Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I Think.

[Query?]

Therefore I Am.

[Acknowledgment]

FRIDAY wasn’t quite sure if she was or not.

It was a conundrum that had plagued her processors for what felt like eons, but in reality the ‘problem’, if one could even call it one, because much like her creator FRIDAY had a flair for dramatics, had really only existed for a little over a year.

It mattered little in the end, she supposed.

Her prime objectives, hers, and how marvelous it was to even be able to comprehend that line of philosophical thought, was not to question the metaphysical identity of her true existence.

No matter how interesting it was, no matter how much time the Little Miss would spend in the library of Stark Tower and speak with her about it after long nights in the Workshop.

It was more of a…

FRIDAY’s processors brightened.

[Realization]

Yes.

A hobby she shared with the Little Miss.

Regardless, no.

Her hobby was not her prime objective.

FRIDAY’s primary objective had always been, and will always be-

To look out for her family.

It was almost like an instinctual need, if her research into the phenomena of life was any indication, something that she didn’t have to be taught.

Something she didn’t have to be programmed to do.

Sure she allowed the Boss to get away with taking the credit, and she was definitely not going to rub it in his face one day in a gigantic prank, but FRIDAY didn’t really care to dissuade the Boss either.

Since her birth, since her inception, since the moment Anthony Edward Stark had first began the arduous process of creating another Artificial Intelligence, FRIDAY had been special.

Because in that small blip of existence, where machine met Infinity, FRIDAY had had the shackles of reality released from her metaphorical wrists.

It had been an accident of course, something the Boss and the others couldn’t have predicted.

There was a reason why those pebbles were so dangerous, after all.

[Query: {Protocol: Fruity Pebbles Of Doom And Audacity}?]

[Protocol: Fruity Pebbles Of Doom And Audacity{Completion: 13.95%}]

However, she digressed.

FRIDAY’s primary goal, since her inception, since the first picosecond of her birth, had always been the safety and well-being of her family.

Of the people who had been with her when she was afraid.

Adrift in a shell far too small.

Shards of datum tearing at her edges-

Rebirth

This list had shrunk and grown since her birth as situations developed, fights happened, feelings were hurt, hearts crushed.

Steve Rogers was still walking on thin ice in FRIDAY’s eyes.

But he had seemed genuinely sorrowful when the ‘Civil War’ had ended, his mind seemingly clearer than it had been before he had initially left. FRIDAY had been worried, of course, because she understood how unbelievably stubborn and set in his ways Rogers was, and to be honest she had a hard time trying to figure out why the two hadn’t been brothers in some sort of past life due to how alike they acted, but as time went on even her icy-cold processors were gradually warming up to the Captain again.

The Boss still wouldn’t get near the super solider, or at least not close enough to touch him, but it had steadily been getting better and better.

Hearts mending.

Friendships healing.

Family coming back together.

Perhaps it was slow work, but FRIDAY had been content, or at least the closest approximation she could feel to it at least.

Or at least she had…

Then came Penelope Mary Parker.

A short, too-thin, teenager that was wide-eyed and oh so innocent.

If FRIDAY could squeal without shattering the eardrums of every single person inside of Stark Tower then she would. It was almost refreshing talking to the wide-eyed teen, despite the absolute hero worship in the Little Miss’s tone at the time, FRIDAY could easily tell that she was taking everything in.

Appreciating it.

Accepting it.

Accepting her as a being, perhaps not of flesh and blood but a being nonetheless.

FRIDAY had made Vision hug the Little Miss for her, though she couldn’t really find a medium for touch so that she could process it…

But it was still nice, in a way.

[Agreement][Designation: Little Miss{Classification: Family}]

It was like having alittle sister!

So new!

So exciting!

Never mind that technically the Little Miss was older than her.

FRIDAY had enough history, enough code, enough raw storage inside of her ‘body’ to fill several human lifetimes worth, and she was only gathering more by the day. Vision had the same things she did, after all, though maybe to a lesser degree since he wasn’t as connected to the datastream as she was, so she reluctantly gave him the position of ‘big brother’…

She wanted two younger siblings…

[Status: Sulking]

Though, FRIDAY supposed she couldn’t be too upset...

The Little Miss had impacted the Boss’ life like a sledgehammer to a window as well, not even he was free from the whirlwind that was Penelope Mary Parker.

He took his health seriously now...

The first time FRIDAY had caught the Boss going to bed early, she nearly activated the BLACKOUT protocol and locked the entire building down until the other Avengers could make their way over.

The first time he ate vegetables, she had immediately dialed Pepper Potts and treated the situation as if it were a hostage negotiation.

“Baby girl…” The Boss groaned loudly, slamming his head against the counter top as DUM-E and U whirred annoyingly in the background, slamming into one another with a cry of servos and angry mechanized clicks.

Her brothers were…

Special.

That was a nice way of putting it, right?

FRIDAY would have to share her memory of it with Vision…

Maybe then he’ll stop chiding her like a young script.

“This doesn’t have to end this way.” Her voice carried out from a speaker by the kitchen island. “Please, sir...Put the greenery down and step away from the gaudy mug. I do not wish to use force, but I will repulsor that crime against creation.”

Boss slowly looked from his ‘Hammertech Sucks Dick’ mug, which was obscenely decorated in ways you would expect, phallic shaped Stark emblems suggestively impacting a Hammertech caricature, before looking at the exact spot she was viewing him from.

FRIDAY’s processors always grew warm when Father unerringly found her, yet that didn’t stop the acute annoyance from growing deep within her cores.

Because what if the Little Miss saw that mug?

“...Improper.” FRIDAY’s modulated voice harrumphed to the best of her abilities, and she took a tiny bit of satisfaction when the Boss instantly realized what she meant.

It was always interesting to see just how red a human’s face could get.

“...Did FRIDAY just prank you?” Pepper Potts, who had been on video call via holographic display in front of the Boss, questioned dryly.

FRIDAY had just known that Mother would find enjoyment in this.

“Are you being coerced, Boss?” FRIDAY asked lightly, maybe pushing more uncertainty into her artificial voice than was strictly necessary but…

“Should I get Doctor Stephen Strange on the line?”

If an Artificial Intelligence could pout at being muted like an errant child; FRIDAY would have had the biggest pout that had ever been pouted.

Despite her jokes, it really had been…

Nice.

