and he just took it?" Fury gestured wildly, "The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit?" he glanced at Romanoff, "Is that possible?"

"Well, according to Mister Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage." Natasha explained.

Tony snorted softly, dropping his gaze, "What do you want from me?"

"What do we want from you?" Fury exclaimed as Romanoff stood, giving a shake of his head. "What do you want from me?" he stressed, pointing at the self-proclaimed hero. "You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with." Fury pointed to himself. "Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe, I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with." Fury clicked his fingers at Natasha. "Hit him."

Something sharp dug into the side of Tony's neck, pricking like the sting of a wasp, as Natasha pressed a small cannister just below his chin, snapping him awake. "Oh, god, are you gonna steal a kidney and sell it?" he groaned, swatting away Natasha's hand as she grabbed his chin and yanked it towards her. "Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds?" Tony glanced back at Fury, unable to see the rash as it began to recede. "What did she just do to me?"

"What did we just do for you?" Fury corrected, "Once we discovered the cause of your illness we figured out lithium dioxide would take the edge off, we're trying to get you back to work."

Definitely Amelia. Tony tried to keep the anger bubbling from reaching his eyes, straining to keep his tone neutral. "Give me a couple boxes of that, I'll be right as rain." He murmured.

"It's not a cure, it just abates the symptoms." Natasha told him, crouching beside the booth.

Fury peered at his neck, "Doesn't look like it's gonna be an easy fix."

"Trust me, I know, I'm good at this stuff." Tony ground his teeth, the frustration overflowing, "I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium, I've tried every combination, every permutation of every known element." A mix of his own irritation, his own uselessness at not figuring this out, and for Amelia's involvement at all.

"So I've heard." Fury commented and Tony clenched his jaw. "I'm here to tell you, you haven't tried them all."

Tony's gaze darkened. "I thought I told you to leave her out of this?" his pointed finger waved between the two, "I remember, I said, 'Fury, don't go near my daughter or…'"

"Yes, I remember." Fury interrupted, crossing his arms over the table, unfazed, "Or you'll take the other eye before I get a chance to blink."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the meagre threat, obviously expecting something more from him. She obviously hadn't learned Tony lost his words completely when it came to Amelia. "I can't protect her if you're getting all up in her business." Tony reminded him seriously.

"Your protection, as you call it, is what drove her to us in the first place."

Tony's shoulder's slumped and he ran a hand over his face, nudging his glasses aside to rub at his eyes.

"Amelia is an incredibly intelligent young woman." Fury pointed out, "If she wants to be involved she'll find a way, no matter how hard you try to stop it."

"Yeah." Tony agreed with a sigh, swiping off his glasses to fix Fury a troubled look. "That's what I'm worried about."

The warm California wind ruffled Amelia's black hair as she leaned against Rhodey's car, tucking her sunglasses atop her head as something silver glinted as it soared across the clear blue sky. Amelia had given up trying to sleep as soon as the sun breached the horizon, deciding to hit the road once again and drive to the one place she knew Rhodey would take the suit. It had been a couple of years since she last visited the air base, one of the times Rhodey had been cajoled into babysitting for the weekend and couldn't escape a training exercise. The long strip of concrete remained the same, fighter jets dotted along the tarmac, the radio tower gleaming as it broke the skyline, the long cavernous hanger keeping the engineers cool in the shade as they worked. Amelia parked just outside the hangar, dozens of cadets and officers alike already working despite the early hour, wearing camo gear or olive green overalls bearing the air force wings.

The trail of puffy white condensation Rhodey left in the air as he soared across the base, arcing around to land with a thud on the tarmac, drew a sizeable crowd, the sunlight reflected in the silver panels making it hard to miss. Pilots and trainees alike came to stare, no longer murmuring about the Stark on base, now distracted by the suit, and Amelia let them look. A truck pulled up, their commanding officer jumping out before it even stopped, jogging over to Rhodey, forced to push through the onlookers as they clustered closer. Rhodey shook his hand but Amelia didn't catch the conversation, watching him glance down at the suit, waiting for him to notice her.

