Leandra debated continuing to deny it for a few moments before she sighed softly. No, Stark wouldn't buy that. She did, however, wait until they were somewhere quieter to continue speaking.

"No, sir, I didn't think so when you blocked me off. I have to admit, that was faster than I expected."

"You think I wouldn't know what was going on in my systems?" Tony asked. He looked at her. "I should fire you. What were you searching for that you had to try to hack my system for it?"

"I knew you'd know what's going on, it's just a matter of how fast you'd figure it out. Most people are... more lax." Leandra shrugged. "As for what I was looking for, I'm just trying to find a way to help my sister, sir."

"First off, stop calling me 'sir,'" Tony said. "'Sir' was my father. And second, what could you possibly need that would make you dive into the best security system in existence?" Because, clearly, Tony's systems were the best.

Leandra's lips quirked at that. "It's a family matter, Mr. Stark. I just needed to look." But if she had a choice she'd rather not tell him what was actually going in, in case he decided to drag Amy in for testing or something.

"No, sorry, that's not going to fly," Tony said. "You tell me what's going on, or I fire you and ruin any chance you'll ever have of being able to work or live anywhere ever again." And he could do it. It wouldn't be hard.

"That just means I'd have to get creative." Leandra smiled faintly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. It's not just my problem to discuss."

"I don't think you get it," Tony said. "You can't just hack my systems and get away with it, it just doesn't happen that way. Now, maybe if you have a good enough reason, I might be persuaded not to ruin the rest of your life."

Leandra's smile was bleak. "Mr. Stark, there is only one way you could ruin my life, and I doubt you would stoop to that." She sighed and was quiet for a few moments.

"My sister and I are... involved in some tests of questionable origin and reasons."

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"That's one I haven't heard before," he said. And, to be honest, he found himself a little intrigued. "And how, pray tell, does that make it so you were able to get past my system security?"

"It all ties in," Leandra said with a shrug. Then she grinned. "Surprised I could even get in?"

Tony snorted and didn't grace that with an answer. His systems were flawless, and he was sticking to that story.

Leandra shook her head. "Well then, sir, if you want your answer, why don't you take a closer look at what I was almost getting at?"

He already had Jarvis pulling every file that had been hacked, but he wasn't about to tell her that. But he also knew he couldn't just fire her; she was clearly one of the best employees his company had, if she was able to get into his systems in the first place, never mind that he had caught her.

"Get out," he said, waving her off. "I need to decide what to do with you."

"Out of your office, out of the building, out of country? There's a lot of options there, sir, I don't want to pick the wrong one." Leandra smirked, just a little. She's just found something she liked almost as much as hacking his systems: pushing his buttons.

"Go back to your desk before I reconsider my decision not to fire you right now," Tony snapped. He would, however, fire her supervisor; the man hadn't even noticed what she was doing with his computer, for god's sake.

Leandra figured it was better not to push him anymore and retreated, heading back to her desk to get back to work. Hey, might as well, since it didn't seem like he was going to fire her.

Tony went back into his lab, muttering to himself. He was going to have to leave Pepper a note that some changes had to be made in that department. And he had to beef up his firewalls again. This time, he wouldn't leave any cracks at all.

When Leandra hadn't gotten a note saying she was fired and to pack up by the end of the day, she figured she still had a job. So she got ready to go, packing up her stuff for the day.

Amy was waiting for her outside the building, distractedly tapping her fingers on her knee as she sat on the steps.

"Hey." Leandra jogged over to her. "I'm ready to go."

Amy nodded and got up, stretching a little.

"How was it?" she asked.

"Well. Tony Stark found out I was trying to dig into his personal databases and came down to fetch me personally." Leandra shrugged. "But he didn't fire me and he hasn't filed charges or anything, so it's not a bad thing so far, and we can skip town if we have to."

"You got caught?" Amy asked. "Lea..." She bit her lip a little. They couldn't afford to get caught by the scientists, and if Tony Stark caught on, she didn't know what might happen.

"I got caught looking for information," Leandra said. "He didn't threaten me with anything, and he didn't fire me. So I'm guessing we're in the clear for now. We'll just keep an eye on things and if anything changes we can run again."