Iron Sparks

Chapter 15: I'm Home

'I'll take these to your room, you go see your dad.' Happy says kindly. 

'Thanks Happy!' I grin and I sprint into the house, full of excitement to see my dad. 

'Welcome back Miss. Stark.' A familiar voice says.

'Hey Jarvis, how you been?'

'Fine I think. Your father is in the lab if you wish to see him.'

'Great!' I smile mischievously. 'Don't tell him I'm here, I want to surprise him.' 

'As you wish Miss. Stark.'

'Thanks Jarvis.' I beam, grabbing a cookie off the kitchen counter before heading down to the lab to see my dad. 

I joyfully skip down the stairs, full of energy despite the long journey. I enter my pin and quietly sneak in. My eyes widen. Dad is stabbing himself with some gun thing. I stand at the door, waiting to see if he'll notice me as I munch on the cookie. I don't try to be subtle with my loud crunching but, whatever dad's doing, he seems to be highly invested in because he does't look up once. 

The lab is messy, as usual, with ideas and plans spread across the table. I notice there's a Christmas tree in the corner. I roll my eyes. That'll be dad's pathetic attempt at decorating. The rest of the house didn't look very festive, maybe he was waiting for me to decorate. I see a party hat on the floor and place it on Dum-E's head. The robot squeaks to me as a hello. I put a finger to my lips, instructing it to be quiet. 

Bored, I lean against the door. Dad still hasn't noticed me. Usually I would be upset, but as I have matured, I know he probably lost track of time, or didn't expect me to be home yet. Whatever the reason I still want to surprise him; so I will wait patiently. I haven't seen him for six months, I can wait a few more minutes. 

'Ah!' Dad exclaims as he shoots himself. I hope he's not created a serum or anything. We do not need another Hulk. As he wipes the blood away with a tissue, I can see a pattern of red dots lining up his arm. Maybe it has something to do with his suit? Despite now glancing up, dad still doesn't see me. Perhaps Nat taught me the art of invisibility a little too well...

'Sir, please may I request just a few hours to calibrate-'

'Nope.' Dad cuts Jarvis off. 'Micro repeater implanting system complete.'  

Ooh I was correct, it is to do with the suit. 

'As you wish sir. I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore.' Jarvis states, his sarcastic response making me snigger. 

'Which I will.' Dad suddenly glances up. 'Jarvis when does Katy get here?'

Huh, finally remembering me. 

'She should be here momentarily.' He lies. 

I smile, mentally thanking Jarvis for not blowing my cover. 

'So we should still have some time...right let's do this.' Dad gets up and moves over to his suits. He suddenly stops next to the robot. 'Hi Dum-E, how did you get that hat on your head...?' He asks, somewhat confused. He shakes his head, brushing the thought off quickly.

Dum-E holds a camera, ready to start filming whatever dad is about to get himself into. I creep closer and whip out my phone, ready to record too. I have a feeling this could make some good blackmail.