The crowd dispersed as Rhodey and the Major moved toward the hangar, his head lifting, dark features visibly dropping as they finally glanced over to where she stood leaning against the car. She finished the last of her coffee, ignoring the pull of the circles under her eyes, and reached through the open window to leave it in the holder, grabbing the beige shirt from the passenger seat and following her godfather inside.

"What are you doing here, Amy?" he blurted, snapping out of the suit, still wearing his clothes from the party.

She nudged the glasses back over her eyes, resting two hands on her hips. "I came to make sure you don't break anything." She pulled the shirt across her bare shoulders, over her tan brown tank top, plucking the sunglasses from atop her head and stuffing them in the back pocket of her black jeans.

Two engineers grabbed the suit, trying to lift it, bearing their teeth as they strained against the weight, and Amelia stepped over. "You're gonna break something if you keep trying." Amelia warned, "Someone fetch me a crank."

"Amelia…" Rhodey nudged her elbow.

"Save it." Amelia's hand snapped up, brown eyes shooting him a deadly sharp look. "You want to keep this damn thing, you keep your trap shut and do as I say."

Rhodey backed up, lifting two surrendering hands, as a technician wheeled a crank over. All of them took a step back, letting Amelia wind the chains around the suit, inserting them into tiny hooks under the arms, and wound the crank to lift it up. They wheeled it to a cleared area in the hangar, over in a corner where it would be out of the way, unable to distract anyone, as Rhodey changed into a pair of overalls, returning with General Meade.

"Unbelievable." Meade breathed and Amelia eyed him up, crossing her arms over her chest. "This ought to get the Senate off my ass."

Amelia clenched her teeth to keep from blurting something inappropriate, something that would get her kicked off the base. "It's functional?" Meade asked.

"Fully mission-capable." Rhodey answered with a nod.

"Good." Meade replied, "Get Hammer down here to weaponize it."

Amelia's eyes almost popped out her head, biting back the laugh climbing up her throat. "Sir?" Rhodey frowned, turning to catch up with him as he stepped away.

"Justin Hammer's making a weapons presentation at the Expo." Meade explained, "We'd like this to introduce it."

"Nuh uh, no way." Amelia shot, swiping a hand through the air decisively, "I will not have my work grace the same stage as…" Amelia crinkled her nose, "As his."

"Sir, what I believe Amelia is trying to say." Rhodey jumped in as Meade turned with narrow eyes. "Is that I don't believe the Expo…"

"Colonel, the world needs to see this fast." Meade interrupted, stopping them, "We've got to make this happen, whether we have Miss Stark's approval or not."

"Yes, General, but…" Rhodey placed a discreet hand on Amelia's arm, sensing her react to Meade's provocation.

"It's also an order." Meade stated softly as Rhodey released Amelia's arm.

"Yes, sir." He nodded.

"Good work, Colonel." Meade raised a salute and Rhodey coped, standing straight. "You've made your country proud."

Rhodey thanked him, lowering his hand, brow plagued with a frown as he turned to Amelia's raised eyebrow. "I'm not letting Hammer lay a finger on the suit." She told him, sticking a finger into his face. "Not one."

She turned on her heel, returning to the suit as the engineers plugged energy wires into the chest piece. "You heard the General, it's an order." Rhodey called after her.

"Do I look like one of your airheads?" Amelia snapped, swatting away a leathery hand as it tried to plug the wire into the wrong socket.

"Amelia." Rhodey caught up with her as she fiddled with the wiring. "Maybe it would be better…"

"Don't you dare." Her head whipped to him with a scathing look, hair flying about her head. "I did not bust my ass in the Senate just to see Hammer get a hold of this suit." Amelia's sharp features darkened, "You're lucky I'm even letting you keep it."

Rhodey narrowed his eyes at her, "Why are you?"

