Stark's Perfectly Normal Daughter (S.P.N.D. Book 1)

Chapter 7: Building the Armor

***|Tuesday, May 6th, 2008|***

"Miss Lillian, Mr. Stark has arrived," J.A.R.V.I.S. announces, bringing me out of my book.

Joy crashes over me at the announcement. It has only been three days since dad came home from Afghanistan, but every time he leaves, a part of me always expects to hear the same news I did three months ago. The news that my father is missing and may never come home. If my father hadn't come back, I wouldn't have any family to go too. It isn't like my mother is exactly around. I don't even know her name.

Since dad has come back, I haven't had a nightmare or seen Pitch Black. It probably won't last long, but I am grateful for any time without them.

Dad has been spending a lot of time in the lab. I am down there with him most of the time, helping him with his project. It has given me a better understanding of why he shut down weapon manufacturing, but I'm still nervous about what may happen.

"Thanks J.A.R.V.", I say as I put my bookmark back into place. Moving to the edge of my bed, I stand up and stretch my black wings. Shadow jumps off and lands next to me. Setting my book down on the nightstand, I head downstairs to see dad.

He walks into the living room as I reach the bottom of the stairs. He sees me and comes over, hands in his pockets.

"What did he say?" I ask. Normally I would have gone with dad to see Uncle Rhodes, but dad said that he wanted a private conversation. He was going to tell him about something, but Uncle Rhodey could react in so many ways, especially after he stopped weapons production. My father didn't want me to be a part of that.

Dad thinks for a second before answering. "He said that I need some time." I don't think that is what he said, not the phrasing anyway, but I choose not to say anything.

I change the subject. "You said you had something you wanted to show me?"

"Yeah, in the lab."

He walks away, and I follow close behind. Looking back, I find Shadow laying curled in a ball, sleeping right in the middle of the sun-warmed floor. Going the rest of the way down, I see my father typing in the password.

"After you." He tells me, holding it open.

"Thank you." I look around, taking in the familiar smell of oil and metal and sweat. It smells like home to me. Dad takes a seat at his table, waking up the keyboard.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., you up?"

"For you, sir, always." I bite my lip, trying to figure out what he is doing. The last time he wanted to show me something, my dreams were confirmed and he had an arc reactor in his chest. I have no clue what he wants to show me this time. It could be just about anything.

"I'd like to open a new project file, indexed as Mark II." Dad moves something over to the hologram table, as J.A.R.V.I.S. replies.

"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?"

"Actually, I don't know who outside of this room I can trust right now." I furrow my brows, trying to figure out what is going on. "Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server."
"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?" My dad expands the hologram, and what comes up appears to be a type of armor.

"What is this?" I ask.

"What I escaped in."

"Excuse me? You built a suit and broke out in that."

"Basically."

"It's a wonder you're alive," I mutter. The again, I think most of the things my dad does is either half-baked plans or just dumb luck. Or it's carefully thought out, but that is pretty rare.