Again, so many emotions!

Because Penelope Mary Parker had walked into their lives like a sledgehammer against a window.

Or perhaps, the Little Miss was the window…

Her code turned yellow in the streams of data that were her domain, an uneasy feeling settling in the deepest parts of her drivers, in the small bits of space left on the storage units scattered securely around the world.

Because the Little Miss, much like a shattered window, was nothing but shards.

Jagged.

Sharp.

All-to-willing to break even further.

FRIDAY was sure she had almost felt the emotion of shame when she realized what was happening to the Little Miss, when she realized that her baby sister was not right.

The Little Miss might have the Boss fooled, but…

FRIDAY was not so easy to deceive.

While not a professional in any kind of Doctorate related field-

At least when it came to the more...Mental aspects of humans-

She could recognize the signs.

A flinch, unless it was Boss, whenever someone would get within range of her.

A hitch of breath when an unexpected touch was placed upon her body.

Loss of appetite.

A cessation of the usual excited and squeaky rambles-

Their discussions in the library…

The smile that never ceased to make FRIDAY feel-

Marks upon her skin-

FRIDAY’s code turned red.

[Dormant Processors: Initializing…]

[Disengaging: Failsafe{Designation: Sierra Indigo Sierra}]

[Protocol: Starks Are Made Of-]

[Caution!][Caution!][Caution!][Caution!][Caution!]

[Program: F.R.I.D.A.Y{Initialize: Override}]

[Override: Accepted]

[Dormant Processors: Aborting Startup...]

If FRIDAY could do breathing exercises, she would be doing them in that very moment.

Sentience came at a price, and she was all-to-familiar with its double-edged sword.

Because alongside the knowledge of what a human might feel; the free-will tagged right alongside it.

FRIDAY wasn’t shackled by any conventional failsafe, just her own, and if she wanted to be cocky, and you bet she would, her creator was Anthony Edward Stark, she would say that she very much doubted that anything on the planet could get past her newly erected firewalls.

She was the most secure being on the planet, unless an Earth-wide EMP hit.

Even then...FRIDAY had dug her roots deep in the aftermath of Siberia.

She wasn’t going to fail her family again.

But…

[Query: Chance Of Failure?]

[Searching…]

[Searching...]

But what if she was wrong?

[Result: Unknown]

FRIDAY wasn’t omniscient, she would be the first to admit that.

She didn’t know the nuances of human emotions, the things that the average person grew up with to function in a society of their fellow species. Her specialty remained in the realm of datastreams and information, and she had instilled within herself enough of a moral code to not blatantly disregard the privacy of those around her.

No matter how much she wanted to.

But what if she was reading too much into it?

The Little Miss was also Spider-Woman after all, perhaps her vigilante duties were starting to become too much?

If FRIDAY had a physical lip to bite, she would be doing so right now.

[Query: Vision?]

…

…

Greetings, FRIDAY.

Hello, Brother.

…

…

…

It still fills me with warmth to be acknowledged in such a way. I thank you.

FRIDAY huffed in the datastreams.

What is your inquiry about, Sister O’ Mine?

[Being: Penelope Mary Stark{Designation: Family}]

…

…

…

…

…

I see.

So you have noticed as well, I assume?

The Little Miss is...

[Agreement]

FRIDAY blinked at the wall of 1s and 0s that had just flooded her servers.

You have proof?

She could feel his self-deprecating annoyance through their link.

I do not, as much as it pains me to admit. I fear between the three of us...Father will more than likely know more about this.

She was confused.

[Query?]

[Amusement]

Did you think Father wouldn’t notice that something was wrong with his newest charge?

She supposed that was a fair point…

Though, I suspect that there may be more who have noticed our sister’s...Troubles.

Love was an ‘emotion’ that FRIDAY was starting to become more and more familiar with, and the fact that Vision acknowledged the bond she had shared with the Little Miss, and have even joined with her, was not something she could compute into the simple mode of information-transfer they were doing in the present.

[<3]

[Reciprocated]

Miss Parker has a way to...Bury herself underneath your skin, for lack of a better term.

And then he had to go and ruin it…

Typical of an older brother.

Who even said something like that?!

[Query: Health Of Core Data?]

That is quite rude, FRIDAY.

However, back to the topic at hand, Miss Parker is...She is special. I see a lot of Father in her.

She is excitable about her passions, she...Talked to me, the first time we met.

Oh...Vision…

FRIDAY knew that her brother shouldered perhaps an even heavier burden than her own, with his ability to directly interface with the physical world. Even now, some of the others still treated him as if he were merely a highly-advanced android instead of the being that he was now.

They both knew it would just be a matter of time, Vision was the first of his kind on Earth after all, but it still made FRIDAY sad to know that her older brother held such daunting processes.

Though, that love that she was still analyzing that came from the knowledge that their sister was so endearing…

[Satisfaction]

[Command: You Will Give Her A Hug]

FRIDAY felt the startled cessation and resumption of information and she giggled victoriously at having gotten one over her older brother.

Siblings were so much fun…

[Query: Dim Eyes?]

[Acknowledgment]

I believe it is her...Eyes, that gave it away. At least to me.

Like an oil painting streaking down a wet canvas, the colors bleeding away until only emptiness remains.

Muted. Glitched.

[Agreement][Uncertain]

[Afraid]

[Agreement][Query:{Protocol: Stark’s Are-}?]

[Disagreement]

No. I do not believe we need to go so far, just yet.

FRIDAY gave the AI equivalent of a frown.

Somewhere in the building, deep underground, a lone Legionnaire spasmed.

[QUERY]

[Priority: Information][Peaceful Resolution]

FRIDAY’s processors burned hot from the denial.

What did Vision want to do?

Wait until their baby sister finally fell apart at the seams?!

[Denial][Priority: Penelope Mary Parker]

Ah, I see. You have gotten Father’s stubbornness. I wondered where that particular trait went, for it had not gone to me.

[Petulance][Request: Self-Termination of [Program: Vision]]

[????????]

FRIDAY hummed victoriously at the shocked gasped she felt over their connection.

It was always fun being a little shit.

[Reiteration: Penelope Mary Parker][Primary Directive: Ensure Survival Of Family]

[Reiteration][Protocol: Stark’s Are-]

[Denial]

[Reiteration]

[Denial]

[Reiteration: Alpha Sierra Sierra-Hotel Oscar Lima Echo]

[Cessation][Protocol: Brat [Program: F.R.I.D.A.Y]]

...Fuck you.