She dropped her gaze, gritting her teeth, fingers fiddling with the wire and Rhodey's features softened. "Amelia will be taking point on this." He announced to the three engineers lingering nearby, "Get her what she needs."

Amelia fired off a list quicker than the engineers could keep up with, the three of them sharing quizzical looks, as if questioning why they needed Amelia here, all of them looking to Rhodey for permission. Amelia yanked a crowbar from the rack of tools on the walls of the hangar, prying off the suit's casing, the metal clang echoing around the hangar as it hit the ground. "Any of you know what this does?" Amelia demanded, pointing to a connection of wiring in one of the numerous circuit boards running through the suit. "What about this?" Amelia picked out a thicker wire when they all gave blank looks, one of them kicking at the ground, refusing to meet her gaze. "That's why I'm here." Amelia told them when they couldn't answer, "So go and get my damn equipment."

The three of them nodded, shooting off in different directions, and Amelia dropped the crowbar, rubbing at her eyes.

"You look like you could do with one of these."

Amelia glanced up to a familiar face, those narrow green eyes smiling at her as he held out a steaming cup of coffee. "Evan." She greeted, taking the cup gratefully, "It's good to see you."

"Yeah, it's been a while." He scratched at the back of his neck and Amelia noticed the khakis, the tanned boots and the triple striped star.

"You get promoted?"

"Senior Airman." He nodded, straightening his back, "What you think?"

"Suits you."

Evan recoiled, shocked, "Wow, I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me."

"Yep, well, I owe you."

Evan waved it off, "Nah, I should've known getting involved with a Stark would be complicated."

Amelia took a sip of coffee to hide the pang of hurt his words shot through her. "We are a difficult bunch." She joked half-heartedly, twisting the cup between her fingers.

Evan looked up at the suit, running his fingers down the arm. "So this is it, huh?" he nodded slowly, impressed, "What's it doing here?"

Whatever Amelia told him, no matter how she spun it, would sound just as crazy. "My godfather stole it." She stuck with the simplest truth, "Doing his country proud."

"As in Colonel Rhodes?" Evan frowned, "I thought he and your dad were tight."

"I don't know if you'd heard." Amelia let a rueful smile slip onto her lips, "My dad hasn't exactly been himself recently."

"Right, sorry about that, by the way." Evan nodded sympathetically, "Is that why you're here, to get the suit back?"

Amelia held his gaze as she took another sip, the hot coffee bitter as it went down, and Evan slowly understood. "Always two steps ahead." He smiled, "How could I forget?"

"Wanna give me a hand?"

Evan's eyes brightened, "For real?"

Amelia nodded, matching his smile, "Time to get to work."

"That thing in your chest is based on unfinished technology." Fury leaned on his elbows in the chair, leather coat draped over the back as they chatted in the ruined remains of Tony's living room, the warm California breeze wafting through the open walls, glass still littering the floor, sparkling in the sunlight.

"No, it was finished." Tony argued, "It has never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put in in my…" He trailed off, gesturing as if he had the reactor in hand, placing it in his chest. Even miniaturizing it had been a shot in the dark, the technology was so outdated Tony had been pleasantly surprised to find it kept him alive so long.

Fury leaned back in his chair, "No, Howard said the arc reactor was the stepping stone to something greater, he was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race." A small smile drifted across Fury's bearded lips. "He was on to something big, something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery." Fury glanced out over the glimmering waters, looking almost wistful, with a touch of eagerness that Tony stored away to puzzle over later.

"Just him," Tony accused, pouring them both a glass of water. "Or was Anton Vanko in on this, too?"

"Anton Vanko is the other side of that coin." Fury flipped his hand demonstratively, "Anton saw it as a way to get rich and when your father found out, he had him deported." Fury leaned forward, taking the offered glass. "When the Russians found out he couldn't deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia and he spent the next twenty years in a vodka-fuelled rage." He paused to take a sip. "Not quite the environment you want to raise a kid in, the son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco."

