REBEL OF THE BALL

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Tony realized that leaving a persuasive fifteen year-old kid alone with his utterly kind-hearted secretary for three months wasn't a good idea.

In fact, it really was a bad idea.

He knew he left her here in California, fuming about the Redmond thing but he didn't actually thought that Urania would get back at him through this.

This — as in a humungous dark dog, with yellowish teeth and horrifying rough tongue coated in drool, which was dripping on his immaculate floor.

He winced, not at the fact that the canine was growling, hackles raised, and looking at him as if he was a thief, but at the sight of his shiny floors being coated with dog saliva. There's a lot of possibilities — dirt, dog poop, dog food — ew. And what if he stepped on it? Tony could only imagine the horrors of what this beast could give.

"Uh…" Tony lifted a finger, uncertain of what to do but he was pretty sure he didn't want those fangs sinking in on his legs. "Good boy, good — wait, are you even a boy? Jarvis — what the hell's going on here? Last time I left, there was only one troublemaker and that was her. And now…"

"Apparently, Ms. Stark has decided to adopt a full-grown pet Sir — by the means of a dog." Jarvis responded.

"I can see that." He tried to whistle it down — dogs are sensitive to whistling, aren't they? "Come on boy, sit. S-I-T. Sit."

But the dog only started to bark. Huge, deep booms that echoed throughout the large mansion. The billionaire clamped a hand on both his ears, annoyed and somewhat pissed.

"Stop it! Bad dog!" He scolded but much to his disbelief, the animal bounded towards him, leaving him no choice but to run.

He was yelling incoherent things — most of them curses and swearing as he ran around his own home, trying to avoid those evil teeth and claws. It was getting ridiculous.

"Rocket! Stop it! Stay!" Urania's voice cut through the chaos as she reappeared nearby, arms crossed and looking smug.

Tony was breathing hard. "I wasn't running away."

She rolled her eyes. "U-huh. I can see that." Then she walked towards where the dog was sitting, although quiet, its eyes were fixed on Tony. Even though dogs can't talk, Tony got the impression that it hates him. "He doesn't know you yet — he's like this with strangers. He nearly bit Happy when he brought him here."

"I never told you to get a dog."

"Well, you did gave me the thought that I can do whatever I want." She replied, scratching the beast's ears. "So, yeah. Though I'm sorry for what I did, I'll have to admit I brought him just to piss you off. And well, it's working."

"I want him out of here. Immediately." He ordered, straightening up and avoiding eye contact with the dog in case it would change its mind again.

Nia frowned. "You can't do that. He's sleeping in my room. And he's trained, you know? I taught him myself."

Tony snorted. "Oh yeah? Like what? You guys share a bathroom?"

"Nope." She made the 'p' on the word pop on her lips. And she grinned the kind of grin that made him feel like she already did something nasty. "Actually…he's using your bathroom."

Yep, pretty much nasty stuff.

"My…bathroom." Tony repeated, staring at her.

"No biggie. I mean, you were away for quite a long time so I assumed it was okay — since your room's just across from mine. It's okay, right?" She beamed, her gray eyes shining with enthusiasm and joy.

But her father's face was opposite from hers. In fact, Tony was looking at Urania as if she'd gone crazy. "'It's okay?'" He repeated. "The hell it isn't! You better kick that thing out — I don't fancy animals so much. Why do you need a dog, anyway?"

Urania's eyes widened as she covered Rocket's ears, as if the dog could understand their argument.

"Stop it! You're hurting his feelings!" She protested.

He rolled his eyes. "Just get him outta here."

"No — he's staying with me."

But Tony was serious. He was shaking his head, disapproval was written on his face. Animals were not his thing — maybe that was the reason why he prefers machines over living creatures sometimes. "I said no, Urania."

But Urania wasn't giving up too. Much to his disbelief, she dropped on her knees and began to beg. "Please don't send him away! I'll take care of him — I'll fix his mess, I'll make sure he won't be naughty again! Just please, please let me have him. Please Tony — I swear I'll be nice!"

Her dad looked at her, unable to believe that her — the girl with razor sharp-wit and clever comebacks and a prideful nature — was actually pleading with him. Wow, there must be a first for everything whenever she's around.

Tony didn't know why. Maybe because it's already late, maybe because he was tired, or maybe because deep inside, he suddenly felt sorry for the kid. Sure, she was lonely. And since he might be mostly away, she'll probably need company.

And besides, he needs to show her that he isn't that heartless.

"All right. Fine." He suddenly decided with a sigh, unable to believe he let her won.

Urania punched the air as she jumped, yelling gleefully.

"But you better make sure Spikey over there wouldn't lick my toilet — or even go there within a mile radius. Got it?" Tony added as a warning.

She frowned. "His name's Rocket."

"Sure, whatever. But I'm serious."

