𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞

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           SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD, that much she knew.

Yet somehow, inside the fire, she woke up; it was as if she had simply been sleeping.

She remembered everything, it was all so clear. Her mom, suspended from the oil rig and her dad desperately trying to reach out to her. Her actions were impulsive, reckless and as proven by her current situation, potentially deadly.

The sounds of her parents mournful cries and their heartbroken expression would forever be etched in her memory. Her dad's reaction, more so. As her hands slipped from the grate, for a split second it felt as though time had all but stood still, giving her a fraction of a second to lock eyes with her dad. His mouth was opened in a gut wrenching yell, and his eyes were full of burning tears as he watched her disappear from view.

Her entire body felt heavy as she eased herself up off the ground. She felt a slight pull from her leg, and glanced down, hoping that there was no lasting or serious damage to her prosthetic. Thankfully, there were only minor scratches, a few scrapes and pieces chipped away here and there, but altogether, it was still intact.

As for herself, she too was remarkably unharmed. She glanced up and through the thick smoke, she was only just able to make out the twisted structure she had fallen from. A fall from that height should have surely killed her, not to mention the addition of fire.

While she presumed that she had no injuries that she could see or locate immediately, Charlotte still felt strange. As her eyes scanned over her body, she could not help the panicked whimper that fell from her lips as she observed her skin, charred, blackened and burning with ash and molten.

As she watched, she saw the Extremis work it way through her body, spreading through her veins, repairing the skin as it went. It left no scars and no markings.

Holding up her left hand, a choked gasp of astonishment escaped her lips as she watched as flames flickered between her finger tips, dancing along the curves of her fingerprints.

The girl was startled when there was a sudden explosion on top of her head and when she looked up, one of the cranes from the oil rig completely blew up and was on its way on falling down to right where they were. Screaming, she covered her head and felt many heavy objects fall around her, bits of the explosion's fire creating another one on the area where she hid.

She heard the groaning of metal and rolled onto her back, looking up in time to see a metal beam from the rig above snap from it's hinge and plummet towards her.

Her scream tore through the black smoke, but was abruptly cut off by the almighty clatter of metal crash landing onto concrete.

Outside the flames, Aldrich Killian emerged, limping towards Tony and Pepper, the former kept his arm in front of his wife, urging her to remain behind him. He no longer looked human, his skin was decaying as it looked burnt into crisp, ember eyes stared at him with pure hatred and ill intention.

"No more false faces," Killian spat, "You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him," he wheezed, his voice didn't sound human at all. "It's always been me, Tony, right from the start," he then raised his arms widely and snarled, "I am the Mandarin!"

Suddenly, the deranged man lurched, jolting to the side. The blunt force of Charlotte suddenly swinging a discarded beam, the same one that had almost crushed her moments ago, against his skull sent him reeling.

Neither Tony or Pepper had seen their daughter so irate; she was simmering-steam was rising from her skin. Her arms were blood red, and the irises of her eyes had a faint but noticeable fiery glow. She was staring right at her parents, who were still looking back at her with their mouths agape and a stunned expression on their faces at what they had just seen.

"I got nothing," Tony finally stated, not breaking his eye contact.

"Me neither." Pepper mumbled, still not quite believing.

As one of the surviving Iron Man suits came into view, skimming around the corner of the building, the trio shifted their attention to the sky. Meanwhile, Killian was beginning to recover and stood up, just out of their sightlines. As he gazed venomously at the adolescent, he let out a deep growl.

"JARVIS, subject at twelve o'clock is not a target! It's Charlie, I repeat it's Charlotte!" Tony tried to order the AI ​​​​controlling the suit, but when reached for his own earpiece, Tony realized he wasn't wearing it. Instead it was on the ground, right next to his wife's feet.

Pepper's eyes widened with alarm as he realized what had happened and bent down to retrieve it, but it was too late. When the Iron Suit fired a blast at Charlotte, she evaded it with a surprised expression, Tony grabbed her protectively. Charlotte turned and looked up at her dad, scowling as she muttered in irritation once the suit passed her in the air and began turning around to take another shot.

