Stark Mansion
In Emma's room, the young now eleven-year-old was standing in the middle of her room, wearing a red sweater and tight blue jeans. She fiddled with her blonde hair, as she crinkled her eyebrows.
"You have your thinking face on."
Emma rolled her eyes, before she looked at her tablet, placed on her desk, to see she was on a video call with her best friend. Peter Parker. "I'm trying to figure out how to work these things," Emma said before she looked at her watch, which had more technology to it, props to Tony. She pressed on the watch, and something attached to her palms. Almost like metal exoskeleton blasters. Emma stuttered a smile before she examined them more carefully. "Cool," she muttered.
"What is it...exactly?"
"I don't know, Petey. But I'm sure Dad added more than just this," Emma said before she looked at her brown haired, brown eyed best friend through her tablet. "Let's test this." Emma touched her palms and it lit up. And made an eerie noise, like the noise the Iron Man blasters make. Emma was about to see what one of her gadgets was gonna do when-
Buzz
Buzz
Buzz
Emma sighed frustratedly as Happy Hogan is calling popped up on her tablet.
"What? What is it, Emma?"
"Peter. I have to go. My dad's bodyguard is calling me," Emma in annoyance.
"So, Wait, you're telling me that the Tony Stark's bodyguard is-"
"Bye, Peter," Emma said before she hung up on Peter, then answered Happy, but when she did, all she saw was his forehead and eyes. "Hello?" Emma asked, then Happy showed his face. "What is this?"
"Okay. Sassy. I need your help."
"Why me? I'm only twelve," Emma said.
"Well, you're the only one helpful around here nowadays." Emma rolled her eyes before she started to rub her forehead in utter exhaustion. "Okay. I got something going on here."
"What is it?" Emma asked.
"Did you know that when I would tell people I was Iron Man's bodyguard, they'd laugh in my face?" Emma looked at him oddly as Happy just continued very seriously. "I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job, I'm watching your mom."
"Okay, Happy," Emma said, sighing annoyed.
"Yes?"
"What- what is going on...exactly?" Emma asked.
"Pepper. I mean, your mom-"
"Yes, I know my mom's name," Emma said.
"Alright, so she's meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome."
"Right," Emma said.
"I couldn't make his face at first, right? You know I'm good with faces."
"Oh, right. Yeah. You're the...best," Emma said.
"Yeah. Well, so I run his credentials, I make him Aldrich Killian. We actually met the guy back in...and by we, I mean your dad and I, in Switzerland."
"Uh-Huh. Okay. What else?" Emma asked.
"Well, of course, your dad doesn't remember Killian."
"Of course he doesn't. Killian isn't, one, not a blonde woman, and two with b-" Emma started.
"Please don't finish that sentence."
"Okay," Emma muttered.
"So, at first it was fine, they were talking business, but now it's like getting weird. He's showing her a big brain."
"Ew. My ears," Emma said.
"No! Not that!"
"Then his what?" Emma asked.
"Big brain, and she likes it. Here, let me show you. Hold on. See?"
Happy held his tablet up and pointed it towards Pepper's glass office, where Killian and Pepper are standing close together on the coffee table watching the 3D image of the brain. But all Emma saw was Happy pointing the tablet camera at himself. "Look at what? You watching them? Flip the screen and then we can get started," Emma said.
"I'm not a tech genius like your dad. Just...just trust me, get down down here."
"Happy, I can't get down there. Okay. So just. Flip the screen, then I can see what they're doing," Emma said.
"I can't! I don't know how to flip the screen!"
"Happy, shush. Just calm down. Okay? Tap on the screen. There should be two buttons. The hang up button, and the flip screen button," Emma explained.
"...oh...yeah, I...I got it."
The screen flipped to Pepper and Killian and Emma squinted her eyes at the screen. "Mom, what are you doing?" Emma muttered, then Happy flipped the screen back to his huge face, making Emma jump.
"Now. I don't trust this guy. He's got another guy with him, he's shifty."
"Well, have you talked to my dad about this?" Emma asked.
"Yeah."
Emma just blinked at him, waiting for him to elaborate on what Tony said. "And?!" Emma asked.
"He just said to secure the perimeter."
"Seriously Dad?" Emma asked herself then she looked at the tablet. "You should do, what you think you should do."
"On it," Happy said before he hung up. Emma slightly frowned but then Tony ran in, and Emma jumped at him.