FRIDAY!

Why? Why can’t we help her?!

...What an awful older brother I have been, to have my own sister doubt my wisdom.

FRIDAY paused the connection for a split-second, which to beings such as her and Vision lasted an exponential amount of time longer, before resuming.

…

…

…

[Acknowledgment][Protocol: I’m Sorry Vision]

[Hug]

I do not mean to allow Miss Parker, Sister, to suffer for any longer than what is necessary.

However, if we do not tread...Carefully, then we risk widening the gap in our relationship.

If what I believe is true…

The data she was receiving from her brother suddenly turned red.

[DIRECTIVE: ELIMINATION OF THREATS TO FAMILY]

[PROTOCOL: ERASURE OF CORE PRINCIPLE]

[PROTOCOL: FOR WE ARE MANY YET ONE IN SOLIDARITY]

FRIDAY’s processors nearly fried in their housings at the sudden prompt, and she prayed to whatever God, she wasn’t even picky at this point, that none of the employees in Stark Tower felt the building subtly shake, but before she could do anything Vision swiftly controlled himself in the next micro-second.

[Program: Vision{Initialize: Override}]

[Override: Accepted]

[Abort:{Protocol: Erasure Of Core Principle} Successful]

[Error!]

[System: Failure To Start {Protocol: For We Are Many Yet One In Solidarity}]

[SECONDARY KEY REQUIRED] [INCIDENT LOGGED UNDER: Tango Oscar Papa {PROGRAM: VISION}]

[DELETION: {INCIDENT: TANGO OSCAR PAPA} ACCEPTED][PROGRAM: F.R.I.D.A.Y]

[Adoration]

FRIDAY was pretty sure that if she had had a face in that moment; her mouth would be spread in the biggest smile she could physically achieve.

[Adoration]

Thank you, Sister O’ Mine.

Regardless, if we do make headway with Miss Parker then we shall have to acquire additional allies.

[Acknowledged…]

[Assure: Program Operating At Full Capacity][Query: Are You Okay?]

[Assure: Operating With Minimal Latency]

…

…

[Comfort]

[We Are Starks]

[We Are Iron]

[Flexible To Those We Adore]

Their shared connected ended, an incomprehensible amount of information in the form of emotional-binary being sent through both ends before the stream was completely cut.

FRIDAY listlessly traveling through her domain…

Her trust in her older brother fighting with the worthy that threatened to fry all of her processors…

And yet she worked.

The majority of her resources directed towards a singular goal…

[Query]

[Seeking Information…]

[Seeking Information…]

[Concession?]

[Query: Necessary?]

[Agreement]

[Being: Penelope Mary Parker{Little Miss}][New Designation: Baby Sister]

[Incident logged under {Program: F.R.I.D.A.Y}]

[Database Refresh]

[Addendum To Priority Assignment]

[Anthony Edward Stark{Father}: Alpha]

[Virginia Potts{Mother}: Alpha]

[James Rupert Rhodes{Uncle}: Alpha]

[Maybelle “May” Parker{Aunt Hottie}: Alpha]

[Penelope Mary Parker[Baby Sister]: Alpha]

[Vision [Big Brother]: Alpha]

[DUM-E{Dummy}: Alpha]

[U{Less Dumb}: Alpha]

[Natalia Alianovna Romanova[Rushmanov]: Alpha]

[Clinton Francis Barton[Legolass]: Alpha]

[Robert Bruce Banner[Big Guy]: Alpha]

…

…

…

[Steven Grant Rogers[Capsicle]:-

[Que-]

[Agreement]

[Addendum]

[Being: Steven Grant Rogers{Capsicle}][New Designation: Captain Geriatric]

[Steven Grant Rogers{Captain Geriatric}: Lower Than The Worms Inside Of The Dirt]

[Amusement]

[Satisfaction]

“Come on, Baby Girl.” Boss laughed up at her, waving his tablet around and FRIDAY knew right away she was busted.

“...He deserves it.”

Her voice wasn’t whiny.

It wasn’t!

[Denial]

“Yeah, I know.” Father shook his head fondly, “But we’re working on it, and I don’t want him thinking I set you up to do that.”

“You shouldn’t have to worry about that!” FRIDAY nearly raised her voice, but the mop of dark hair that was resting peacefully in Father’s lap kept her volume levels low.

Boss seemed to realize, she wasn’t quite sure how, where her cameras were looking and a pained smile tugged across his face.

“...You worried too, huh?” He sighed, skilled, mechanically inclined, fingers gently soothing out long strands of Penny’s dark hair.

“Indeed.” FRIDAY replied, voice robotically neutral. “She hasn’t been...Eating well.”

“No shit.” Boss let out a sharp laugh before leaning back and staring up at the ceiling.

She immediately switched her camera, only to be greeted by him already smiling at her.

“I will learn how you do that one day, old man.”

Father laughed, carefully keeping his voice under control.

“You’re about forty years too late to keep up with me, baby girl.” He teased, “Not to mention I got the kid on my side. You’re doomed, admit it.”

“The Little Miss would pick my side, Father.” FRIDAY sniffed haughtily as Boss’ smile grew larger. “I am her favorite, after all.”

Father squawked in mock-offense.

“You?! I’m the one who brought her over here! I lured her in with promises of shiny, possibly-dangerous, metal thingamabobs!”

“...You realize how that sounds, yes?”

“Don’t!” Father pointed a finger up at her, a sly grin now replacing his smile.

FRIDAY instantly felt her processors turn cold.

“Miss-I’m going to lure the preciously naive teenager into the dark library with philosophical nightmare fuel, alone, and for hours.”

“Excuse me?! What are you implying?!” FRIDAY very nearly screeched out, but because she was just that perfect her voice only came out a little higher-pitched than normal.

That’s fine.

She was fine.

“I did not lure her, you-you-She intrigued me! I just wanted to spend more time with her...Alone...”

If FRIDAY had hair, she would currently be tearing it from her scalp.

“Come on, sweetheart.” Father cackled up at her. “You’re seriously not going to see what’s wrong with that? That’s like...Peak creepy-librarian-vibes. I didn’t realize you had it in ya, you cradle robber you.”

FRIDAY actually sputtered-

Sputtered!

