Now, in 2010 part 2

The door shut "are you ok? Are you in pain!" Tony asked "I talked to the doctor your good to go home"

"I'm okay," she said, looking up with puffy eyes. "Did you get a hit on the picture yet?"

"What picture?" He asked sitting down in the chair next to her bed

"I just... handed it... to you," she said, before panic set in. "No. No, no, no. I drew what the stone looked like and could have sworn I handed it to you. I said if you and Pepper were there, I would have felt it was my fault if you guys got hurt and..."

"Slow down , tell me what happen exactly" he said typing on his phone and the next minute the door to the room locked and she could hear people moving quickly outside the room

She took a few calming breaths and said, "I asked a nurse for some paper and pens to draw with. I was bored. I drew the stone that I saw in my memory. An hour later, you came in and I gave you the picture. I said if you and Pepper had gotten hurt, I would have felt like it was my fault." Tears formed again. "You said it would be. Twenty minutes later, here we are."

"That's all that happened are you sure? The smallest detail could make a difference, I need you to think hard kid" he said in a encouraging tone

"You said I did good after looking at the picture, called me kid, said you moved my room closer to yours for protection but still gave me privacy, and patted my hand," she said. "I can't think of anything else."

He stood up quickly and put his phone to his ear "we are leaving now, get dress quickly" he said "Jarvis locked down the house and call pepper and tell her code blue" he shut the phone "dressed now" he said in a more urgent tone turning his back to give her privacy

Arillyn nearly fell trying to get her pants back on, but she was ready in less than five minutes. A miracle when she couldn't even get ready for school in less than an hour. But they were already heading out of the door. She wanted to ask if it was really all her fault, what she did to anger someone enough that they would risk Pepper and Tony, why they wanted to hurt her. But she kept quiet as they raced along the road. She didn't recognize the route they were taking and the drive in silence for almost an hour, they were far outside the city now. When he pulled up to a log cabin deep in the woods pepper was outside on the porch as well as a few guards on the property "go straight inside , no arguing"

She wasn't about to. She knew when Tony issued one of his codes, arguing only led to someone getting hurt. He made her go through drills for two months when she first got there so she knew what to do in case anything happened. She went inside and sat off in a corner. Still feeling guilt from the fake Tony's words, she didn't want to get near anyone just in case. She did pull out some of her medicine and took it since it had been a while. Better safe than sorry with everything that had happened.

Pepper came in shortly after with a sketch book in her hand "can you draw the stone like you did before?" She asked "maybe it will help calm you down too" she said in a gentle tone

Arillyn nodded. She began working on it. After about ten minutes, she had a basic outline. The question of it being her fault kept nagging at her, so she blocked it by drawing. What she wanted was an electronic pad to do this on. It would have been done by now. But a simple piece of paper and a number two pencil was all she had at the moment. At the half-hour mark, she gave Pepper the drawing and went to wash her hands. She felt someone come up next to her.

"This my fault, isn't it?" she asked, not caring who it was but feeling like she already knew the answer.

"You can't hold yourself responsible for other people's actions" Tony said "even if you are the target, it's their decision to make you one" he said "free will means we can choose to walk away or choose the path we take, food is ready" he said and turned to leave

She honestly didn't know what to say or do. She wanted to hug Tony because what he said made her feel better, and she wanted to cry from fear and relief. She chose to just smile to herself before following after him. She sat down and ate, but said very little. Talking about the gossip at school or even TRASE seemed to not be appropriate at the moment.

After dinner pepper showed her to her room "I don't know how long we will be here but it shouldn't take Jarvis long to make sure the house is secure and Tony just left to aid him so it will be done in no time"

"I don't mind so long as it's safe," Arillyn said. "I don't want to be the cause of you and Tony getting hurt." She sat on the bed. "Hey, Pepper?"

"Yeah?"

"I know we butt heads a lot but can I tell you something? I mean..." She shook her head and looked down. "Nevermind. Just forget it."

"Ok" she said and began walking again

"Wait!" Arillyn said, standing. "It's just... this is hard for me to say after everything. But I..." She looked at the floor, blushing. "I don't know when, but I started to view you as kind of like a big sister or a mom. Maybe it's just having a punching bag blow up in my face and the stress and worry but..."