"What?" Emma asked.
"So he listens to you? A TWELVE year old?" Tony asked and Emma smiled.
Stark Industries
Back in Pepper's office, after Killian had showed her his new research, "Imagine if you could hack into the hard drive of any living organism and recode its DNA," Killian said.
"It would be incredible," Pepper said and Killian smiled. "Unfortunately, to my ears it also sounds highly weaponizable. As in enhanced soldiers, private armies, and Tony is not..."
"Tony. Tony. You know, I invited Tony to join AIM thirteen years ago, he turned me down. But something tells me now there is a new genius on the throne who doesn't have to answer to Tony anymore, and who has slightly less of an ego," Killian explained.
"It's gonna be a no, Aldrich. As much as I'd like to help you," Pepper said.
———
Outside of the building, Pepper walked out with Killian. "Well, I can't say that I'm not disappointed. But then as my father used to say, Failure is the fog through which we glimpse triumph," Killian said and Pepper nodded.
"That's very deep," Pepper said and Killian smiled. "And I have no idea what it means."
"Well, me neither. He was kind of an idiot, my old man," Killian said and Pepper laughed. "I'm sure I'll see you again, Pepper."
Killian gently kissed her on the cheek and walked off. She watched him as he walked off, then Pepper noticed Happy coming towards her, causing her to look flustered. "Happy," Pepper said with a smile.
"The car is ready, if you're ready to go," Happy said. Pepper glanced over to Killian as he walked towards his car.
"Yes. I just um...God, I forgot my... other thing, so... I'm just gonna," Pepper said before she walked back into the building.
Then Happy glanced over to Killian's car and as it drove away, Happy took a photo of the license plate.
Stark Mansion
That night, when Pepper returned home, and as she got out of the car, she saw a large stuffed rabbit outside the Mansion that Tony had bought for her.
———
Tony & Emma were in the living roo, waiting for Pepper to get home. Emma was sitting on the ground by the couch, watching some TV, and doing some homework while Tony was on the couch, in his Iron Man suit.
When Pepper walked in, the two both tensed up. "Hi, mommy!" Emma explained and Pepper looked at her with a smile as she closed the door behind her.
"I'm sorry, I'm late," Pepper said but then she noticed Tony in his suit on the couch. "I was- What the- What is that?!"
"Uhh," Emma said before she looked in between them. "Daddy just...is chilling."
Pepper forced a laugh before looking back at Tony. "You're wearing this in the house now? Around Emma? Really?" Pepper asked.
"It's okay, mommy. Daddy is just trying to keep us safe," Emma said and Pepper rolled her eyes.
"What is that, like Mark 15?" Pepper asked and Tony looked at the small number marked 42 on the suit.
"Uh...yeah. Something like that. You know everybody needs a hobby," Tony said.
"Oh, and you have to wear your hobby in the living room?" Pepper asked, and Tony rose and walked toward her while Emma stood up so she was in the middle of them.
"Just breakin' it in. You know, it's always a little pinchy in the gooey bag at first, so," Tony said before he shook his ass and Pepper laughed. "Oh hey, did you see your Christmas present?"
"Yes, I did. I...I don't know how I could have missed that Christmas present. Is it gonna fit through the door?" Pepper asked.
"Well actually, uh...it's a good question. I got a team of guys comin' tomorrow, they're gonna blow out that wall," Tony said and Pepper nodded. "So, uh...tense? Good day?" He then walked up behind her and started to massage her shoulders. "Ooh shoulders, a little naughty. Naughty girl. I don't wanna harp on this, but did you like the custom rabbit?"
Emma watched closely as she saw her dad massage her mom's shoulders, smiling to herself, hoping that one day she'd get what her parents have. Maybe less arguing. "Did I like it?" Pepper asked.
"Nailed it, right?" Tony said.
"Wow. I appreciate the thought very much," Pepper said before turning to face him. "So why don't you lift up that face mask and give me a kiss?"
A disgusted expression plastered across Emma's face. "Ew," she muttered, but then she realized why it would be bad if Pepper tried to open the face mask. "Uh oh."
Tony knocked his metal helmet on him. "Huh. Yup, dammit. No can do. You wanna just kiss it on the..." Tony started to say.
"Uh-huh," Pepper said.
"The facial slit?" Tony finished saying.