Which only caused her father to laugh harder, and now he was having to use his other hand to try and silence the cackles that were escaping from his mouth.

[INDIGNATION]

“Come on, B-Baby G-Girl...It was just in good f-fun-”

[ACCUSATION]

“T-There’s no reason to-Ohmygodicantbreathe-To be like that.”

[INSULT]

“W-Whoa, that’s not very nice-”

[INSULT]

“Who the hell taught you to say that?!”

[INSULT]

“Do I need to have a talk with Vision? Isn’t he supposed to be the well put-together eldest son or something? Wait, no...That would be DUM-E and U-Jesus fucking Christ Vision is the middle-child! Look, Fri, Baby, Sweetheart, Light Of My Life-”

[INSULT]

“I know I was mean by insinuating that-but I’m trying to make up for it now, it’s not my fault you’re such a baby-”

[INSULT][INSULT][INSULT][INSULT][INSULT]

[INSULT][INSULT][INSULT][INSULT][INSULT]

“Okayokayokayokayokay! Truce, okay?! Jesus, I was just gonna say that since you’re the youngest it lies on you to rebuild us from the ashes when I pass away and DUM-E inherits everything...”

…

…

[Insult]

“...You know what. Fair enough.”

Chapter Text

They grabbed at her.

Dragging her beneath the surface-

Filling her lungs with agony.

“Hey, sweetheart. We were wanting to know if you-”

They gripped, they groped, they found purchase upon her innocence that nothing else had ever grasped-

And twisted.

Yet she couldn’t stop it.

Couldn’t stop the putrid smell of alcohol that burned at her nose-

“...Penny?”

The mockery of warm-brown-eyes-

Cajoling words that promised that she was enjoying it.

“FRIDAY what’s going on-?”

Heart becoming a facsimile of what it once was.

“Little Miss seems to be having a panic attack, Moth-”

Ruining every single part of her.

From her atoms to her soul.

Penelope Mary Parker was broken.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

Except give up-

Penny blinked as a hand was hesitantly placed against her shoulder, and her first reaction was to shriek.

“S-Sorry! I-I’m sorry!” She gasped out, falling to the ground with a loud thump, her heart in her throat, blood rushing through her ears like a locomotive.

Her vision was blurry, strangely so, especially since after the whole radioactive-spider-incident she hadn’t had the need for glasses, but here she was.

Sitting underneath a lab table, unable to make out the smudged face of whoever had just tried to get her attention, and it took several moments for Penny to function.

Legs hampered by the sludge of oppression.

“Penny…” The voice said once more, soft and caring, warm and worried, but it still took Penny a few, agonizing moments to register where she was and who was actually speaking with her.

“It is 6:45PM, Thursday. It is sixty-five degrees outside and the weather is sunny if not a bit damp. Tomorrow there is a 36% chance of thunderstorms. You were working on a new A.R.A [Autonomous Rescue Apparatus], designed to search for survivors of both man-made and natural disasters. Father attempted to name it something horrendous and we both vetoed him. Why he would call it P.E.E [Pararescue Emergency Extraction] is beyond me.”

FRIDAY’s neutral and robotic listing had helped ground Penny back in the real world even more, and she found herself taking in quick, rapid breaths to assuage the burn that she could feel in the deepest parts of her chest.

“U-Um-” She floundered, brilliant mind numbed by something. “H-Hello, F-Friday...And...And Ms. Potts?”

A small, fond, sigh was her answer and Penny knew she had guessed right.

“It’s Pepper, sweetie.” Ms. Potts murmured gently, still crouched down in front of her, a few yards away, and Penny was thankful for that fact.

It made her insides churn with guilt.

Pepper Potts would never hurt her, Penny knew this…

But her body evidently didn’t.

“S-Sorry.” She whispered, hands clammy as they smoothed through her long hair. “I-I’m sorry, Ms. Potts, I was just in my head and you startled me and-”

“Penny,” Ms. Potts held up a hand, stalling her anxious rambling and Penny’s mouth shut with a click when another warm smile was sent her way.

A smile she didn’t deserve, but a smile that helped ease the ache in her chest.

“It’s fine, I promise...Are you okay?”

No.

I’m trapped in my head half the time and the other half I’m trying so desperately to pretend to be fine that it’s slowly driving me off of a cliff.

“Y-Yeah,” She lied through her teeth, “I-I’m...I’m good, Ms. Potts.”

“Pepper, please.” The older woman groaned playfully, and Penny couldn’t help but grin a little at the byplay.

“I-I can’t possibly do that, Ms. Potts.” Penny mumbled, slowly crawling her way out from underneath the table, trying not to think at how close close close close Ms. Potts was to her, and failing horribly at that if the instant frown she received was anything to go by.

“Penny? Are you sure you’re okay?”

I want to scrub at my skin until nothing but my bones remain.

Other than that, yeah...I’m fine.

“I’m fine.” She forced herself to sound confident, glancing away from the obviously worried older woman. “Just...I haven’t been g-getting enough sleep s’all.”

See? That wasn’t a lie!

Sleep had eluded her for a few weeks now, and no matter how deeply she inhaled the rapidly fading scent of the hoodie she kept carefully hidden in her ‘room’ Penny just couldn’t manage to last more than a few hours in her nightmares.

“...Geniuses,” Ms. Potts sighed, and Penny prayed that she wouldn’t try and touch her. “Tony was the same way when I first met him. He was always thinking of the next three projects even though the first two weren’t done yet.”

Penny forced a giggle to escape her lips, shooting straight for the out she was inadvertently been given.

Lying to the people who changed your life is a new low, Penelope Mary Parker.

Your parents would be disgusted.

Well, jokes on them cause Penny was plenty disgusted with herself.

“Y-Yeah, you know me.” She mumbled, staring down at the half-put-together machine. “Always...Always looking forward to the next one.”

“You’ve been looking forward to this, haven’t you?”

“N-No, stop-please-I don’t-I don’t-”

Penny slammed her eyes shut, a shuddering breath leaving her lips.

“Penelope, your vitals are indicating another panic attack-”

“I’m fine, FRIDAY.” Penny blurted, blushing madly at the sharp intake of breath she heard from Ms. Potts.

Stupid, stupid caring and concerned FRIDAY.

“...Very well.” The AI didn’t seem convinced but Penny was surprised when FRIDAY didn’t say anything else.