"You told me I hadn't tried everything." Tony reminded him, it had been sat at the forefront of his mind ever since the headache faded. "What do you mean I haven't tried everything, what haven't I tried?"

"He said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started." Fury pointed with the glass and Tony raised both eyebrows.

"He said that?" Tony prompted as Fury took another sip, nodding over his glass.

"Are you that guy? Hmm, are you?" Fury leant forward to frown intently at Tony, "Cause if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart." How poetic, Tony didn't think the leathery director had it in him.

Tony glanced away for a moment, an old, almost forgotten, hope trickling into the recesses of his mind until they were quashed by the overwhelming memories of a lonely childhood, or learning to speak Spanish from too much time spent with a nanny, of so many golf trips, Pentagon meetings and missed birthdays. Tony slowly shook his head, returning to the present. "I don't know where you get your information, but he wasn't my biggest fan."

Fury tilted his head, "What do you remember about your dad?"

Tony raised a dismissive hand, "He was cold, he was calculating, he never told me he loved me, he never even told me he liked me, so it's a little tough for me to digest when you're telling me he said the whole future was riding on me, and he's passing it down, I don't get that." Tony leaned back despondently. "You're talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."

"That's not true." Fury objected quickly.

"Well, then, clearly you knew my dad better than I did." Tony looked away, distracting himself with the glass, spinning it between his hands.

Fury finished off his glass of water as two suited agents passed in front, carrying a silver crate between them. "As a matter of fact, I did." Fury stated, setting the glass down on the upturned box between them. "He was one of the founding members of SHIELD."

"What?" Tony exclaimed, watching the two agents as they set the crate down before him.

Fury checked his watch as he stood. "I got a two o'clock."

"Wait, wait." Tony stood too, still trying to absorb what Fury just said.

Fury ignored his protestations, waving his hand at the crate, at him in general, "You're good right, you got this?"

"No, I'm not good." Tony denied frantically, "Got what? I don't even know what I'm supposed to get."

"Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact." Fury stressed the last word as he swung his coat on. "You remember Agent Coulson, right?"

The stoic man appeared at Fury's side, features blank and unreadable as always, his hands clasped in front of him politely.

Tony nodded, watching Fury walk away, "Oh, and Tony." He turned back with a heavy gaze, "Remember, I got my eye on you."

If this weren't a serious conversation, if Tony had a single clue what was going on, he might think Fury made that joke by accident.

"We've disabled all communications, no contact with the outside world." Natasha informed him and added a slight smile, "Good luck."

Tony clasped his hands behind his back, swinging his tilted head to give Coulson a disapproving look, switching to a jovial mood as he stepped over. "First thing, I need a little bodywork, I'll put in a little time at the lab." Tony gestured to the door. "So if we could send one of your goon squad down to The Coffee Bean, Cross Creek, for a Starbucks run or something like that, that'd be nice."

"I'm not here for that." Coulson smirked, "I've been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises." Tony nodded to himself, they were enjoying this. All of them. Treating him like a freaking toddler. "If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet."

"Okay, I think I got it." Tony understood, pouting like a scolded child, leaning into the role.

"Enjoy your evening's entertainment." Coulson turned to leave and Tony narrowed his eyes at the bemusement lining his square features.

He was enjoying this, god dammit.

By the time Hammer arrived, Amelia had the suit splayed out on a workbench, several of the panels stripped away to reveal the complicated matrix underneath, all the intertwining wires, the circuit boards and trigger functions, a map of it all ingrained in her mind from the very first prototype. "Leave it." Amelia hissed, carefully lifting the glowing reactor from the chest as Major Allen peered at it, his finger twitching as if to poke the contraption.

"Is that the power source?" Allen queried, frowning curiously.

"Major, this is not a scientific exercise." Rhodey reminded him, also peering curiously at the reactor and Amelia rolled her eyes. "Let's just focus on arming it."

"Yes, sir." Allen nodded, his hand returning to his hip.

