I'm Not A Weapon {Avengers}

Chapter Two

"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you," Dad informed. It was nighttime in New York City, and Dad was suited up under the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. After I got home from lunch, Dad commandeered my leftovers and we watched a movie only to end up falling asleep cuddled up together. Pepper came home and had to wake us up, so Dad could get back to work on his clean energy project. At the moment, he was disconnecting transition lines that connected to the tower to replace them with a Stark Energy Reactor. If it worked, Stark Tower would run on clean energy. Pepper and I were handling the objective from inside the tower.

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?" Pepper asked.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

Pepper was in awe as we stared at the hologram screen. "Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over, and it actually works?"

Dad's face popped up on the screen while Pep and I appeared on a monitor in his helmet. "I assume. Light her up."

I smiled as Pepper flipped the switch. "How does it look?"

"Like Christmas, but with more... me."

"How humble of you," I snidely remarked.

"Easy, squirt, or you'll be getting coal in your stocking."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Oh, please," I muttered.

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign," Pepper started, ignoring the father-daughter banter. "You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings."

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

"Then get in here and I will," Pepper said suggestively, making me gag. Dad landed on the balcony and his robotic assistants in the floorboards started to take off his suit piece by piece.

As Dad sauntered into the penthouse, Jarvis informed, "Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D is on the line."

"I'm not in," Dad replied. "I'm actually out."

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Grow a spine, Jarvis. I got a date." Dad walked up behind Pepper and me while we observed the progress on the monitors.

"Levels are holding steady... I think," Pepper stated.

Dad scoffed arrogantly. "Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: How does it feel to be a genius?"

"Well, ha," Pepper playfully scoffed while turning her back to the monitors. "I really wouldn't know now, would I?"

"What do you mean? All this came from you."

"No. All this came from that," Pepper replied, poking at Dad's mini Arc Reactor.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself... twelve percent of the credit."

I audibly tsked and shook my head. "It was nice knowing you," I muttered under my breath.

"Twelve percent?"

Between my comment and Pepper's annoyed yet somewhat playful tone, Dad was trying to backtrack. "An argument could be made for fifteen."

"Stop," I warned in a whisper. He sent me a confused glance before looking back at Pepper.

"Twelve percent? For my baby?" She incredulously asked while going over to the wine bucket.

Dad desperately followed her, though he hid it pretty well in a suave exterior. "Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."