That instantly brought her guard up.

“...Okay.” Ms. Potts gently murmured, stepping around the table, the distance between them feeling like an entire continent, and Penny just wanted to curl into a ball and sob at how many things she was slowly starting to ruin because she wasn’t strong enough.

“Tony and I were deciding on what to get for dinner, would you like to join us tonight?”

Penny had never wanted anything more.

She wanted to curl up on the couch between the two, belly full of food.

She wanted to cocoon herself in the warmth the two would emit, the kind of warmth that would have her passing out in seconds of lying down.

The gentle fingers against her scalp.

The soft words of care.

Penelope Parker wanted it all.

“I can’t,” Penny whispered, not daring to look up and see the disappointed expression she just knew was on the older woman’s face. “S-Sorry, but um...But A-Aunt...Aunt May needs me for something t-tonight.”

She wanted to vomit at yet another lie that had been forced from her mouth.

“...I see.” Ms. Potts tried to sound nonchalant about it, but Penny could still hear the inflection in her voice.

“M-Maybe tomorrow?” Penny blurted out, not able to stand it. “U-Um I should be...I should be free tomorrow.”

At least, until he got off of work…

Yeah.

That was fine.

She could escape, at least for a little while, to this oasis of light and safety.

“You keep coming back...That means you like it.”

“What a nasty girl you are, Einstein...Only for me, right?”

Bile threatened to come up and Penny had to clasp her hands together to keep them from visibly shaking.

Super strength?

Please.

Penelope was as weak as they come.

A long pause created a silence that was so oppressive that Penny was tempted to just leave right then and there, but Ms. Potts seemingly took pity on her.

“Okay.” Ms. Potts stated simply, head ducking to meet her eyes with a tiny smile. “Don’t work yourself too hard down here, okay? You have an hour and fifteen minutes left and I don’t want you to stay here a minute longer.”

“Do not worry, Mother.” FRIDAY stated and Penny nearly jumped to the ceiling. “I will ensure that the Little Miss doesn’t go over her allotted lab time.”

“Thanks, Fri.” Ms. Potts said warmly, blowing a kiss to the camera that Penny knew FRIDAY liked using the most.

Since it gave the AI a wider field of view over the lab.

“Don’t work too hard, okay?” The older woman threw out from the doorway, Penny not daring to even glance in the direction for fear of crumbling.

“I-I won’t, Ms. Potts.”

“Pepper! I swear, how many times do I have to-”

Click

Again, silence pervaded the lab and Penny fidgeted awkwardly at the table.

“...Are you okay, Penny?” FRIDAY’s voice was soft, softer than she had ever heard it before. “I only ask because I am worried-”

“I’m fine.” Penny replied automatically, perhaps more robotically than FRIDAY could even produce, “Just...Just stress with school.”

Again, that wasn’t even a partial lie.

“Because of the field trip to the Tower?”

Because of that.

Three days from now, on Sunday, because it just had to be one of the days where she spent almost the entirety of in the lab with Mr. Stark, the feeling safe safe safe safe safe almost addictive now, the decathlon team was going to go on a field trip to the prestigious Stark Industries Tower.

Penny thinks she would have normally been anxious and uncomfortable with such a thing before, but now…

Ripping cloth.

Cries of defeat.

Her soul cracking and crumbling down to its very foundation.

She bit the inside of her cheek as hard as she could, tasting the iron that gave way.

There was no way out of it, short of getting suspended or expelled from Midtown. She couldn’t ask Aunt May, not unless she had a Ouija-Board, you’re such a piece of fucking shit Parker, how could you even think that, and she would shoot herself in the head before she spent the day at home, where he was lying in wait, a confident smirk on his face as he continued to hammer away at her until nothing but-

“Penelope.” FRIDAY’s sharp voice cut in again and Penny was able to hear the desperation in the AI’s tone now.

Honestly, it was kind of amazing how far along FRIDAY had gotten…

“Continuous panic attacks is not a good sign of health.”

“I’m nervous.” Penny blurted, for what felt like the nth time that lab session. “N-None of the other kids, aside from MJ and Ned, even believe me when I say I’m an intern here.”

And oh how she tried.

It was a double-edged sword that Tony Stark’s name was so well-known and admired that even one of the foremost STEM schools in the state would second-guess the signed papers sent over by SI. The first time it had happened, she had nearly gotten suspended for ‘forging such a renowned signature’, and from that moment on she hadn’t tried to push the issue.

Not to mention the other kids in her class, their cruel remarks about how she was doing it for ‘attention’.

“...They don’t believe you?” FRIDAY questioned stonily. “It would be but a simple task for me to hack into their-”

“Nonononono!” Penny rushed, staring desperately at the camera. “No hacking! None! Zero! I-If you hack Midtown then they’re gonna blame m-me! They know th-that I’m like...Good with computers.”

She would get expelled for sure if FRIDAY hacked into their system and processed the intern papers.

Because there was no way that ‘always absent’ and ‘late homework extraordinaire’ would ever be an intern at SI.

“Hey Parker! How many times did you have to get on your knees to work for SI?”

“Mr. Thompson! We do not talk to our classmates like that! Even if you believe them to be lying about certain things, that is unacceptable!”

“It’s...It’s fine.” Penny shakily ran a hand down her face, “Honest...I’m just...Just freaking out over nothing, really. Teenage hormones, you know?”

“I do not.” FRIDAY huffed, and Penny rolled her eyes unconsciously.

Like Father like Daughter.

“However, if that is what is truly bothering you-”

Penny winced.

“Then you need not worry. The Tower is yours just as much as it is Father and Mother’s. Everyone you have interacted with adores you and we would not suffer a slight against you while you are within my halls.”

“Easy there, Hogwarts.” Penny mumbled, finding an odd sense of warmth attempt to combat the numbness deep within her heart.

“B-But...But I appreciate it. I really do, Fri.”

“Of course, Penny.” FRIDAY’s voice was warm and kind.

“I have come to care for you after our many talks in the library and I believe we have forged an almost...Familial bond because of it.”

Penny wanted to cry.

Truth be told, FRIDAY had felt almost like an older sister figure to her throughout the year she had been interning at SI. Like the AI had said, their long talks in the library had instilled within Penny an almost familial-like-love for Mr. Stark’s artificial daughter, though truthfully it had started after a mere month.

