Iron Beta: Life as Tony Stark's Daughter

Chapter 20

A/N

I’m back! As promised, here is the resolve to the cliffhanger in 19.

I got a 90 on an exam I had today, is it sad that one of the first things to go through my mind is ‘I can’t wait to put this in my next author’s note!’? I need a life, badly.

WARNING: Graphic description of injuries.

Chapter 20

Tony’s POV

The explosion was blinding, even with the enhancements of the suit. I had to force full power to all of my thrusters just to stay still hovering after the shockwave hit.

Once my body was stable, my mind was at war. The rarely used ‘common sense’ part of my brain was saying to move away from the explosion! Move away NOW! while the ‘parental’ part of my brain was saying Taylor! Taylor was in there, go get her you idiot!

They did this quite often.

I shoved away the common sense and angled the thrusters for maximum speed. My daughter was in there and I was going to get her, and nobody, nor nothing, could stop me from doing so.

The flight to the burnt-out shell of a warehouse took mere seconds, and my ears were filled with worried voices the moment I touched down.

“Iron Man, do you see anything?” I could hear the plea in Steve’s voice as his leader mask cracked, Taylor mattered to everyone on this team so much.

“Negative, Captain, not yet. I suggest you mobilize the team, I could use all hands on deck.”

“Roger that, Iron Man. We’ll be there in five.”

The comms fell silent as the team was rounded up and I began to sift ever so carefully through the rubble.

“Jarvis, turn on the heat sensors. And scan for Beta I.”

“Heat sensors engaged, sir. Reading from the suit are coming from about five miles south of your position.”

I swore softly. The whole Big Ben fiasco. She had shed her suit to prevent overheating and then used it as a battering ram on the way out after it had gotten stuck. Normally I’d be congratulating her quick thinking, but now I knew she had destroyed all easy ways of finding her along with all protection she might have had.

Well, I sigh, her last name is Stark. And we don’t do easy.

My heat sensor shrieks as it registers five new signatures. I look up and momentarily disengage the sensors to clear my vision and watch as my team jogs towards me, Natasha and Clint sprinting a few feet ahead.

“Stark! Got anything yet?” Clint shouts as soon as he is in hearing range, the hawk’s voice so hopeful for his sparrow.

I shake my head, and watch as his face falls momentarily and Natasha growls what sounds like a curse in Russian before both of their masks are rebuilt and they set themselves to joining Cap, Thor, and Hulk in digging furiously.

“Spread out. Iron Man, take the northeast corner. Widow, go northwest. Hawkeye, you’re center on the right side, I’m center left. Thor, southwest corner, Hulk, can you take the corner behind you?” Cap’s voice is soft yet commanding and no one argues, we all want to achieve the same goal and quickly.

We dig in silence. I’m glad because I’m trying to shove back all the ‘what if’s’ and memories and emotions alike, essentially doing what I do best: building a robot.