"What?" as his daughter began approaching him, "Oh, what, are you mad at me?" he stuttered.

"You promised that you would catch me." The girl growled just low enough that it was only audible to Tony. Her words punched through his chest like an iron fist.

When Charlotte rushed up to him, he flinched and shielded his face, but instead of attacking him, she used his knee to leap into the air and punch through the Iron Man suit's chest, then flipped her body in the air and landed square in front of her two shocked parents, pinning it underneath her.

Charlotte then ripped her arm from the chest plate and shoved it into the suit's now-torn-apart arm, which she then fitted into hers. And just as Killian appeared in front of her, intent on killing her, the girl used her new Iron Man's arm to swipe at the insane man and fling him away as he whirled in the air from the painful contact.

"Woah!" Tony cried with surprise, at the same time Pepper called out in equal shock.

"Oh my god!"

After Killian landed rather violently on the ground, Charlotte was quick to think. Taking a breath as the Extremis virus shone brightly throughout her body and eyes, and when a missile fell out of the suit's arm she was using, she kicked it towards Killian as the man was about to stand up again, and without hesitation, she shot a blast at it with the arm, exploding it right in Aldrich Killian's face – he was definitely dead now.

Pepper was desperate to check on her daughter. She rose to her feet, preparing to take a cautious step towards her, when Tony quickly rose an arm in front of her. Pepper cast her eyes onto his, her brow tensing at his movement; Tony lightly shook his head, his eyes clearly signalling that it might not be a good idea just yet.

Pepper nodded and took a step back, however she heard footsteps from behind her as her husband approached their daughter instead. Natasha grumbled as she came closer to the still trembling woman; the two exchanged glances and smiled quickly, relieved to see each other.

"Charlie? Honey?" Tony began as he stood up, he was looking at Charlotte cautiously but not because he was afraid of her, he didn't want her to stress about what she just did and activate her Extremis to the point of exploding herself.

Charlotte looked back at the destruction area that she caused, where Killian died, and her expression showed remorse and shock, "Holy crap," she looked back at her parents, breathing heavily, "Would it be wrong of me to say that that was kind of awesome? Violent, but awesome."

"You just scared the devil out of me. I thought you were..." Tony began, his voice was shaky but he kept steadying himself over it.

"I was dead," Charlotte quickly prompted, "Why? Because I fell two-hundred feet?" she quipped sarcastically at him. Tony didn't reply, but he did raise his arm at her while nodding with a ' well, obviously 'expression.

Charlotte looked around her, and her green eyes glanced between her mom and Natasha. The agent's face flashed with relief as she offered a quick nod to the girl. Turning back to Tony with a small smirk, he was quick to offer a quip in return .

"And your mother thinks I'm a hot mess."

"You are." The mother and daughter spoke in unison.

Charlotte smiled, and Natasha rolled her eyes, putting her finger on her earpiece and stepping back to give the three room while reporting, "Killian is down, I repeat, Killian is down," she was presumably telling Rhodey, but Charlotte stopped paying attention when her father spoke.

"Still debatable," he retorted.

"You know, I think I understand why you don't want to give up the suits," Pepper stated walking over to her daughter. She looked at her, observing the red armour casing her at her arms, "What am I going to complain now?" she looked at him with a weary expression, and Tony just returned with a thoughtful one.

"How about how much he didn't spend time with me?" Charlotte quickly quipped, only mildly serious.

Tony grinned before sighing, while Pepper chuckled softly. His daughter was right; he had a lot of ground to make up for. Especially now, since she had, once again, been kidnapped, tortured and effectively died, all on the basis of being his daughter. And this is a terrible way for a kid to spend Christmas, he was going to spoil her after this shitty situation is resolved.

"Well, besides that, it's me," he glanced between the two most special women in his life, "You'll think of something," he smiled at Pepper as he was now almost face to face her.

Natasha approached Charlotte once again, her gaze fixed on the scene. She had just alerted Rhodes and Director Fury of the controlled situation, and she was no longer required here; her mission had been completed. But this didn't feel like a mission to Natasha; it felt personal. Charlotte had snuck into Natasha's heart, and she was willing to die for her tonight. She was growing attached to her, which may be dangerous for the SHIELD agent.

