Chapter 1

"You have to be more careful," Pepper admonished.

"I'm fine," Toni scoffed, rolling her eyes. A smirk graced her lips as she draped herself on the couch.

"Seriously, Toni. Imagine what would happen if you got hurt. The media would be all over this," Pepper ranted before her features softened, "Plus, I would hate if anything happened to you. I care too much."

Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark industries, perched herself next to Toni Stark, 18-year-old genius. A brief feeling of guilt washed through Toni at the thought of causing the woman who practically raised her distress.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll try to be more careful," Toni sat up straight, "But it wasn't my fault. My awesomeness is too much for the bad guys to handle. They just have to come after me."

Toni's arrogance made Pepper shake her head in amusement. Sighing, she stood up and brushed herself off.

Toni's façade slipped as soon as she was alone. She winced when the fabric of her tank top rubbed the wounds on her ribs. Slowly, Toni stumbled down the stairs to her lab. Last she checked, there was a medical kit down there.

An hour later, Toni was hard at work on her next suit. With her ribs firmly wrapped, Toni only occasionally felt the pain. Sweat dripped down her brow, and a stray lock of dark brown hair kept falling in her face. Short hair just isn't conducive to ponytails.

Frustrated, Toni slammed the wrench down. She couldn't focus enough to do such detail oriented work. All she could think about, all she could dream about was Afghanistan. Shuddering, she attempted to push those thoughts from her mind.

"Miss Stark, it's been 32 hours since you last slept," JARVIS spoke up. Toni sighed. She wished she hadn't made her robotic control center so independent.

"Stop being such a mother hen, JARVIS. I can take care of myself." Despite her protests, Toni could feel sleep clawing its way towards her. The tired teenager climbed the stairs through the empty house. With a flop she collapsed on her pristine made duvet and promptly fell asleep.

The next evening, Toni flew back to the illuminated beacon with a grin on her face. The new suit was coming along fine, the tower was up and running, and the arc reactor hadn't been a problem since she created the new element. All in all, the day had been great. Now it was time to celebrate.

Mechanical hands disassembled the suit the minute she landed on the roof. The cool air hit her face as the robots removed her mask. Toni was looking forward to a hot shower, a glass of champagne, and a relaxing, incident free night.

After her shower, Toni changed into comfy flannel pajama pants and an iron maiden t-shirt; she loved the irony. Next on her list is Champagne. Pepper was waiting for her on the top floor, a glass already in her hand. When Toni reached for the bottle, Pepper slapped her hand away.

"You're not old enough," she chastised.

"Oh, come on. It's only one glass, and we're celebrating," Toni pleaded. Bemused, the woman Toni considered an older sister poured her a glass.

"A toast, to the new building," Pepper said, raising her champagne.

"To me getting the recognition I deserve," Toni announced cockily.

"Is it just me or does your body look smaller? Oh, wait, it's probably because your head has gotten so big," Pepper shot back. Before Toni was able to deliver the snarky reply already half-formed in her head, JARVIS cut in.

"Miss Stark, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is calling."

"Tell him to go away," Toni replied moodily. "We're celebrating."

"He's insisting."

"Just ignore him."

"Toni, just answer it" Pepper said, exasperated.

"Miss Stark, my protocols are being overridden."

"Ugh, I'll deal with this myself." Pulling out her high-tech phone, Toni said, "You've reached the phone of Toni Stark. Fortunately, I can't be reached right now. Don't leave a message."

Suddenly, the door slid open to reveal an annoyed Agent Coulsin.

"Hey Phil," Pepper greeted.

"Phil? His first name is Agent," Tony said sullenly.

"Hey, Toni," Phil said with a smile. Everyone knows he has a soft spot for Toni after all that she's been through. He's amazed that she can trust anyone after what happened with Obadiah.

"Go away. We're celebrating," Toni grumbled even though she couldn't help the small smile that slipped across her face.

"We need you to look at this," Phil said holding out a file.

Toni backed away and crossed her arms. "I don't like being handed things."

Pepper sighed. "Here, I'll take it. Hold this." She exchanged the glass of Champagne for the folder. Toni took the folder marked TOP SECRET from Pepper. Then, she flipped it open.

"The Avengers Initiative? I thought they scrapped that." Toni looked up at Phil with a raised eyebrow.

"We did, but some powerful forces have turned up that need extra attention."

"Wasn't I rejected? What was it? I was too unstable, too young, and apparently I don't play well with other," Toni mocked, making air quotes with her fingers.

Phil didn't have an answer for that.

Turning on her heel, Toni flicked through computer files that appeared on the holographic screens. Images of the Hulk rampaging through a city, Captain Steve Rogers throwing his shield, Agent Romanov flipping through the air to take out an enemy, and Hawkeye shooting an enemy down with his bow flicked across her line of sight.

"Toni, you don't have to do this," Pepper said with concern as her hand brushed through her long, ginger hair.

"Yes, Pepper. I do," Toni's face was serious.

She still felt like she had to atone for the weapon manufacturing she did in the past. She had no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she had to please her father. Despite her brilliance, she was never enough for him. He said he wanted to protect her by keeping her true identity out of the public eye, but she thought otherwise. It was because she was a girl and reminded him too much of her mother. He was so overprotective of her because of how her mother died, yet it seemed that at the same time he couldn't even look his own daughter in the eye.

When she was twelve, Howard Stark had passed on leaving Toni a true orphan who didn't even exist according to the media. All they knew was Anthony "Tony" Stark, sarcastic womanizer currently dating Pepper Potts. This was because Howard didn't want them to know who Toni really was because then they would go after her.

Not that it stopped the terrorists who did capture her.

"Looks like I have some homework to do."