Adopted Assassin [COMPLETED]

Chapter 12

.12
TONY: STARK TOWER
PRESENT DAY

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She didn't call me Dad. She didn't forgive me. What should I do?

"Tony, you should see something." Bruce interrupted my thoughts. I walked over to the monitors and saw that he took down my Tessa search and pulled up the ideas for our bomb. There was a picture, more red than anything else. "The red is the deathly chemical." I didn't really want to do it, but HYDRA had to be over with. They took Tess, now they will suffer.

"If it's all for HYDRA, Banner, then let's get to work," I said. We stayed up all night. Since Natasha's floor was right below us, I heard screaming and crying throughout the night that sounded like my daughter. Always following it was Natasha's voice. I listened to the conversation, and didn't really pay attention to the task at hand. But in the morning, the bomb was halfway complete. The shell was chemical proof, had the timer, and Bruce did a lot of other stuff to make it better. Now, the chemicals just had to be added. And they were really hard to find. Almost too hard too find. But we had them ship in through the night.

"Hey, guys, still working on the bomb?" Tessa said as she walked in the room in pajamas. She looked tired, but wide awake at the same time.

"Yeah, but the timer won't work right!" Bruce said, agitated. Tessa walked over and came in-between Bruce and I. She looked at the circuitry and inspected the wires. Tessa finally looked up.

"Shouldn't the red wire be where the blue wire is? If it isn't, then the wiring's messed up and the circuit won't work right. And then, the shell isn't really made right. There should be a little place where the timer would click in, so the timer won't fall out. As a result, the bomb would be a bust and it would go off unexpectedly." We gaped at her. "What? I seriously thought you two were the smart ones here," she said jokingly, smiling at us.

"How did you know that?!" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, with nothing to do every day for eight years except train, I caught up on a little reading."

"I forgot that you were smarter than me," I said sarcastically. I turned back to the bomb and made the adjustments that were suggested by Tessa. "Is that okay? I mean, since you're smarter than me, I -" She hit me in the arm. "And obviously stronger," I continued, rubbing my now sore arm, "I need to make sure it won't go off instantaneously." She shook her head and grinned. Tess took a look at it.

"It should work and be okay now, but add in the chemicals carefully," she warned. Bruce brought over the three vials with the chemicals we needed. He poured in one vial at a time until we were done. I closed up the bomb and high-fived them both.

"Sir, I need you to take a look at something." JARVIS startled me. He showed me the receipt for all of the chemicals.

"What, JARVIS?" I asked him. "I know that that's the final bill for the chemicals. So -- what's the problem?"

"Oh. My. God," Tess gasped. "Tony, I think that you ordered the wrong chemical for the bomb."

"What?" I turned back around and looked through the chemicals. Check, check, and - uh oh. "I didn't know that I ordered that!" I exclaim. "JARVIS, tell everyone to get out of the building. Now. Scan it and count down on the monitor."

"Right away, sir," my AI responded. The clock came onto the monitor.

"Tony, we have less than a minute. Let's go," Bruce said. He walked out of the room.

"JARVIS, is everyone out of the building?" Tessa asked.

"Yes, but Mr. Barton is worried about you, Miss."

"Tell him I'll be out," she said. She walked over to the bomb. "I have to try something first."

"Tess, what are you doing?" I asked her. "We have to go now!" She turned slowly to me with her head down.

She mumbled something.

"What did you say?"

"I can stop the bomb."