Chapter 1
"I'm working through the summer, right?" Amelia poked her head up from her project. Tony frowned.
"You get a holiday." He offered.
"Is it mandated?"
"It's a holiday."
"Can I decide not to take it?"
"Why?"
"I'm trying to avoid stuff."
"What stuff?" He pressed.
"Do you care?"
"No. But I'm interested. You have a ridiculous life."
"I don't want to tell you."
"Summer holiday." He said simply.
"Forget it. The excuse would make things easier, but I'm not above being blunt." She said. Stark simply hummed. She twisted the holo-screen to face him. "This look right?"
He looked up at her work (he'd been trying to teach her how to code an AI so she would be able to work on Karen's update, should it be necessary) and zipped through, before shrugging.
"Execute it and we'll see." He said.
"I'm going to work for Hammer in the future." She said. "Just to spite you."
"You think he's going to take you in? You're tainted by the Stark name. You worked for me."
"I will have insider knowledge."
"Like what?" He humoured her.
"Like, you love extra cream in your coffee. You love being called Anthony."
"I'd let you work for Hammer if you humiliate him like that."
"Let me?" She picked out, deciding to look over her own work before executing.
"You're not allowed to work anywhere except Stark Industries."
"I'll start my own start-up tech company."
"You might not be terrible with the business side, actually." He mused. "You're ruthless."
"Thanks."
"What do you have against Hammer anyways, that you're willing to side with me over him? Other than his evil disposition?"
"Peter was at the expo. Hammer's drones targeted him for his iron man helmet and almost killed him." Stark blinked.
"That was Peter?"
"Yeah. I mean, I didn't know Peter existed at the time, but I'm still offended."
"You didn't know Peter existed?"
"I didn't even know I had two other uncles, until I got dropped off at uncle Ben's apartment one day."
"Are you messing with me? Or are you serious?" Amelia shrugged.
"I'm serious. My parents really sucked." She said.
"No kidding."
"It's why I want to work through summer. Bill's getting married and it's got to be in the UK, and I want an excuse to not go since we're on good terms now." She told him.
"They just abandoned you?" He asked. "Not your siblings? Of which you have plural, despite not officially existing."
"Yep." She said, not rising to his bait.
"Like I said, ridiculous life."
"Says the man who invented a metal suit he uses to fly around and punch stuff, like aliens." He froze.
"That's it. You're an alien."
"Congratulations, you've figured out my secret. Beep bop." She said sarcastically. She'd executed the code but it came back with an error so she'd resigned herself to properly looking through every line.
"I don't believe you're not an alien. Not unless you prove otherwise. And that's robot speak, not alien."
"I guess you'd know, tinman."
"That was a good one." He nodded. "I'll give you that."
"Because my life is about your approval."
"Should be, E.T."
"That's pitiful." She said. "Too common. Try again."
"No one speaks to me like that. The last time someone spoke to me like that... I don't even remember."
"Sure you do. Last week, when I saw you last." The duo looked up at the sound, and Amelia saw a man roll in using his wheelchair. She recognised him as Mr Rhodes, also known as War Machine.
"You don't count, Sugarbean."
"Does Pepper count?" He asked.
"Nope."
"Happy?"
"He is the best of all of you."
"So, this the intern of yours?" Rhodes asked.
"Unfortunately. He tricked me into this and now I can't leave without him threatening to blacklist me."
"Tones, you can't kidnap kids off the street."
"It was an amusement park." She added (un)helpfully. Rhodes looked a little concerned now, as opposed to his earlier amusement.
"Tony, what is the child talking about?"
"I did not kidnap her. She was there to pick up the kid after he crashed my plane. Meet Peter's cousin. I offered her an internship. She accepted without realising it was an internship. And here we are. And, before you start on me, yes he knows Peter is Spider-Man. Yes, he is trustworthy."
"He said he'd like my input on Peter's suit. He did not tell me it was an internship. I thought it was temporary, since the last time I tried for an internship, I was interrogated."
"Happy got a little enthusiastic."
"I feel like I'm missing a lot."
"I do too, a lot of the time. She is ridiculous." Stark pointed at her and scowled. "She is ridiculous with a ridiculous life and a ridiculous past and is ridiculous with words that I don't know if she is telling the truth or just being ridiculous."
"I think you're being ridiculous." Rhodes said to his friend. "I'm Rhodey, by the way. I think it's nice to meet you, but I'm a little overwhelmed."
"Amelia. Pleasure to meet you too."
"That is a much nicer greeting than I ever got."
"You came to my home to whisk my younger cousin out of the country to fight literal assassins without telling our guardian."
"It sounds worse than it was. And I tried to bench him and he insisted he wanted to come along."
"We were already in Germany." She said, and an alarm cut through their argument(?)- Rhodey was unsure.
"Lunchtime for self destructive teenagers." Friday's automated voice cut through.
"That's not any better than the last one. Besides, it's not only lunchtime for me. You're eating too."
"Friday. Change alarm name to Lunchtime for Neytiri and Tinman." Amelia snorted.
"I'm not blue."
"But you're an alien."
"I'm really not."
"I don't believe you."
"Is he always like this?" Amelia asked Rhodey.
"Annoying? Yes. Accusing people of being alien? That's a new one."
"He thinks I'm an alien because he doesn't know my tragic backstory, even though I've dropped loads of hints."
"I know your tragic backstory. Kind of. I just don't know why I can't find any records of your family, or you under the age of eleven."
"Apparently, it's because I'm an alien." She told Rhodey before turning back to Stark. "Wait, do you think Peter's dad was too?"
"No, the kid can't keep that kind of secret. He got powers and started showing them off to the world."
"True." She conceded.
"We will continue after lunch. Your aunt will know if I don't feed you and murder me for endangering both of her kids instead of just one."
She rolled her eyes, but brought out the lunchboxes. She slid one over to Tony, before looking at Rhodey. "I've got an extra sandwich, if you want to join. I promise it's not horrible."
"It's not. She's good. I'm thinking of adding meal plans to her list of duties."
"Do that, and I'll make you regret it." She said, before turning back to an uncertain Rhodey. "I usually keep an extra one for Peter in case I bump into him. He'll survive, or he can wait till we get home." She told him, unpacking her food and held out the sandwich. He took it.
"Thanks, kid. I can pay you."
"No need. Your friend has taken it upon himself to cover grocery costs twice a week when this became a regular thing. Also, he has no idea how much grocery runs cost."
"You need more?" He asked.
"No! No, aunt May is actually going to think I'm doing something illegal for you if you pay me any more." Rhodey grinned.