But Urania was already making her way up the steps and to her room, but she waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah. I'll try."

"You better!" Tony yelled but she already disappeared.

"Urania?" Nia heard her father's voice echo throughout the almost-empty mansion.

She squinted against her reflection on the bathroom mirror. What now?

And God, hearing her Tony call her by her first name sounds weird. It's like they didn't know each other.

Well, technically, they still don't know each other that much yet anyway.

She stalked out of the bathroom, passing by Rocket who looked up, out of the guest room she now call 'her room' and poked her head out once she neared the hallway.

"Whash?" She said, toothbrush in her mouth.

Tony whirled around, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise to see him grinning wide, eyes excited. "Come on, I wanna show you something."

"Whash ish ih?" Nia said thickly, spattering the floor with a bit of foam.

"Just something."

He sounded pretty excited about it — which was quite a rare case considering how stressful the entire day have been. Even Urania could feel the tension building up inside the car — Pepper kept brushing her pants though it was as clean as ever, Colonel Rhodes was talking too much and Happy was unusually quiet. But Tony…well, who could ever read the Tony Stark?

Nia just shrugged and hurried about to do her business.

Ten minutes later, she padded down bare feet to her father's garage, a Pop-Tart dangling on her mouth, wearing a too-big shirt (one of the things she owned and brought with her) and beach shorts, with her hair tied in an untidy knot on top of her head. The doors instantly slid open when she passed through.

"I didn't hear you typing in the password. You're supposed to have a password." Tony said as soon as Urania reached him.

She waved a hand away. "I did a couple of things with Jarvis' interface when you were gone."

"U-huh." His back was turned against her and it looked like he was busy fussing over something on his visual computer.

"I was hoping you won't notice. It was just a few tweaks, anyway." She explained further as she chewed and hopped on a vacant stool. Nia crossed her arms, disgruntled. "What am I here for, exactly?"

"Creating or improving?" Her father suddenly asked.

Her brows furrowed. "Uh, what?"

He didn't even spare her a glance. Seriously, did the excited Tony version got flushed down the toilet? "I was asking you a question. Which do you think you're much better at? Creating or improving?"

"I…" Nia frowned at her father's visible back. "I can't see any relevance to that question as to why I'm here."

"My question was perfectly understandable. I need an answer."

"But I don't —"

"Answer."

"What are you —"

"Answer."

"This is —"

"Just gimme an answer."

"All right already!" Urania said exasperatedly, weary of how annoying her dad could be. "I'm better at improving stuff. Now let me ask — why?"

Without any second thoughts, Tony swiped her half-eaten Pop Tart — much to her irritation and said between bites "Because of this."

"Wha —" Nia was about to speak up when she suddenly spotted a file floating around her head. It contained some sort of blueprints on something that required a superbly powered-up engine. And before she could even protest, Tony swiped it away and encrypted it with an intricate lock code.

"What the hell was that? Bring it back!" Urania demanded, rising from her chair. "I thought you were gonna show it to me! I haven't even taken a good look at it!"

"It's supposed to be a surprise. It won't be much of a thrill when you've actually seen it."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why did you call me here then? You said you were gonna show me something."

Honestly, Urania had enough of Tony's talks. Though she have to admit, this kind of conversation with her father's quite endearing, but there are times that her head was starting to spin from all this talking. It's a tough job, having to keep Tony to talk straight and direct, Urania had to give Pepper a hundred points for that.

"Did I? Well, bad news kiddo — I couldn't. Not yet."

She opened her mouth to protest, kicking her legs in objection, almost feeling like a little kid but Tony raised a hand and added "Look. I'm planning on building something big."

Nia eyed him, one eyebrow cocked. "You said you're not going to make weapons anymore. So what are you up to now? Build toys and stuff for kids?"

"I was thinking of something like a wearable Optimus Prime. Only man-sized. And oh — it can soar up to a thousand feet in the air. How'd you like that?"

"A remote-controlled dummy that could fly? You already got a plane. Why need it?"

"I'm serious, kid."

"Well, I am too." She said plainly but after seeing her father's deflated expression, she added quickly "Okay, fine. I'm biting into it. But why do it, Tony? And why are you telling me all this?"

Tony studied the fifteen year-old's face. For a second there, he actually thought that he was looking at his younger self — well, only with shorter hair and brown eyes and of course, his self not being a girl. "Did I ever told you how I ended up here? On how I managed to come back?" She shook his head. "Oh, I didn't? Uh — oh, yeah. Sorry but — well, the thing is, I built something, you know. I had someone help me."

Urania's face was difficult to read. "Really? Who?"

"His name was Yinsen. He was a pretty brilliant guy — a lame cook, a good assistant, a hell of a doctor but yeah, he was a good man." For some reason, all Tony could remember of his former companion was the fact that he had been lying down, coughing up blood, dying as he had saved his life.