When Charlotte realized that her dad was about to touch her, she flinched back with a scared expression, "No, touch don't me!" she warned. She still remembers the damage that her bare hands could now cause, and imagining herself accidentally killing her dad after all they had been through wasn't exactly how Charlotte wanted her Christmas to end.

"It's okay–" he comforted softly, directing his attention towards his daughter. His own brows pinched at the anxiety that was visible on her still pale features, "Don't worry about it."

"Stark, you think it's a good idea?" Natasha asked, "No, offense Charlie," she quickly added, passing a soft gaze towards the girl..

"I got this," Tony insisted as he touched Charlotte's arm.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Charlotte cried, her eyes widening as she fearfully watched her father reach out and touch her exposed shoulders.

"No, you're not," he continued, and he was right. Her skin wasn't burning him. Charlotte looked at his hands touching her with a perplexed expression. She was simply relieved that she did not hurt him; she would never want to hurt him or her mother. 

"See? You could never hurt me." He told her with a gentle voice as he grabbed hold of her arm as lightly as he could, afraid to break or hurt the child that he thought he'd lost.

"Is she going to be okay?" Pepper asked, but then she glanced at her daughter and her expression softened. The two shared a look and Charlotte didn't hesitate when she approached the two and wrapped her arms around her mother's waist. Pepper was quick to put her hand on the girl's back and pull her closer.

"No," he began, just to throw them off, "She's our daughter. Everything will never be okay. But I think I can figure this out, yeah," he finally replied, easing Pepper into a weak chuckle over his witted response and making Charlotte chuckle weakly as she looked up at him while still hugging Pepper, "I almost had this twenty years ago when I was drunk. I think I can get you two better," he promised while staring at Pepper intently.

Pepper returned it with her blue eyes looking hopeful into his dark brown ones, and Charlotte could only sniff as the adrenaline started to fade in her body.

"That's what I do. I fix stuff," her dad added.

"We are not stuff, dad," Charlotte mumbled weakly. "We're people."

Pepper and Tony exchanged a knowing look, and she couldn't help but reassure her daughter by smoothing her hair. "And all your distractions?" she added, making sure Tony understood.

"Uh..." Tony stuttered, "I'm gonna shave them down a little bit," and to prove he was being honest, he began talking to the AI ​​​​through his earpiece, "JARVIS. Hey," he poked it a few times to make sure it was working.

"All wrapped up here, sir. Will there be anything else?" JARVIS inquired politely.

"You know what to do," Tony stated as he looked at Pepper earnestly, knowing that his AI was smart enough to realize what he meant by listening to their conversation.

"The clean slate protocol, sir?" JARVIS asked with a hesitant tone.

Tony looked unsure for a moment as well, "Screw it, it's Christmas. Yes, yes," he confirmed with a tired voice. Then he drew Pepper and Charlotte towards him, and the three of them shared an embrace, with the small girl wrapping her arms around her parents and drawing them closer to her.

Charlotte was taken aback by what was about to happen; she couldn't believe what was about to happen. With a smile on her face, she and her mother watched as all of the Mark suits self-destructed – all of her father's hours spent on them instead of her were gone.

Charlotte was sad to see them go, but at the same time, she wished them good riddance even though they were built to protect. Charlotte feel pity for her father since he looked to be covering his face in the hug, but she understood why he didn't want to see all of his babies crushed like that.

After a few minutes of wandering around the site, she noticed that the massive structure next to them was adorned with Christmas lights, with a large, sparkling star perched on it.

"Merry Christmas!" Charlotte exclaimed, joyfully as one of the suits exploded beneath it, making her mother laugh and her father smile.

Tony kissed Pepper's cheek twice, "Okay, so far?" he asked before looking down at his daughter, "Y'all like it?"

Charlotte snuggled against her dad's stomach, happy to be able to touch him after all those days in captivity; Pepper's response was to pull him closer into the hug.

