Iron Skye

After my dad and I had our fun at Disneyland and we're spotted by many paparazzi (let's see what they come up with tomorrow) we stopped and grabbed some pizza before heading back to Malibu.

"I had a lot of fun, dad." I said as we climbed out of the Audi.

"I did too."

'I'm glad Pepper made you do this.' I didn't say that out loud though. I didn't have the nerve.

I climbed the stairs thinking about all of the stories that were going to be on the news tomorrow about my dad and I. That was the first time I'd been out in public since the press conference.

I woke up the next morning to my dad calling me.

"Birdy!"

I reached over to my nightstand, turning up the volume. The nice thing about living here: every surface can be your computer.

"What?"

"How big are your hands?"

"What? Why would you-"

"I need you down here."

"Fine." I groaned, climbing out of bed.

I took my barefoot self down to the workshop, punching my code in the door. My dad was sitting, inclined in one of his chairs, hooked up to a bunch of machines.

"Hey. Let's see them. Show me your hands." I held my hands up as I walked towards him. "Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just need your help for a sec."

"I need your help. This thing," He pointed to the arc reactor in his chest "is now an antique and I need to change it out. I've just ran into a little speed bump."

"Speed bump, what does that mean?"

"It's' nothing. It's' just a little snag." He pulled the reactor out slowly. "There's an exposed wire under this device. And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's' fine."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant." I put the old reactor on a table behind behind me. "I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."

"Is it safe?"

"Yeah, it should be fine. It's' like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes 'beep'"

"There's one problem. I suck at Operation."

"You'll be fine. Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great."

I went to put my hand in the hole in his chest but I couldn't do it. "I don't think that I can do this."

"No, you're fine. You're gonna do great. Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm kinda in a jam here..."

"Okay, okay." I put my hand in the cavity, feeling around for the wire. "There's pus!"

"It's' not pus. It's' an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."

"It smells!"

"Yeah, it does. The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?"

"Okay, I got it! I got it!"

"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch the sides... argh" I accidently let the wire touch the side and he flinched "when you're coming out!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"That's what I was trying to tell you before. Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't... There's a magnet at the end of it..." i pulled the whole thing out. "That was it. You just pulled it out."

"Oh, God!"

"Okay, I was not expecting..." I went to put it back in. "Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!"

"Okay, what do I do?" The machines were beeping loudly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'cause you yanked it out like a trout..."

"What? You said it was safe!" I yelled at him.

"We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this." He handed me the new reactor. "You gotta switch it out really quick."

"Okay. Okay." I started to put the reactor in then stopped. "Dad, It's' going to be okay."

"What? Is it?"

"It's' gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay."

"Let's hope. Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure..." I put the reactor in successfully. "Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here. Nice." He finished twisting the reactor in his chest before facing me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?" He started laughing.

"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again." I grabbed the towel in his lap and wiped my hands with it.

"I don't have anyone but you and Pepper and you know she'd never do anything like this. Anyway.." He slid off the chair, standing in front of me.

"What do you want me to do with this?" I said holding the old reactor.

"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it."

"You don't want to keep it?"

"Skye, I've been called many things. 'Nostalgic' is not one of them." He looked over my outfit before shaking his head.

"What?" I asked, looking down at my clothes. My spandex shorts and tank top.

"Those shorts are way too short."

"I sleep in these. It's not like I'm going to walk out in public in this."

"Good. I don't need any guys looking at you anymore than they do already."

"Dad, I'm sixteen. I think it's safe for me to start dating now."

"Absolutely not. You're not dating until you're married."

"How is that supposed to work?"

"You'll figure something out."

I rolled my eyes. "You're hopeless." I murmured, walking away from him.

"I heard that!"

I shook my head, carrying the arc reactor up the stairs. I had a plan for it, I just needed some expert advice.