Through Her Eyes

Chapter 6

Dad didn't get home until 5 p.m. You'd think after spending three months being held hostage in Afghanistan, that all he would want to do is come home and be in a familiar place. But he strode into the garage as if he had never left, a smile forming on his face as he took in my appearance. My hair was pulled into a messy bun, I held a spanner in my hand, and there was fresh grease all over the jumpsuit and no doubt on my face.

"Hey Dad," I resisted the urge to run up and hug him again. I didn't want to get his shirt dirty.

"Hey, I'm going upstairs to change and get rid of this stupid sling but I'll be back down in a sec okay? There's something I want to show you," He flashed me a grin before pushing open the door and bounding up the stairs, pulling off the sling as he did so. I could hear talking a few minutes later. No doubt Pepper was questioning Dad about his recent career change.

I grabbed a clean rag and went over to the side mirror of the Mustang. I began wiping the grease off my face. Just after I'd gotten the last of it off, Dad returned but in a T-shirt and slacks this time. Much less formal. As he walked in, I noticed that he'd already cut a circle in his shirt, so the Arc Reactor could be seen easily.

Before he could say anything I asked, "Are you sure you've thought this through Dad?"

"You know, that's the exact same thing Pepper just asked me. And I'll give you the same answer; Yes."

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. "Fine," But secretly I was a little bit glad. I didn't care if we lost a little money. I always hated knowing we were making those weapons.

"Now, come over here," He walked over to his computer area and began typing away. As I watched him, it felt like he had never left. There were still something's that needed discussing but they could wait until later.

"Jarvis, you up?"

"For you sir, always," He responded.

"I want to enter a new project. Title is 'Mark I'."

Suddenly something appeared on the holographic workstation beside me. As I leaned down and studied it, I realised this must have been the suit Dad had used to escape. Pretty impressive considering he did it in a cave. He must have kept the designs and scanned them. Dad picked up his light pen and began deleting parts of the armour he didn't want.

"Is this for the Stark Industries server?" Jarvis asked him.

Dad hesitated for a second. Everything he had designed had been on the Stark Industries server. "No, for now keep this on my private server."

"Working on a secret project, sir?" He replied. I was wondering the same damn thing.

"Cant risk this one falling into the wrong hands," It suddenly clicked in my mind. Dad was obviously thinking someone who worked for him had sent shipments of our weapons to the terrorists in Afghanistan. There was no other way they could have gotten that many. So now, he didn't want anyone but himself (and maybe me) to be able to access it. "Maybe mine can do some good."

"Your actually going to make this, aren't you? Again I mean, but better." I walked around the hologram station, taking in all the little details of the armour. He continued to delete some of the structures before he stood up and smiled at me.

"Yep, but with your help of course,"

I couldn't help but smile. I loved working on things together with Dad. He often told me stories about him and myself at age 3, sitting down in the garage working on projects. He said that's when he realized I would turn out a genius, like him.

"You up for it?" He asked. I could see a small flicker of doubt in his eyes.

"Hell yes!"

"Good, but there's something we else we need to build before we start on this."