"Stop" she said in a calm tone "look, it's not that you have done anything wrong and I know this all must be difficult on you, but you are around the people I care about everyday and we still don't know who you are or where you came from, but we know your dangerous, we know how strong your abilities are and for those reasons alone I don't trust you and without trust their is no bond that can be made, that being said I do care for you but not in the way you are hoping, and I hope you are mature enough to understand all this and not take it wrong. We will care for you and take care of you until everything is figured out, we are sympathetic towards you because we understand how hard it must be to have no memory and to doubt yourself but you need to stop expecting for us to be some happy family when there are so many questions unanswered, all we can do is work together and try to answer those questions, the sooner they are answered the sooner we can see who and what you really are and if we can trust each other, now Tony didn't want to say anything but I think you are old enough to know, see Tony is a bit of a playboy, always had been, but he is also rich, he made sure he wouldn't get trapped by a woman because of pregnancy " she said crossing her arms "it doesn't matter how he did it but let's be clear , there is no way you are actually his daughter, which means there is another reason his DNA is running through your veins, maybe knowing this you'll understand better why we are all keeping our distance from you" she said all in a calm tone "you need to accept what's really going on, this is not your family, the fact that tone has trained you is not because he considers you his daughter but as a way to test what you are and what you are capable of, but believe me, he hasn't taught you anything that would make you a threat, even with the fighting skills you know, every guard around you knows ten times more, sending you to school was also a way to test you, to see how you acted socially , the only reason he announced you as his daughter was a way to try and get the people who sent you to come forward or to make a move, everything has been a test, not some kind of acceptance you hope it is" she said still calm "I'm not telling you this to be mean it's the opposite, I'm telling you this because your mature enough to understand and the sooner you do the sooner you can stop hoping and looking for things that are not there, you want us to trust you? to bond with you? Then continue to help us figure out who and what you are"

"I do understand, Pepper," she said, tears in her eyes, but fighting to not let them fall. "Don't get me wrong, I do want a family. I'm alone. I'm from Earth, I know that the memory said so, but I don't exist anywhere. I also know that because of what happened, every emotion is heightened and I'm grasping at anything and everything I can to not break down or run out of here to get away from everyone to keep you all safe. You're right, I don't know much about who I am or my abilities, but I have yet to give up. The only real memory I have is of the Colorado Mountains and that glowing rock. Would I like to be a family with you and Tony? Yes, because you guys aren't trying to hide that you care but also are wary, you aren't trying to be mean but are blunt enough to get the point across, and you give me advice when I need it even if it ticks me off. I had to get it off my chest because to me, you and Tony and Happy are worth protecting, so if I need to leave, tell me and I'll do it because I would rather have no home at all than see any of you get hurt."

"Just because you have a memory of Colorado doesn't mean your from here, it means you where in Colorado, stop putting your hope on facts that mean nothing yet, there is no proof yet you are human or even from earth and the glowing rock works against your claim to be human, like I said too many questions unanswered and in the future you should know, running away or leaving will make you seem guilty in many ways, so I suggest you don't" she said still calm "I'm glad you like it here I really do, we all need to work together, if you really are just innocent in all this and are not a threat then you will keep working with us and understand at most right now we are a team, working together to get answers" she turned to leave but stop "if it's any consolation I really do hope that the answers are good" she said gently shutting the door

"Me too, Pepper," she said.

That night, Arillyn had a dream. The stone was in it. It pulsated and called to her. What is all of this? Why me? Give me something, please! A flash of memory, too fast to capture, moved through her mind.

She bolted upright, gasping for air. She looked at the clock. Three in the morning. She went to her bathroom and splashed water on her face. The way the fake Tony had said it would have been her fault gave her pause. It's tied to the memory...

A week later....

"I'm just glad to be home," Arillyn said sitting on her bed back at the main Stark house. "I swear, Rach, going low-tech was hell. I missed out on finishing any minor tweeks on TRASE during that time. Tony and Pepper are gone but now I have, like, ten bodyguards and JARVIS is constantly sending Pepper and Tony updates on where I am. I don't think I can go to the party this weekend."

"Well look I'll see you in school in a few hours and I'll bring our favorite snack and we can catch up on, now hurry up you always take forever to get ready in the morning "

"Hey, looking this hot takes time. I know if Lisa and Maggie put in the effort they wouldn't be such jealous bitches all the time. But yeah, see you soon."

An hour later, she was in the car, messing around on her phone when she pulled up to the school. As soon as she got out, there was a comment or two about her being an alien, but she ignored it. She saw Racheal and hugged her.

"God, I've missed you!" she said. "Let me put my stuff up and we can head to class."

They talked about gossip and nonsense as they walked, it was the only time she really felt normal was with normal conversation like this. As she reach her locker she started to smell something weird, a burning smell that she couldn't place.

Arillyn cautiously opened her locker and got hit with green powder. Gas filled the halls as she coughed. When it settled, she looked down at her clothes. She slammed the door shut, trying to calm her breathing. That is until she heard a scream and cameras clicking on phones. Humiliation and panic set in. And within seconds everything turned into chaos. Rachel fell backwards away from her and screamed when she reached towards her she ran from her, other students rand and screamed too but others started to yell at her and throw things at her "get out of here you monster!" Yelled someone "kill it!" Yelled others three boys tackled her hard "kill it!" They yelled as the fire alarms started to go off and watered pour from the ceilings

Arillyn tried to get them off of her, but her head was spinning from the force in which they hit her. It was another ten minutes before the bodyguards could make their way to her through the panicked teens. They made their way back, one calling Pepper to tell her what happened. She curled up into a ball in the back of the car as they drove back home. Her one place of normalcy was taken from her in a flash of green. The bodyguard handed her the phone and she explained what she could about it to Pepper as she cried.