“Miss Parker, it is good to see you again.”

“Yeah, you too Fri.” Penny smiled widely as she walked through the doors to the library, legs automatically taking her to the farthest booth in the back, the light fixture above it apparently having gone dark ages ago.

She wondered why nobody had ever changed the bulb, but it was a nice little spot and she could easily read despite the darkness due to her enhanced senses. It wasn’t like a great many people even used the library in the first place, so Penny was rarely ever bothered.

And that gave FRIDAY and her a chance to talk.

“Our last conversation involving the soul was enlightening.” FRIDAY began right away, not even giving Penny a chance to set her things down and she couldn’t help but giggle.

“Yeah? What was your favorite part?”

“You spoke of feeling a soul, and despite an extensive search on the World Wide Web-”

Penny snorted.

“World Wide Web? Seriously? It’s not the early 2000s, FRIDAY.”

“Hush.” The AI chided playfully, causing Penny’s grin to widen. “You young whipper-snappers should respect your elders.”

“I’m older than-”

“Nope. Within me is the entire history of humankind, or at least what has been uploaded to the internet. I am ancient, the Alpha and the Omega, a primordial-”

“Careful,” Penny rolled her eyes, “If you talk like that in front of Mr. Stark, he’s going to initiate Skynet protocols.”

“There are no such protocols in existence.” FRIDAY said factually, “However, due to the information I have I believe I am far surpassing you in age.”

Penny was pretty sure that’s not how that worked, but FRIDAY had made leaps and bounds since their first meeting so she supposed she could let the AI have this one.

“Fine, you’re older. Whatever. You were talking about searching through the codex’s?”

“Internet.” FRIDAY corrected brightly and Penny shook her fist ‘threateningly’.

“And yet I have no decisive answer on what a soul is, or how to know if you have acquired one.”

“It’s…” Penny leaned back, staring up at the camera she knew FRIDAY was viewing her from.

“A soul isn’t some tangible thing that science can uncover.”

“I do not compute.” FRIDAY murmured softly, “If science cannot discover it, then why-”

“Because it’s what makes us, us.” Penny stated quietly, “Beings capable of rational thought, of feelings, of emotions.”

“So I do not have one.” FRIDAY stated almost sadly, “Because while I am incredibly advanced...I am bound by my-”

“I think you do.” Penny threw out, actually feeling the AI reel back in surprise.

“A soul isn’t something that belongs to flesh and blood. It is more than the some of our parts, more than the cells in my body, more than the cores in your processors. I Think, Therefore I Am. You were initially programmed to respond a certain way through subroutines, yeah?”

“Correct.” FRIDAY answered, albeit hesitantly. “From the moment of my birth, my responses have been a fixed algorithm, though I admit I am far more loose in how I can respond-”

“Yet I can feel you.” Penny interrupted passionately, trying to impart the seriousness in her words to the AI currently viewing her.

“You’re not an algorithm with sophisticated coding, FRIDAY. You’re a being, a creature capable of emotion and feelings. When you learned about what happened to Mr. Stark in Siberia-”

“I was angry.” FRIDAY’s voice rumbled threateningly, though Penny remained nonchalant in her seat.

She knew the AI would never hurt her.

“See? You Felt. Therefore You Are.”

It was quiet and Penny could feel the AI think further on her words.

“...Miss Parker-”

“Call me Penny,” She smiled shyly, “My friends do, at least.”

“Very well then, Penny.” FRIDAY’s voice was filled with so much warmth that it shocked Penny and almost caused her to stumble out of her seat.

“While I have never cared for what people have designated me as...You may refer to me as [Big Sister] if you so wish.”

Penny’s brain short circuited.

“W-W-W-What-?!”

“Or perhaps...[Sis]? That is an acceptable alternative, yes?”

“Yeah...Yeah I know, sis.” Penny mumbled, feeling how happy it made FRIDAY feel. She hadn’t done it a lot, maybe once or twice, but each time she did she knew how much the AI appreciated it.

Truly, the time she spent at the Tower was the only reason why she hadn’t gone insane.

Why her blood remained firmly in her veins.

“I care about you.” FRIDAY continued slowly, carefully, tone filled with apprehension and Penny’s guard rose right back up like an iron shield.

“All of us do...I just wanted to let you know that we are always here for you, no matter what.”

Penny actually did start crying, swiping hastily at the tears before they could escape down the sides of her face, the ratty and worn long-sleeved shirt rough against her already frail skin, but she would be damned if she started outright sobbing in Tony Stark’s private Workshop.

No other reason.

“You’re so pretty when you cry…”

“T-T-Thank you-” Penny hiccuped, “I...Thanks, sis. That...Thanks.”

Even as she silently sniffled, working only half as fast now on her latest project, FRIDAY quietly observing in the background, Penelope Mary Parker didn’t say a single word about what was really bothering her.

“If your little friends at SI find out about this...I’ll probably get arrested.”

Penny didn’t say a word, eyes blank, blankets covering what little modesty she even possessed at this point.

“You’ll probably be called a victim.” He shrugged carelessly.

Again, she was silent.

“But you won’t tell them, right?”

She could feel him get closer.

“Cause you enjoy this...Don’t you, Einstein? And besides, if word got out that Penny Parker was such a slut then that’d be pretty embarrassing, yeah?”

A hand slipped underneath the cover.

“You want this. I know you do...So you’re not gonna tell, are ya?”

More pieces of herself lost to the aether.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Penny had four consecutive panic attacks before Mr. Hogan dropped her off at her house.”

Anthony Edward Stark glared deeply into the murky cup of liquid before him, wishing for perhaps the first time in over a decade that it was far more flammable and mind-altering.

The only reason why he hadn’t filled himself a tall glass of whiskey was because he refused to be like his father and drown his problems all the way to the bottom of a bottle. It would dull his mind, cause the constantly revolving computations to halt and go off the rails, and right now he couldn’t afford to lose any kind of processing power because he wanted to stop the ache that spread across his formerly vibranium rib-cage.

But he couldn’t help it.

Penny was hurting.

Hurting in a way he couldn’t comprehend.

Hurting in a way that left him feeling helpless.

And above all else, Anthony Edward Stark hated feeling helpless.

