Hardware mode
Tony wasn't in the house when Addy awoke. She stumbled into the kitchen, uncertain if she should tell Coulson he was gone. Eventually, deciding he probably already knew, the girl took an orange and went outside. She sat a few feet away from the cliff's edge tossing orange peels over.
"Been out here long?" Coulson questioned as he sat in the grass beside her, seemingly oblivious of his suit.
"Not really, just thinking. When I was little mom used to promise we'd make a day of it and visit the ocean. She worked a lot though, we never really got around to it." Addy shrugged as if it didn't matter, it clearly did. "Guess I've seen it now." She threw the final peel with a bit more force, glaring out at the pounding waves.
Coulson patted her shoulder gently, "miss your mom?"
"Yeah. I mean she wasn't there a lot, she loved me but it was weird," the girl shrugged, "not like other moms I guess. More like a fun aunt?"
"Anything like now?"
Addy snorted, "no. Mom had rules, lots of rules. She wanted me to succeed, like she was. But when it wasn't about her work, or my school," she shrugged again, "it was more like we were friends."
Coulson nodded along as he accepted an offered orange slice. "Keep trying kiddo, Tony might surprise you."
The pair stayed outside, talking about their hobbies and preferences. Coulson loved classic cars, Addy liked to draw and had been trying her hand at sewing little felt creatures before the fire. Neither one liked blackberries, too unpredictable if you'd get a sweet or bitter one. Coulson like sunny days and the beach, Addy preferred thunderstorms and waterfalls. Coulson had snorted and asked if she was certain Stark was her father and not another pain in his butt, Addy hadn't understood.
By mid-afternoon they'd retired indoors, Coulson to the sofa where he actually watched super nanny, much to Addy's surprise. She'd joined him for a time before growing bored and, with no one around to tell her no, began wandering around the house.
"Hey Jarvis?" Addy called out to the AI as she entered what was clearly an office.
"Yes miss Addy?"
Addy approached the large mahogany desk, pointing towards the screen sitting spotless on its surface. "Can I use this computer?"
There was a moment's pause before the screen blinked to life. The girl quickly brought up a YouTube page, laughing at her favorite channel's latest post. She hadn't noticed just how late it was getting as she surfed through random channels eventually stumbling upon a remix of Tony. In typical remix fashion Stark's voice had gone techno, repeatedly chanting "ple-ple-pleasure, pleasure myself." Addy snorted and rolled her eyes before searching for the original clip.
"You don't need to be watching that crap." Tony's voice admonished from the doorway.
Addy ignored him, "you piss a lot of people off."
Tony shrugged, "Yes it's a skill of mine, stick around you might learn something. And that's not exactly appropriate language for you is it?"
"Oh now you care what's appropriate for me?" Addy snapped, purposely clicking the most inappropriate looking video in the list.
Tony sighed, reaching around to switch off the screen before spinning the computer chair and kneeling in front of the girl. "Listen kid-"
"My. Name. Is. Addy!" She growled out, crossing her arms and glaring away belligerently.
Tony visibly bit his lip before continuing with a deep breath, "Addy, listen...I'm not, I don't know how..." he groaned running his hands through his hair in frustration. "Wanna come downstairs with me?"
There was a short pause, Tony awaiting a response silently, Addy stubbornly glaring at a spot near the door, before she caved. "I can really hang out in your workshop?"
"You gotta listen, there's expensive and dangerous stuff down there," Stark warned pausing for a nod from Addy, "but yeah."
The duo headed downstairs. Stark detoured twice to load himself and Addy up with pillows and blankets from multiple bedrooms. "So uh, don't trip." He warned the pile of blankets that was his daughter. Unbeknownst to her he kept a grip on one of her blankets like a leash, only having to tug her back twice.
Tony led her to an empty spot near the door piling the pillows and blankets on the floor in a heap. "Pizza's on its way, I've got some important stuff I really have to do."
Addy pouted, assuming she'd been shoved in a corner so Stark could reassure himself she wasn't getting into anything without actually needing to interact with her.
A calloused hand settled on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "I really do need to do this k-Addy, it's important. You're not down here so I know what you're doing without actually having to pay attention, I could've left you in the living room with Coulson."
"Then why'm I here?"
Tony paused, shifting around uncomfortably. "Can't I want you around?"
"You haven't," Addy pointed out suspiciously.
"Sometimes there's stuff we don't understand kid." Tony held up a hand when the girl glared and began to respond, "sometimes kid isn't used in place of knowing your name but as sort of an endearment ya know. Chill out short stack." Addy glared but remained silent. Tony continued, "I want you to hang out down here, the pillows and stuff are for when you get tired. I tend to get a bit of tunnel vision while I'm working and I don't need you catching sick from falling asleep on the concrete or something."
"So you made me a blanket pile, like a puppy?"
Tony groaned, "come on kid I'm trying, can't you work with me a bit?"
A scheming smirk grew on the girl's face, "can I mess with stuff? Will you let me help?"
Tony's eyes narrowed, "maybe. We good?"
Addy nodded, "for now. What did you order on our pizza?"
"Extra cheese, sausage, and mushrooms with a side of cheesy bread. That work for you?"
"Do you have soda?"
Tony rolled his eyes, "of course I do."
"Works for me then."
Tony leaned forward blowing the dust off of the surface before him.