"I can't go back, Pepper, not after that," she pleaded. "Please, send me somewhere else, anywhere else. Just not there. I'll take military school over them trying to attack me everyday."

"Ok you don't have to go back, calm down, listen to my voice, right now I need to to gently and quickly take off your clothes and put them in the bag next to you, there some wipes too, clean yourself off well, we don't know what it is and I don't want you to get sick or poisoned, put me one speaker and do it quickly

Arillyn put her on speaker phone and changed as fast as she could. She cleaned everything off of her, but the panic wasn't going away. She got herself sat down, but her breathing was coming out in gasps.

"Pepper... I-I can't breathe... I-I-I," she tried to get air when a jolt came from the hit. "I need ice... I-I need to cool down... I'm having... a p-panic attack..."

"You have a emergency shot in your bag take it now" she said in a serious tone "now arillyn "

She dug through her purse frantically until she pulled out what looked like an EpiPen. She used it just like one, exactly how Tony instructed her.

"Done," she said.

Suddenly remembering the mini bar in the car, she grabbed the bucket of ice and began breathing into it. She rubbed some on her neck for a little bit and after about ten minutes, her breathing was starting to become normal.

"I'm sorry, Pepper," she said. "I should have recognized it sooner. I've had them before..."

"You need to be careful in the future a panic attack can easily activate your powers, you did well though , your almost home and Tony is following the car, relax your safe now, come straight inside when you get here"

"No arguments here," she said, leaning back. "I want to shower. I want to make sure all of it's off and I didn't miss anything. God, today is already a mess and I wasn't the one causing it."

"Let's do this right while your mind is calm and fresh, tell me everything you remember, every detail big or small"

"There was a burning smell from my locker," she said. "I was cautious but the trigger was when my locker was open halfway. I didn't see anything inside until after the green dust hit me. After that, I slammed the door shut. The kids were all acting like they were on a high. They also had dilated pupils."

Pepper asked a bunch of questions and she tried to answer them the best she could. When she got home pepper was there and Tony landed a moment later. Once inside they all sat down at the table "I was listening to pepper and you while you were on the phone and what you have told us does not add up, I'm not saying your lying I'm saying we are missing something, there was no trace of anything found in your locker, now I know you can effect the environment in a natural way and lucky for you that gas was not natural but chemical base so that already says it wasn't tied to you abilities, but you also have knowledge of chemistry but this was high level kind of knowledge, things you were not taught and since you are monitored twenty four seven we know you didn't learn it in your own so that also shows your innocence. But it doesn't help the water washed away and evidence there was and the green stuff was just paint that paintballs use" he said looking frustrated "we looked at the cameras and they haven't been altered and no one but you was in your locker, well you and Rachel when she got your homework for you but the camera showed that's all she did" he said pacing a little

"It makes no sense for me to put it in my own locker," Arillyn pointed out. "If I was going to prank anyone, it would have been in a different locker. Honestly, though, I'd be more likely to go after Mr. Munch. That guy has a stick so far up his..." She caught the look Tony gave her and stopped mid-sentence. "Right, sorry. Not the time. Point is, I'm not stupid enough to prank myself and I only just got back last night."

"I'm not saying you did" he said in a serious tone "whatever it was made those kids hallucinate, it effected you too but in a different way, it seems unnatural things effect you greatly just not in the way they are attended" before she could ask what he meant he pointed to the nearby mirror wall.

Arillyn looked at her image. She had to touch the mirror to make sure the sick, pale, almost anorexic figure looking back at her was real. She stood up.

"I don't know how to fix this," she said. "I still need a shower... maybe eat... I don't..." She took a calming breath, recognizing she was starting to panic again. "Can we do some tests or something to find a way to reverse this?"

I have a room set up, I'll carry you, the room itself is organic, maybe resting in a natural environment will show some results, try to think of this as a good thing we have a opportunity to find out something knew that might help you" he said in a encouraging voice picking her up "I will also start working on a device that will help protect you from chemical base things, if I'm correct then we are the reason your powers haven't grown or shown anything we could use to find answers, if you this sensitive to chemicals then even something like your shampoo could make you week. We will try the environment first and then I will bring in food that is organic and chemical free and see if that works"

"We can try," she said. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I invented something based on JARVIS. It can be used in practical applications to age electrical output, but the prototype is mainly to tell me if my powers start to go out of control so I can cut back on the meds. I don't want to rely on them my whole life and if I can stop anything from happening without them, then I can control them better. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, and I didn't want to without someone there if things go wrong."

"We can talk about that later, let's get you resting" he said in a focused tone as he carried her. A few moments later they were in front of a door and he gentle set her down as he typed in the code to the door. When it opened it was like he opened a portal to another place entirely, all around was like a enchanted forest "over the bridge is where you can rest even the walls and glass in this room was made naturally with no chemicals. " He said

"This is amazing," she said, stepping into the room. "I already feel better, Tony. Maybe I don't have to spend all my time in here, but knowing I have it to relax and heal and recoup... Thank you." She turned back to him. "This really means a lot."

He nodded "go rest and stay here until I come to get you, only I know the code to here" he said