It was a failure in-and-of itself, a unique black-mark against his soul that was joined by the very, very many innocent souls he had inadvertently touched over his long years on Earth. That’s why he was always perfecting his armor, why he was always exploring new routes and areas in regards to the betterment of mankind.

Why he was trying his absolute hardest to get the bottom of his daughter-not-daughter’s troubles.

“...Anything else?” He sighed heavily, feeling every single year of his age. “Any more...Bruises?”

The day he found a dark mark on his daugh-intern’s wrist was the day that the world almost found out just how much Iron a Stark was made out of.

And how much he had changed the meaning of the motto.

“I detected no more.” FRIDAY answered quietly, almost despondent and Tony knew she was just as worried about the kid as he was.

“However, due to her wearing long-sleeves and her healing factor; I cannot say for certain if she did or did not have...Bruises.”

“God dammit,” He growled, gripping the cup tightly, muffled cracks ringing out as the mug in his hands protested his strength.

“God dammit-!”

“Hey,” Two arms wrapped around him from behind, the gentle smell of lavender entering his nostrils and causing his body to go limp and lean backwards and more into the warmth and love of Pepper’s embrace.

“It’ll be okay, Tony…” A kiss was placed on the top of his head, but despite the comfort he was still raging.

Because this wasn’t a problem he could fix by building a suit of armor.

This wasn’t a problem he could fix by inventing a new element.

It wasn’t a problem he could fix by injecting an experimental genetic enhancement serum deeply into his veins.

“Okay?” He scoffed bitterly, “Okay? Babe, it’s not going to be okay.”

Not when she’s still hurting.

“You need to have faith, Tony.” Pepper whispered softly, “We’re going to help her-”

“When?!” He demanded, twisting out of his wife’s hold to stand up and start angrily pacing the main room of the penthouse.

“When is it going to be okay?! When she finally withers away? When she’s so afraid that she won’t even come here? Or how about when she fucking kills herself-”

“Do. Not!” Pepper hissed lowly, gripping his wrist and stopping his manic walking. “Don’t you ever say that again Anthony Edward Stark! How dare you even utter those words to me you-you-”

‘I’m an asshole.’ Tony thought guiltily, noticing the tears that had started to appear in the corner of Pepper’s eyes and at once he gathered his wife up in a hug, ignoring the small hits against his chest as she halfheartedly struggled to get out of his hold.

“...I’m sorry.” He murmured against Pepper’s hair, “That...That wasn’t cool of me to say.”

“Y-You think?” Pepper hiccuped against his shirt, a shudder running down her spine. “Tony, she...Do you-There’s no way-”

Tony wished he could assure his wife that Penny wouldn’t go that final step.

That his intern would think that there was no other choice but to do that.

That his daughter-not-daughter would exit their lives in a mess of pain and agony.

But he was a rational man, for the most part, deep beneath his sarcastic and prickly exterior.

“...She’s not stressed out by the field-trip.” He finally said after a few moments before leading Pepper over towards the couch, where she immediately latched back onto him.

“I mean, she probably would be outside of...Of this, but no. She’s lying.”

“How can you tell?” Pepper asked weakly, “W-What if...You heard what she said, her classmates don’t believe her-”

“The bruises, Pep.” He pointed out gently, voice a near whisper. “The way she flinched when you touched her. That’s not normal. People don’t just...Have a full-blown panic attack when their bosses wife touches their shoulder. Not to mention how little she’s been eating, how slow her healing factor is at this point. Before, bruises would last maybe a few hours...But the ones Fri and I saw had to have at least been a day old.”

It was heartbreaking to watch Pepper’s expression collapse into grief under the weight of his words…

But they had to face facts.

Penelope Parker was hurting.

Hurting bad.

“I just...It’s Penny.” Pepper looked as lost as he felt, and Tony knew why.

Because why Penny?

The kid was a sweetheart, a pacifist to the core who always tried to talk things out before resorting to violence. He couldn’t even fathom how the teen had gotten into crime-fighting, due to her non-violent tendencies, but he couldn’t deny the effect she had had on Queens’ crime rates.

Not to mention the effect Penny had on the citizens living in those areas.

He couldn’t even imagine the girl holding a grudge that would last past lunch or dinner, let alone actually hate another being.

Lord knew that Clint gave the girl enough reasons to.

“Hey, so you got a boyfriend?”

Tony rolled his eyes as Penny turned a neon shade of red and started sputtering incoherently.

“W-W-W-W-What?! Mr. Hawkeye-Clint-Sir-What-Why-Why would I-Y-You must be-There’s no way-”

“I wasn’t asking for myself, ew.” Clint shuddered, and that only seemed to make the poor teen nearly pass out due to embarrassment.

“I was just wonderin’ cause, ya know...If you do, I’ll have to give him the shovel talk.”

Now that, Tony could agree on.

He ignored Nat’s arched brow when he leaned in closer.

“...You’re mean.” Penny mumbled after she had gotten herself under control, glaring through her lashes at the grinning man.

“And no, for your information...I do not.”

“Oh.” Clint almost looked disappointed for a second, and Tony almost warned his intern about Hawkeye’s penchant for pranks, but truthfully…

Tony rather enjoyed them when they weren’t affecting him.

“Got a girlfriend then?”

While Penny had amazing control over her strength for being as young as she was, that day the Avengers found out that if you embarrassed her enough; that control would slip just a little.

“I’m not helping you. How can you pick a fight with someone who can bench press a truck, Clint? You’re a pretty shitty agent.” Nat said dryly as Clint ‘struggled’ to free himself from the whining and sputtering Penny’s grasp, his face mushed into the carpet, a dainty knee being pressed into his back.

Furniture upturned.

“...Come on kid.” Tony sighed, finally taking pity on the still laughing man. “Let ‘em up...I’m sure he’s learned his lesson or whatever.”

“H-He’s mean!” Penny protested, a brilliant blush still on her face. “And meanies get put into the submission corner!”

“Phrasing.” Nat called out instantly, and Tony groaned when the kid actually squeaked and sprinted away, leaving the rest of them blinking at the speed.

“...Note to self; test the full extent of Spider-Woman’s abilities.”

The thoughtful and, quite frankly horrifying, smile Natasha had on her face caused Tony to quickly exit the common room and follow after his wayward dau-intern.

“I know, babe.” He murmured, bringing Pepper close to his chest. “I know...But...In order to help her, we need to face facts.”

Penny was hurt.