Addy climbed up next to him, "are you playing with models?"
"No," Tony said shaking his head. He lifted the girl onto his shoulders. "What do you see from up there?"
"That's that expo thing yeah?" Addy responded in confusion.
Tony nodded, shifting around to see different angles. "Yes but look at it as more than that, not as a model of a place. Look for patterns what do you see?"
Addy paused, tilting her head as she studied the model before her. "Ummmm, I don't know? Is it laid out in a bit of grid?"
Tony sat the girl down, "possibly. Jarvis we need a manipulatable projection."
A blue grid of lights began expanding out from the edge closest to Tony. Addy stared transfixed. "1974 stark expo model scan complete sir." The AI informed.
Tony lifted the glowing scan up, seeming to carry it to a new location. Addy poked curiously at a corner as it floated past. "Uh ow many buildings are there?"
"Am I to include the Belgian waffle stands?"
"Was rhetorical just show me."
"What are we looking for?" Addy whispered from her place to Tony's left.
Tony barely glanced her way. "Solving a puzzle," he murmured, absently spinning the hologram to a new angle. "What does that look like to you Jarvis? Not unlike an atom." He answered himself. "In which case the nucleus would be here." Tony poked the center, "highlight the unicefere," he instructed before moving his hands, the hologram moved with him the unicfere expanding.
"Woah!" Addy exclaimed in quiet amazement.
Tony nodded absently, "I know it's cool right? Lose the footpaths, get rid of them."
"What are you trying to achieve sir?"
"I'm discovering, uh correction I'm rediscovering, a new element." Tony mumbled, his attention fully on the image before him.
"Why do you need a new element?" Addy whispered, this time going completely unnoticed. The girl watched curiously as Tony continued brushing bits aside until he had what he was looking for expanding it around the pair of them. "Is that it?"
Tony stared out at the image surrounding them, "dead for almost twenty years, still taking me to school." He stated, his tone something akin to awed.
Addy stared at her father silently. There was a sheen to his dark brown eyes that she knew couldn't be attributed to the lighting in the room. Her hand landed reassuringly on his shoulder as his jaw clenched. "Who's element was it?"
Tony grinned, "my dad, your grandad," he crushed the hologram together in his hand, holding up the now tiny version.
"The proposed element should serve as a viable replacement for palladium." Jarvis informed.
"Thanks dad."
"Unfortunately it is impossible to synthesize." The AI continued.
Tony didn't appear bothered. "Uh huh, get ready for a major remodel fellas we're back in hardware mode."
Addy's curious expression changed to nervousness when Tony reached for a sledgehammer. "Do you know how many serious injuries involve sledgehammers each year?"
Tony knelt before the girl with a slight laugh, "do you know all these facts because you find them interesting or so you can avoid injury? Because you know what I think? I think you've heard and seen what your mother has had to investigate. The deaths from natural or suspicious causes that was her job to determine. I think it probably scares you, the fragility of life." He paused as the girl's gaze shifted towards her feet as if she was ashamed of being afraid. Tony moved her chin up with his fingers, forcing her gaze back up. "Something no ones told you apparently, first bit of parental knowledge I'll ever drop are you ready?"
Addy nodded.
"It's ok to be afraid. Everyone's afraid of something, no one really wants to be hurt." He paused to be sure he was getting his point across, "what's not ok, is letting your fear control you. Yes a certain percentage of people choke on pasta, or slice off a toe, or fall from a ladder every year, knowing that shouldn't make you avoid those things. The key is to respect them, caution good, fear bad. Alright kid?"
"Alright," she whispered with a nod.
"Alright," Tony grinned pushing a pair of goggles over the girl's eyes, "now wanna help your old man destroy stuff?"
Addy lay snoozing, buried deep in the pile of blankets when Coulson entered the workshop. "I'm busy wha'do you want?" Tony questioned as he checked his equipment.
"Nothing, goodbye." Coulson responded quietly, glancing over at the sleeping child.
Tony followed his gaze, "yeah good company, not so great manual labor." he laughed.
Phil ignored him,"I've been reassigned, Director Fury wants me in New Mexico."
"Fantastic, land of enchantment."
"So I'm told," Coulson replied.
"Secret stuff?"
"Something like that."
"Hmm," Tony looked away, he hated not knowing thing.
"Good luck." Phil offered his hand.
"Bye. Thanks."
"We need you."
"Yeah, more than you know."
"Not that much."
Tony looked almost amused as the agent walked away. He glanced back at his sleeping child, "yeah well, let's get back to work shall we fellas?"
Addy awoke to the sound of crashing, there was a pair of goggles strapped over her eyes, despite knowing she'd removed them before curling into the blankets the night before. There was some sort of barrier around her like the separating walls in an office cubicle but more solid. Her head peaked around the barrier for a moment before a hand pushed her backwards, "one moment kid, stay behind the barrier k?"
"Congratulations sir, you have created a new element." The sound of Jarvis voice had Addy crawling cautiously out to join her father. "Sir the reactor has accepted the modified core. I will begin running diagnostics."
"It's so shiny!" Addy whispered, awed. "Why did you need a new core?"
"Palladium isn't exactly healthy," Tony replied absently.
"So it was making you sick?"
"Something like that, should be good now though," he grinned ruffling the girl's sleep tousled hair.