Her father's genuine desire for a heartfelt response from the two was very sweet; he could buy all the gifts in the world, but when it came to actually giving them, her father could be a nervous mess until he found out if you liked it or not.

The cold evening air was giving her goosebumps, and the more she thought about it, the more Charlotte realised that she was exhausted. She still chose to ignore the pounding headache and burning temperature she had been experiencing for the past ten minutes. And as a wave of tiredness washed over her, she snuggled in tighter and closed her eyes, almost a little too easily.

"It'll do," Pepper sighed emotionally.

Tony smiled as she nodded, and the three of them proceeded to embrace. He clutched his two kids close to his chest, simply relishing in the moment. It was refreshing that, in the midst of what appeared to be continual upheaval, they could embrace the small moments like these and simply enjoy them.

"Seeing as your other present was kind of blown up, I think I need to buy you something else." Tony said with a small smirk, chuckling at the way his wife rolled her eyes, dramatically.

"I think I will survive without a fifteen foot bunny in our front room." Pepper quipped back, tucking her head into Tony's shoulder.

"Fine, have it your way." Running his hand up her back, he brought it to rest on her bare shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Nonetheless, I still need to buy my best girl an obscene amount if gifts. How about it, Charlie?"

When she didn't respond, Tony nodded down towards his daughter. She appeared so peaceful at first, her head tucked down and her face turned in, squashed against his t-shirt. It wasn't until Tony leaned back slightly, and moved his arm to shake her shoulder attempting to rouse her for sleep, that they realised she was not just sleeping.

As Tony brought a hand up to firmly cup her cheek, he noticed how pale and clammy her skin had become. Sweat coated her pinched brow and Tony could see her eyes fluttering under her reddened lids.

"Charlie?" Tony patted her cheek twice gently, hoping to stimulate some sort of response. When there was none, he began to panic. "Charlie, honey?"

Before Pepper understood what was going on, Tony had released his hold on them and was lowering their daughter down so she was laying on the tarmac. "Come on, Charlie. This isn't funny."

Panic had set in for Pepper. "What's wrong. Tony, what's happening?"

"I don't know. Her body must be exhausted." Tony muttered, running his hand over Charlotte's brow, frowning at the heat radiating from her skin. There was no reaction from the girl as his cool hand rested upon her fevering brow. 

"JARVIS. Give me a full body sweep and vital scan." The AI ​​​​complied instantly, the scanner that was built into his arc reactor whirred into life, and silently began scanning Charlotte's still form. A small whimper from behind him, turned his attention for a brief moment. He caught sight of his wife, arms folded across her chest, and her hands resting against her lips as she kept her eyes focused on her daughter. Tony reached behind him, extended a hand out to reassuring rub Pepper's thigh. "She's okay. Just a little over heated." 

That was a lie. In his ear, JARVIS had just given him the diagnosis, and her vitals were off the charts. 

"Miss Stark's pulse is currently 179 and her core body temperature is reading at 2500 degrees. I have already alerted Agent Romanoff of the situation and a boat is on route to take you to the mainland."

Tony grunted once in response, not wanting to speak out of fear of his emotions getting the better of him. It was another long and painstaking fifteen minutes, before Natasha arrived with a small SHIELD medical team and a boat. The agent looked visibly alarmed and concerned when she cast her eyes on the girls limp body, hanging over Tony's arms; Pepper still softly whimpering beside them.

Without saying a word, Natasha nodded towards Tony, and offered to take Charlotte from him. Tony gently lowered Charlotte into Natasha's waiting embrace, and he took the time to comfort Pepper, he kept a hand tightly wrapped around hers, and a comforting arm around her shoulder.

Going against the medical teams suggestion, Tony barked a quick order to take them straight back to Stark Industries. While a hospital may have been closer and preferable, under the circumstances, there was only one person that Tony trusted to handle the situation. After a brief phone call, Bruce Banner was waiting in the laboratories of Stark Industries for the family to arrive.

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authors note

not going to lie, i had no idea how to end this chapter

the next chapter should be the final chapter before age of ultron - it's going to be a lengthy one