The Lost Daughter

Chapter 2- 12 years later

"I-uh...Come where?" She asks. Tony and Pepper glance quickly at each other. They have been noticing personality changes and attention decline in her. Tony made a mental note to call her doctors over the medication. 

"The Stark tower will become a beacon of clean energy tonight, I have a suit all ready for you if you want to come." 

"N-No, that's alright. I'll stay back with Pepper." 

"You sure you're okay?" 

"Yeah, it's just those stupid headaches." She jests and quickly changes the topic. Once dinner was finished and clean, Tony put on his Iron man suit and headed out in the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia helped him with this plan a few weeks ago. He is going to cut a pipeline transport with a laser cutter coming from the suit. He then is going to place the stark energy reactor in. However, he is gone longer than expected, which makes the girl get irrational fears and very nervous. She already almost lost her father tragically a few times now and that fear stays. 

"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you guys." Tony's voice comes over the coms. "Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy." 

"Wow. So maybe the reactor takes over and it actually works?" Pepper asks in awe. She is constantly amazed by her lover's mind, and even his daughter's. 

"I assume. Light her up." He instructs, flying into the Stark tower. The power switches on and the Stark sign lights up. 

"How does it look?" Amelia asks excitingly. 

"Like Christmas, but with more...me. I'm kidding ! More us." 

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards." Pepper rambles. 

"Pepper, you're killing me. Enjoy the moment." 

"Then get in here and I will." Pepper flirts. 

"Ew, guys stop." Amelia pretends to gag. Tony arrives at his skyscraper penthouse and his suit is taken off him by his well designed gadgets. 

"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line." JARVIS voice calls out. Amelia has met Coulson a few times, she likes him. He is nice to her. 

"I'm not in. I'm actually out." Tony lies, trying to avoid the agent. This is Tony's routine with SHIELD. 

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting." 

"Close the line Jarvis. I'm busy." Amelia scoffs at her father's persistence. Pepper and Tony flirt among each other, having their own little moment. Amelia doesn't interfere, she never really does. Instead she goes on her phone and passes the time by playing games. 

"Sir, the telephone...I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten." Jarvis voice calls out again. Amelia raises her eyebrows in surprise. It is not usual that anything can override Jarvis. Agent Phil Coulson appears out of the elevator doors and walks up to the group. 

"Security breach," Tony starts and then points at Pepper. "That's on you." 

"Mr. Stark." Coulson addresses. 

"Phil! Come in." Pepper calls out. 

"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." Tony comments back, flashing his daughter a toothy grin to make her laugh. 

"Come on in, we're celebrating." Amelia calls out, overing Phil a glass of champagne. 

"Which is exactly why he can't stay. It's a family thing." Tony quickly jumps in, taking the glass for himself. 

"We need you to look this over," The agent says, handing Tony a file. "as soon as possible." A feeling of intuition comes to Amelia. She tries to get a good look at the file but fails. 

"I don't like being handed things. " Tony remarks, continuing to be difficult.

"That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Pepper jokes, passing her glass of champagne to Coulson and taking the file in return. She then takes he glass back and hands the file over to Stark. "Thank you." 

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday." Tony continues. 

"This isn't  a consultation." Phil replies, oddly calm. 

"Ohhh! Is this about the Avengers?...Oh Which I..know nothing about." Amelia slips out and nervously smiles. 

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify." 

"Oh we didn't know that." Pepper says purposely to not leave Amelia alone in her slip up. She knows how anxious Amelia can get, especially from SHIELD members. 

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others." Tony continues, the bitterness is dripping from his words. 

"Okay, that we did know." Pepper jokes....well it wasn't really a joke. 

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Phil comments back. 

"Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?" Tony gestures. Pepper walks over to Tony who places the files into his own databases. 

"How are you, Amelia?" Phil asks her genuinely as Tony and Pepper talk. "How are you feeling?" He looks at her like he knows something she doesn't. She has gotten used to that look, especially by SHIELD. 

"I'm alright, you know. School and whatever." She says kindly. "What about you?" 

"Eh-" 

"What is all of this?" Pepper asks, cutting Phil off. 

"This is, uh..." Tony trails off. he expands his arms and different profiles appear in a holographic form floating in the air in front of Tony and Pepper. "This." Screens appear of Captain America in action, the Hulk roaring as he attacks the army at Culver University, Thor fighting the destroyer and another is of Loki and the Tesseract. Amelia stares at the one of Loki, not knowing his name or who he even is. He just looks so familiar. 

"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight." Pepper says. 

"Tomorrow." Tony more demands. He wanted to have a great night with his two best girls. 

"You guys got homework. You both have a lot of homework." Pepper says, getting ready to leave. 

"You think I am going to let my daughter anywhere near this? Are you out of your mind?" 

"Amelia has a bright mind, she might help you out. You know she always gets the ideas you can't finish. You can use her." Pepper argues back to Tony, mostly for Amelia. She knows the girl is struggling and a project like this might help set her straight like it did her father. Tony doesn't reply. Instead he takes Pepper's words into consideration. He is hoping something does help the girl. "Work hard." She says, giving Tony a kiss. She then walks to Amelia and hugs her. "Stay safe, ok?" 

"What? You aren't going to tell me to stay safe?" Tony calls out. 

"You never do." Pepper answers and leaves with Phil. 

"Come on, we got work to do." Tony says, grabbing the holographic tesseract. However, the image of Loki burned in the back fo the girl's mind.