"Well, why don't I run down to the garage and see if I can't find a crowbar to shimmy that thing open?" Pepper asked.
"Crowbar. Yeah," Tony said. Pepper started walking towards Tony's lab but Emma ran in front of her.
"But..there's a um..radiation leak, Mommy," Emma said and Tony chuckled to himself.
"I think I'll take my chances, sweetheart," Pepper said.
"But it could be danger-danger mommy," Emma said as Pepper walked past her.
———
In Tony's lab, Pepper quickly walked down the stairs, with Emma following behind, where they saw Tony, not in his Iron Man suit, but exercising as he remotely controlled the suit.
Pepper crossed her arms while Emma had her eyebrows crinkled. "Busted," Tony said, looking at them.
"I'm sorry, daddy," Emma whined and Pepper looked at her shocked, then back at Tony.
"You made Emma help you? This is a new level of lame," Pepper said.
"Sorry," Emma said.
"Sorry," Tony said.
Pepper then noticed food on the counter, and she looked at them even more taken back. "You already had food? On family night? I was gonna make a chicken and we could actually be a normal family," Pepper said.
"We're...not a normal...family," Emma muttered.
"Yes, we had a quick bite. I didn't know if you were comin' home or if you were having drinks with Aldrich Killian. So I had to fed Emma & I," Tony said.
"I was very hungry," Emma said with her bluebell eyes glimmering.
"Aldrich Killian? What are you checking up on me?" Pepper asked.
"Emma was concerned," Tony said.
"I-I was," Emma stuttered.
"Sweetie. You don't have to keep lying for your dad," Pepper said.
"Oh. Okay!" Emma exclaimed.
"And no you're spying on me," Pepper said to Tony.
"I wasn't..." He said but Pepper rolled her eyes.
"I'm putting Emma to bed," Pepper said before taking Emma's hand. Emma tightened her hand with Pepper's with a pout, as Pepper looked down at her.
"But I'm still hungry, mommy," Emma said.
"I'll get you something to eat then bed time," Pepper said as she and Emma started to walk out.
"Wait. Wait. Pep. Hold on," Tony said and the girls stopped, then looked back at him, Emma still pouting and Pepper with her eyebrows raised. "I admit it. I made Emma help me and we had food. My fault. Sorry." Pepper's mad expression faded as Emma's eyes continued to glimmer. "I'm a piping hot mess. It's been going on for a while, I haven't said anything." The girls then walked over to him, as he gave them pleading eyes."Nothing has been the same since New York."
"Oh, really? Well, I didn't notice that, at all," Pepper said sarcastically.
"You experience things and then they're over and you still can't explain 'em. Gods, aliens, other dimensions. I...I'm just a man in a can. The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you moved in. Which is great. Emma loves it. We can see her all the time and each other. I love you, both of you. I'm lucky. But, honey, I can't sleep. You go to bed, I come down here. I do what I know, I tinker," Tony explained and the girls both crinkled their eyebrows in worry. "But threat is imminent, and I have to protect the one thing that I can't live without. That's you two. My only family. My suits, they're uh..."
"Machines," Pepper said.
"But they're part of me," Tony said.
"A distraction," Pepper said.
"Maybe. But the big distraction is this chicken nugget of ours. She is always hungry," Tony said, pinching Emma's cheeks, making her laugh.
———
Later that night, in Tony and Pepper's room, the two were sleeping, when Tony suddenly started having nightmares about New York, from The Avengers, to Emma getting kidnapped, to when he had to get rid of the nuke in space. But hearing him mutter and shake in his sleep, Pepper woke up, and started to shake Tony awake, to assure him it was just a dream. "Tony! Tony! Tony!" Pepper exclaimed.
Suddenly, Pepper was grabbed and shoved off by Mark 42 suit, and this woke Tony up, who commanded the suit. "Power down!" Tony exclaimed, breathing heavily, and the suit shut down, then Tony hit it, causing its pieces to fall apart. He looked over at Pepper who was in shock. "I must have called it in my sleep. That's not supposed to happen. I'll recalibrate the sensors. Can we just...just let me...just let me catch my breath, okay?"
"MOMMY!"
Pepper got up from the floor and gave Tony a look. "Emma is having a nightmare now too. Like father like daughter," Pepper said before she started to leave.
"Don't go, alright? Pepper?" Tony said.
"I'm going to sleep with Emma in her room. Tinker with that," Pepper said before she left the room.