"Are you okay?" Pepper asked.
"I should be asking you the same," Tony replied holding onto her hand.
Pepper snorted, "I've been your baby sitter long before your girlfriend. Happy and I actually had a bet going on whether or not you had a kid you didn't know about."
"Did you win?"
"Yes I did," Pepper's smile dropped almost immediately, "I...is she telling the truth? Is Riri really yours?"
Tony motioned to the holograms around him bringing up a DNA sequence, "I had JARVIS do a complete scan on her blood work, she's mine..."
"Tony, it's not your fault."
"How isn't it?" he snapped, "I had a kid, who I didn't know about and I just left her..."
"You didn't know."
"Well I should have."
I sighed and looked away, relaxing my senses, it was a private moment, it would be rude to interfere.
"You okay Spider?" Riri asked.
I smiled down at the kid, "you're the one who's a walking time bomb kid," Maya sent me a glare which I ignored.
Riri shrugged, "I'll be fine."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
Riri looked at Tony's back, "well...my mom's been with me everyday of my life, helping me and...well, now she has Iron man helping her. Why wouldn't I be fine?"
I chuckled, "keep that optimism Riri it's rare in this world….Maya, I think Tony could use some help with the DNA sequencer," I motioned to Stark as he kicked the machine over and over again, "you should probably help out."
"Right" Maya nodded before kissing her daughter on the cheek, "I'll be right back baby girl."
"I know mom, shesh. You really have to stop treating me as a kid, I'm going to be thirteen you know," Riri huffed.
"I know," she ruffled Riri's hair playfully before getting up and going to help Tony. It took them a few moment before finally getting down to work, Pepper doing what she could to help.
"So," I turned to Riri, "Tony Stark is your father huh?"
"Seems so," Riri replied giving a far off look, staring at Tony.
"How are you handling it?" I asked.
"Ah, decently, I think," she cleared her throat, "I'll be fine….you know, I always wondered who my dad was. My mom used to say he was a horrible man...I...don't know why she said that. I mean, he's Iron man! He's a freaking superhero!"
I chuckled, "that he is. But...he's also just a man," I sat down next to her. I could be helping out Tony and Maya, but Riri needed me a lot more than they did. She needed someone to talk to, I could smell the confusion roll off her body.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, before he became a hero, he was just Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist," I chuckled, "he was...flawed. And kind of a dick really, still is," Riri giggled at that, "but deep down he's a decent enough guy...most people are. But you see that's not how you judge a person. You judge them based on their actions, not who they are on the inside. And Tony has worked hard, ever since that day he was captured to redeem himself as Iron man, and now...I guess, he's going to try and be a dad too."
"Do you think he's a nice guy?" Riri asked.
"He saved my life," I told her, "he's the reason I'm still alive. Heck, he's the reason New York is still alive. I know...I know you probably don't like the fact that he wasn't there for you-"
"-I don't blame him for that," Riri shrugged, "he didn't even know I existed, how can I blame him for that?"
"Then who do you blame?" I asked her.
She was silent, she looked over at Maya and her supposed father argue about something on the screen, working together easily, like they had been doing that for all their lives. Riri sighed, "I...I don't know."
"Well...so tell me, did you seriously hack into JARVIS using a tablet?" I asked searching through her bag and pulling out a foot long tablet that definitely wasn't store bought, "did you jail break this thing?"
"Yeah," Riri gave off a proud smile, "I like to tinker with stuff a lot, my mom used to say I got it from my…from my dad," she blinked, "damn, I should have known."
I chuckled, "yeah well," I turned the tab on and saw it was running several programs in it, one actively trying to hack into my own suit's functions. "Really dude?" I asked pointing at the screen.
.
.
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