"Oh, yes!" A gleeful voice cried, the sound echoing around the hangar and Amelia felt her skin crawl as Hammer approached, two technicians wheeling a large crate behind him, "Is it my birthday?"

Amelia quickly removed the reactor from sight, hiding it beneath a discarded sheet of metal, cringing at the short businessman in his grey three piece suit. "What are you, five?" she muttered as he took a lollipop from his mouth.

"I got a sweet tooth," Hammer defended with a wink, "Can't help myself sometimes."

Amelia shivered as Hammer frowned painfully at the dismantled suit. "What did you do?" Hammer whined and the airmen rolled the crate to a stop behind him, beside two spare tables. "Is this what I think it is?"

Amelia crossed her arms over her chest, staring at him darkly as Hammer lifted a hand. "Lay one finger on my baby and I'll cut it off." Amelia threatened and Hammer snatched his hand back.

Rhodey nudged Amelia's arm subtly, a warning almost, but Amelia had no intention of holding herself back. It was only because she had her own motives that she even let Justin freaking Hammer near the suit in the first place.

"You thought anymore about my offer?" Hammer queried, the corner of his lip perking, "Would make all of this official." He twirled a finger at the suit, at the crate of weaponry the technicians started unlocking.

"Still can't believe you entertained the idea." Rhodey whispered, clearing his throat as Hammer marvelled at the suit.

"Oh, calm down, this ain't Hamlet." Amelia shot, "And for the record, I turned him down."

"Tony ain't gonna like it." Rhodey tried… and failed.

"Last time I checked I wasn't the one who stole his suit." Amelia straightened, measuring him up. "So if you wanna talk betrayal, perhaps you should look in a mirror."

"Look, what happened at the party…"

"I'm not the Stark you should be explaining yourself to." Amelia interrupted, "And this is a conversation for another time."

Amelia picked up the screwdriver from the toolkit at her feet, banging it hard against the workbench as Hammer leaned down, trying to discreetly prod some of the exposed mechanics, the clang echoing loudly and Hammer jumped at least a foot back from the bench. "What did I say?" she fumed.

"Hammer." Rhodey interjected, calming the man's startled look, drawing his attention. "I want to know what you're gonna do for us."

"What am I gonna do for you?" Hammer repeated, "Well, the first thing I'm gonna do is update your software."

"Nope." Amelia fired straight away, "You're not getting anywhere near my software."

Rhodey took a long breath. "That's not what I'm talking about." He crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm talking firepower."

"Well," Hammer smirked smugly, crunching the lollipop between his teeth, "You're talking to the right guy."

Nope, Amelia turned her back so Hammer couldn't see the disgusted look scrunching her sharp features, shaking her head objectively. Don't do it, don't even think about doing it.

"We all do things we don't like." Rhodey reassured her and she curled her fingers around her arm to keep from punching him in the face.

"I don't want him anywhere near it." Amelia whispered childishly, "He's gonna ruin her."

"Suck it up." Rhodey shot, placing his hands on Amelia's shoulders and physically walking her over to where Hammer unclipped the locks on his crate, his suit jacket slung across the back of a chair. Hammer tugged on a pair of white gloves, fiddling with every single finger until they sat right, and took out gun after gun, detailing their calibre, ammunition and strength, setting them down on one of the bare tables once he was finished. Major Allen was the only one who gave any reaction as Hammer went on, both Rhodey and Amelia stared blankly, waiting for him to finish, all of the guns growing more elaborate.

"Let me tell you something." Hammer crossed his arms, "Size does matter, don't let anyone tell you different." He spared an intentional look at Amelia as he took out a minigun the length of his torso, balancing it between his hands.

"Compensating much." Amelia mouthed to Rhodey, tilting her head so Hammer couldn't see as he listed the guns details proudly, sighing when it earned no reaction from the colonel.