"Wait — was? What happened? Is he allright?"

He forced himself a sad smile, his gut feeling as if it had been ripped off. "He's dead, Urania."

"Holy shit, no." She whispered, hands covering her mouth. Tony raised a finger, warning her about the language.

"And yeah. He saved me — saved my life. Because of him, I'm still here."

He looked down on his daughter, who sat on the stool, frozen, her face pale.

"And it made me realize that I should…I should at least, do something — something that could help. The others, I mean. Something that really mattered rather than just place my name on boxes of missiles and ammunitions." Tony's voice was hushed, and he wasn't looking at his daughter anymore. "So, I need your help."

Urania stilled, her gray eyes wide as saucers. "Y-You? Need my help?"

Tony shrugged, trying to act noncommittal. "Yeah…since you said you're pretty good at technical and improving stuff. And you play robot games, yeah? I need a few ideas. I'm hiring you as my assistant."

"You need my help…" His daughter repeated slowly, as if trying to absorb each word. "Wow…I'm — I'm actually surprised, to be honest."

The billionaire patted her lightly at the shoulder, grinning. "I know. It's such an honor to be working alongside your dad, right?"

She tried to frown, but her eyes were gleaming with excitement. "No, it's an honor to be working alongside the great Tony Stark. Don't suck on it too much, Dad."

He let out a laugh, relieved. "Well then, it's nice to have you aboard the Mark project, Miss Stark." He held out his hands.

She shook her head but took it anyway. "Mark project." She repeated. "Lousy name, but yeah, still cool. So — when do we start, boss?"

"Soon — but we still have to go check on one of our possible sidekicks. We're visiting an officer tomorrow."

Nia wished for four additional pairs of eyes.

If only human heads were designed to swivel around our neck like a bottle cap, she would have done it long ago. The dark-haired girl was staring at each displayed military aircraft with wide, amazed eyes and her mouth was really hanging open.

"Hey, hey — what are you doing, kid? No gawking — we're on a tight schedule, remember?" Tony said to her loudly, since he was already a few meters ahead of her. He hated to ruin the moment since it was his first time seeing Urania so awestruck, but he was left with no choice. They really are pressed for time.

She harrumphed and walked quickly to catch up with him. Although dressed in tight jeans jammed into Timberland boots, a short military jacket with a black tank top underneath, she was comfortable and at least, she could run, which was a good thing because Tony was walking as if he really needed to go to the bathroom. But every so often, Nia casted coveting glances at each fighter plane they passed through, a little pissed at how Tony could just ignore those pieces of machinery.

"Hey, Tony." She suddenly called out, struck with a new idea.

The billionaire glanced at her wearily. "What?"

He was a bit wary as she walked-skipped alongside him. Honestly, this girl is too unpredictable. "Being a daughter means I can ask you something if I really do want it, right?" She asked self-righteously, staring at her feet.

Tony had no answer to that. But to make her assume he has, he lifted his shoulders and dropped them. It was enough. But it seems like Urania was a bit too preoccupied so it didn't matter anyway.

"And as a parent, you're obliged to whether accept or reject, right?" She continued on, still not meeting his eyes.

He gave her a puzzled look. "And where is this conversation going, exactly?"

Urania stopped in her tracks, craned her neck to the right and simply stared. "Since you're a billionaire and all, could you buy me one of those jets?" She asked innocently and stabbed a finger to one of the slimmer, more advanced fighter planes parked along the corner.

Tony looked at her as if she's gone mad. Maybe she did. "Request denied."

She dropped her arms. "What? Already? But you didn't think of it through!"

Her protests fell on deaf ears as her father continued to walk — towards a group of soldiers huddled on one of the jets, following a tanned military officer dressed in a jumpsuit.

"… and I'm —"

"You're kidding, right?" Tony whipped his head to look at her. Her eyes were bright, cheeks flushed as she stared at him. "Why would you even need a jet?"

Nia paused, pondering the question, and after a while, shrugged. "Dunno. Shopping? Visiting Antartica? Taking occasional kickass air drills up in the sky? Lots of possibilities."

He snorted and almost laughed. But Tony found himself shaking his head. "You've got big ambitions, kid. But you've got to earn it first."

And before Urania could add another jibe, Stark turned towards the military group, seeing that Rhodes is quite busy lecturing those pilots. Huh, Tony never knew how he could stand a job like this.

"…no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgment." Rhodes said intently towards the group.

Tony took a few steps closer, all the while saying "Why not a pilot without the plane?"

All heads turned to him as he swaggered towards his friend. It was obvious on Rhodes' face that he didn't ruin anything, instead, he even looked happy to see him. Which was quite a nice change, since he's almost always pissed with him around and yet, he still values him. Nice guy, this Colonel is.

"Look who fell out of the sky, Mr. Tony Stark." Rhodes gleefully introduced him towards his subordinates, all whom clapped politely, all the while shifting stared from the billionaire towards the young, smug-looking girl standing by the corner, watching.

"Hello sir." A young soldier greeted and Tony politely shook his hand, adding "Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break. Just remember that, spring break — 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with —"

"Don't do that." Rhodes cut off, looking flustered at the unexpected flashback. But he was grinning, to avoid looking like a spoilsport.

"What was his name?"

"Don't do that."

"Was it Ivan?" Tony grinned at his friend while the Colonel tried to keep everything cool and not do anything stupid with all these people around. Seriously, it was hard. He even is impressed at his tolerance for humiliation.

"Don't do that. They'll believe that. Don't do that." He kept saying, but each sentence was sounding more and more emphasized.

"Okay." But he gave him another impish grin.

"Don't do that." Rhodes repeated, shaking his head and turned to the others. "Give us a couple of minutes, you guys."

And the men left, grinning and talking to each other, leaving the two of them alone at last.

Rhodey instantly smacked him lightly on the shoulder, grinning from ear to ear as his eyes roamed around Tony.

"I'm surprised." He admitted.

The billionaire raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I swear, I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon." Rhodes said honestly, his words every bit as surprised as he was feeling.

Tony nodded thoughtfully. "I'm doing a little better than walking."

Rhodes crossed his arms, mildly surprised but Stark knew he was getting the point — his point, rather. "Really?"

"Yeah."

His friend suddenly was aware of his gaze — which was settled on someone standing behind the colonel, a few feet away, looking smug and bored. Rhodes whirled around, and instantly grinned at the sight of Urania.

"Didn't expect you'd bring her here." He commented, waving to her direction. "Hello, Urania."

Urania smiled and waved back — her face a perfect picture of childish innocence. "Hello, Colonel."

"How are you?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." She replied, still smiling.

Tony, who was watching the exchange, winced inwardly. He didn't know if Urania was faking it or not — she can be so sarcastic sometimes that it really gets so real.

Rhodes glanced at his direction. "I like her — she's polite. She's nice."

"Yeah." Tony agreed, raising an eyebrow at his daughter. "She got that from me."

The look that Rhodes had given him was so pointed that the billionaire sighed and raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. Fine. I get it." Tony muttered to which his friend laughed.

And when silence ensued between the two, he took the opportunity to steer Rhodes away from Nia — and away from any ears that might be listening around. He knew it wasn't the perfect time to say it, but he was left with no choice. It was now or never at all.

"Rhodey, I'm working on something big." He blurted out, unable to look at his friend directly in the eye, fearing rejection. "I came to talk to you. I want you to be a part of it."

For a moment, when Tony finally looked at him, Rhodes could only stare at his friend. His grin was still there but his eyes — the gleam of smile — was gone, replaced by a look of concern and perhaps, indifference.

He was nodding. Rhodes was nodding as he looked at him. And when he finally opened his mouth to speak, the words came out like cut glass from a broken windshield. "You're about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy, 'cause that little stunt at the press conference…" He chuckled a little. "That was a doozy."

For a while, Tony just stared at him, a cold feeling suddenly rose up his gut. Rhodes wasn't getting it.

"This is not for the military." Tony said slowly. "I'm not — it's different."

Rhodes frowned. "What? You're a humanitarian now or something?"

"I need you to listen to me —"

"No." Rhodes cut him off and grabbed him by the shoulder, tight and a little forceful, as if wanting Tony to come back down to Earth. "What you need is time to get your mind right."

But all Tony could do was grin — somewhat shaky, but still, a grin.

"I'm serious." His friend added.

"Okay."

For some reason, he felt defeated. But whatever, he kind of expected that this would happen. It was like ten, twenty years ago — where no one had believed in him. But as of this case, Tony was used to people turning their backs on him.

Rhodes was walking away, but he did spare him a look and said "It's nice seeing you, Tony."

"Thanks." He said quietly, but he was certain he didn't hear it.

As he watched his friend leave, he didn't hear Urania walking towards him, her gray eyes fixed on the retreating colonel's back, confused.

"So what now?" She asked.

Tony fell silent for a moment, thinking, pondering.

He put his sunglasses on and said "We're doing this alone then, kid."

And he too, began to walk out of the air base, with Nia hot on his heels, asking so much questions. Normally, it would have bugged the hell out of Tony — with her not keeping her mouth shut but as of today, it felt good to hear his daughter speak. At least, she was still on his side. But what about Rhodes?

Then he realized it didn't matter. People like him would have to wait and see.

AN: A bit shorter than I normally would have write but yeah, who's got time? It's our finals week already and I can't wait until school is over. Plus, I'd like to apologize for the almost four-months delay of this chapter and I thank you all for the support. I've cleaned this story a bit but that doesn't mean it's error-free already. Oh well. Please do leave a review. Thanks!