"Okay." Hammer nodded to himself, setting the machine gun aside and taking out the final weapon, contained in a small black case. "These are the Cubans, baby, this is the Cohibas, the Montecristos." He opened the case with a click, taking out a sleek rocket no longer than his hand, holding it carefully between thumb and forefinger as he showed it off. "It's capable of busting the bunker under the bunker you just busted." Rhodey took the offered rocket, glancing it over speculatively. "If it were any smarter, it would write a book." Hammer rested his hands on his hips, watching Rhodey judge the weapon. "A book that would make Ulysses look like it was written in crayon, it would read it to you." Rhodey still gave no reaction as he handed the missile back. "This is my Eiffel Tower." Hammer held it up to the light. "This is my Rachmaninoff's Third, my Pieta." He turned it over, eyebrows arched in awe. "It's completely elegant, it's bafflingly beautiful, it's capable of reducing the population of any standing structure to zero." Hammer gave Amelia a knowing wink and a sick feeling settled in her stomach. "I call it the Ex-Wife."

Amelia swallowed to keep from throwing up, rolling her eyes as Hammer waved the missile under his nose, giving a dramatic sniff as Rhodey rubbed a hand over his chin thoughtfully.

"That's the best I got." Hammer sighed, returning the missile to its crate.

"Seems size doesn't matter after all." Amelia smirked and forced Rhodey to cover a smirk with his hand, masking it with curious consideration.

"Are we gonna do this? Give me something here." Hammer begged, leaning one hand against the table and setting the other on his hip. "You're like a sphinx, I can't read you." he gestured to Amelia, "Come on, what's he thinking."

"He'll take it." Amelia answered, reading her godfather's eyes.

"Which one?" Hammer queried.

"All of it." Rhodey instructed, "And you'll leave Amelia in charge."

Amelia blinked, recoiling as Hammer nodded slowly, repeating Rhodey's words. "No." She objected straight out, "I am not working with him."

"Snap to it," Hammer clapped his hands together, tugging off the gloves, "I want this done in time for the Expo."

"You wait a god damn minute." Amelia thrust a finger at Hammer but he ignored her, snaking his arms back into his suit jacket.

"It'll be the centrepiece of a larger demonstration." Hammer told her, "I got some drones in the works, that's the main attraction."

Drones? Since when did Hammer Industries invest in drones? Had Hammer given up on producing suits in exchange for drones, and if so who worked on them? Amelia knew for certain he didn't have the engineers for that, let alone the creativity. Switching from a manned suit to an unmanned drone wasn't exactly an easy job, the thought of all that coding alone almost gave Amelia a headache.

Amelia glanced between Hammer and Rhodey, the smugness on one face and the impatience on another. "This is punishment, that's what it is." She chuckled, moving her accusatory finger to her godfather, "You're punishing me."

"You wanted to work, so work." He shrugged innocently, "Don't say I never did anything for you."

"You're a pain in my ass." Amelia tore off her beige shirt, slinging it across the panel hiding the reactor, leaving her in just a brown tank top, scrunching her hair up into an extremely messy bun and using two metal pins to expertly secure it atop her head.

"Show some respect, young lady." Rhodey snickered.

"Leave them." Amelia directed as Hammer asked the technicians to move the weapons, "Hand me that booklet?"

Hammer took it from the crate, passing it over, and Amelia quickly skimmed through the pages, glancing over the weapon specifications, all the tiny little details big businessmen like Hammer neglected as merely fine print. As long as the bullets went in and the blood spilled, they didn't care. Evan fetched a sketchpad, scribbling down her measurements, her notes and details as she drew a blueprint in her mind of how each gun would slot into the suit. Amelia had never been much of a sketcher, her blueprints for her robotics entrance in first year had been barely legible, and Evan had quick fingers, the only one able to keep up as she dictated her designs.

Hammer lingered, listening, for about five minutes, watching Amelia work with growing curiosity, the speed at which she calculated, trying to keep up and failing miserably, eventually glancing at his enormously overpriced watch and claiming he had another meeting, disappearing off to wherever. Amelia didn't even notice, she'd blotted him from her mind as soon as he handed her the booklet.

Evan spread the sheets across one of the tables as the engineers lifted the suit onto a crank once again, leaving the reactor nestled on Amelia's shirt, and unfolded a stepladder beside it to allow Amelia to work on it still. Rhodey and Major Allen studied the sketches, talking through it themselves as Amelia started on the suit, unhooking, unhinging and rewiring. Several modifications would need to be made to accommodate the extra firepower, Tony's suit relied a lot more on manual weaponry, the repulsors to be exact, and a lot of that came from the reactor. These weapons wouldn't require so much energy, all they needed were places to put them and perhaps some extra ammunition storage. So, in summary, one hell of a headache for Amelia.

"I really don't think you should use the Ex-Wife." Amelia advised, she'd climbed up onto the shoulder of the crank, balancing precariously as she unscrewed one of the metal plates on the back of the suit to get a better look at the inside, finger trailing the main powerline to figure out the easiest way to attach the minigun, her legs dangling either side.

"Why not?" Rhodey complained, using her specifications to attach a minigun to the wrist of the suit, protective mask hiding his features, a blowtorch in one hand. "It's a literal hail Mary."

"It's a mistake waiting to happen." Amelia warned, dropping the plating down to Evan where he stood with his hands outstretched.

"Capable of busting the bunker under the bunker you just busted." Rhodey recalled, lifting the mask, "That's what Hammer said."

"And you listened?" Amelia caught the tiny flashlight Evan chucked up, aiming it inside the suit for the best view. "Did the Senate hearing teach you nothing?" Amelia peered around the suit to shake her head at her godfather, "Hammer talks, that's what he does and none of it is worth listening to."

"Reminds me of someone else I know."

Amelia chuckled softly, clutching the flashlight between her teeth so she had one hand to hold aside the wiring, another to clasp it securely to the side, making room for a joint and tucking the flashlight in a pocket once she was done. "At least ten percent of what Dad says is actually worth something."

"Ten percent?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow, "That's generous."

"I'm in a generous mood." Amelia secured the wiring and stretched out her arms, massaging the ache in her back from being hunched over for almost three hours.

Amelia swung one leg over the side, jumping down from the top of the crank, bending her knees to soften the landing, and startled Rhodey. "I'll come by later." Amelia told him, smothering a smile, "See if you can make some more progress on the minigun mount in the meantime."

"Never pegged you for a slacker."

Amelia stifled a yawn, running dirty hands down her jeans, "I had a late night."

"Give Tony a message for me?"

"Nope," Amelia shook her head, gently moving the reactor to slide out her shirt. "You wanna apologize to the old man you do it yourself, I'm not your messenger girl."

"Fair enough." Rhodey muttered and Amelia waved goodbye over her shoulder.

Amelia covered another yawn as she slipped into Rhodey's car, slotting her sunglasses over her eyes to hide the dark circles, and turned the key in the ignition. In all honesty, she didn't know what she was going to do when she got there, Amelia just knew it was better to get it over and done with. Besides, she needed a nap and no matter how tired she was, she wasn't sleeping in the car.

Dusty rubble and shattered glass littered the mansion. Not a soul could be heard throughout, just the soft calls of seagulls as they picked through the rubbish, wings flapping when Amelia stepped inside, disturbing them and their new home. Everywhere she stepped her footsteps crunched, a cool breeze wafting through the building as Amelia opened the front door, ruffling her black waves.

The kitchen was in complete ruins, someone had shut off the water but the pipes still stuck out of the mangled counter, a gaping hole torn in the fireplace, the edges singed black. "Hey, Jarvis." Amelia called, climbing the stairs to her room. "Is Dad home?"

"Mister Stark stepped out for a moment."

"Thanks, J."

Amelia released the breath she'd been holding, dumping her bag on her bed and shrugging off her crinkled shirt and melting into the covers, letting out a long sigh as her eyes closed all on their own.