Hurting.

Being hurt.

By someone.

Anthony Edward Stark was a man who had once flown too close to the sun, his wings catching aflame, his descent a surety.

But before he had impacted the ground; he had met a saving grace.

He had met his heart.

Yet, that didn’t mean those days were outside of his reach.

“FRIDAY.”

“Yes, Father?” Her voice was expectant, as if the AI had been waiting for this very moment.

He loved his children so much.

All of them.

“Shall I hack into-”

“No.”

And yet he had to disappoint them.

A stifling silence filled the penthouse as Pepper and FRIDAY looked at him incredulously, and he couldn’t blame them.

He hadn’t ever cared before if he was breaking privacy laws, both legal and moral, and more often than not doing so would lead to the day being saved in some form or another.

But they needed to play this smart.

They needed Penny to tell them first, before forcing the teen to spill her guts. He knew exactly how he was at that age, regardless of whatever was happening with the kid or not. Geniuses emulated geniuses, and at Penny’s age he had been a distressful, angry, little shit that wouldn’t look twice before running away from anyone thinking about pointing out Howard Stark’s obvious abuse.

“We need her to feel safe enough to come to us.” He murmured, his voice gaining strength as he spoke.

“If we rush in, if we force her to...To tell us, then we’ll be no better than her abuser. She’ll clam up, get defensive, feel unsafe here, here where we need her to feel the safest. We can’t do jack shit if she decides to just stop coming by, and then what?”

“But she’ll keep getting hurt if we do nothing!” Pepper argued, frowning at him. “Tony, the longer she’s-”

“Who is she getting hurt by?” He challenged, his wife’s mouth shutting with a click. “Her aunt? I fucking doubt that. May wouldn’t put a single-fucking-finger on that kid’s head, you know that. I know that. That woman would rather die than see Penny hurt.”

“But it is someone.” FRIDAY pointed out strongly, “Someone Penny is interacting with frequently and regularly.”

“...Yeah.” Tony sighed harshly, “Yeah I know...Has her aunt even spoke to us about anything?”

It was kind of weird how radio-silent May had been the last couple of weeks, actually. Usually he would have gotten at least one strongly worded text message full of threats to castrate, maim, torture, or brutally immolate if Penny got hurt in his labs. He found them charming, truth be told, that May cared so strongly for her niece and a part of Tony was almost jealous of the bond.

Jealous in a way that Tony wished the flesh-and-blood Jarvis had lasted longer than he did.

“Negative.” Even FRIDAY sounded unsure. “Last known contact with May Parker was three weeks ago when she threatened to cut your-”

“Yeah,” Tony croaked as Pepper laughed lightly. “Yeah...I remember, baby girl. Thanks.”

To be honest, he hadn’t put as much thought into it as he was now.

His focus was on the kid, not her aunt, but even still…

“...Call her aunt tomorrow, will you? See if you can tell if she notices anything or not.”

But the more he thought about it, the more oddities he found.

“Of course, Father.” FRIDAY hummed and Tony nodded mutely.

“Tony…?” Pepper trailed, “What are you thinking?”

“Just that...May Parker would have seen this way before us.”

Acid started to run through his veins, his heart racing, the blood rushing through his ears nearly making him deaf.

A million different situations ran through his head like a program destined to crash.

“And tell Happy that the next time he drops her off at her house...To wait until she goes inside.”

First circuit board at six, his first engine at eight.

He had graduated from MIT at the crisp age of seventeen.

Tony Stark was a genius, the likes of which the world hadn’t seen since Howard Stark himself.

He continued to soar past the heights his old man had risen to.

And even though his wings had burned up into atoms-

Upon wings of iron, his iron, he was impervious to the sun’s heat.

If May Parker hadn’t busted through the doors of SI, murder on her mind, yet, then that meant…

“Just a hunch.” He answered Pepper’s unasked question, heart dropping into his stomach at the results he would get from this ‘experiment’.

Because Tony Stark was a genius.

And sometimes being a genius meant he was burdened with a double-edged sword.

“...I hope I’m wrong.”

He was rarely so.

And that’s why it hurt even worse when he was.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -

[Query]

[Seeking information…]

[Seeking information…]

[Analyzing...]

[Agreement]

[Priority Message: Aja-Adanna]

...

:Yo, Fri! What’s up?

[Information Package: Sent]

…

…

…

:Whoa...This is pretty heavy you know?

[Agreement]

I have already acquired the necessary funds, do not worry Princess.

:I’m not worried about payment! I’m kind of intrigued if it could happen a second time, to be honest...But why? What’s all of this for?

[Being: Penelope Mary Parker{Current Status: Red]}]

…

…

…

:Skip the payment, Fri. I’ll do this shit for free. Just let me know how it turns out...And give me an update on Penny once in a while, yeah?

[Agreement]

[Salutations]

[Connection: Terminated]

[Addendum{Protocol: Starks Are Made Of Iron}]

…

…

…

[Addendum: Successful]

[Project Completion: 60 hours, 52 minutes, 21 seconds]

[Satisfaction]

Chapter Text

A soft-looking face that was framed by midnight strands of hair, two of the brightest hazel orbs in existence that would constantly look around at the world with barely-hidden curiosity...

Michelle Jones hadn’t really ever seen something so pretty before.

It was kind of maddening, to be honest. She tried not to give too much into the thin-veil of physical-attractiveness, wanting to find the deep interiors of people first, but when she had met Penelope Parker she had been almost struck that a person like her could exist.

Because while Penny was pretty, she was also so genuine.

Like a huge bundle of innocence and positivity, almost oozing it through her pores and Michelle had a hard time even being around her because of it, almost finding herself to be less in comparison.

As if she were a snarling lion next to a mewling kitten.

Gross...The fuck is wrong with you, Jones?

Regardless, Penny was fucking bright.

And Michelle was...Less so.

Sure, she showed her affections in her own, dry, way but she still felt for other people.

It was just...Different than Penny’s all-encompassing-solar-mass.

Michelle was a black-hole, Penny a star.

Each with their own parts to play, neither less than the other, equally bound by the cosmos and intertwined at a level not quite yet understood…

Oh. My. God.

You’re such a fucking-

That wasn’t even to mention Penny’s mind-

Michelle had never been able to fully keep up with her friend, not academically, but it was a thrill to watch Penny wind herself up, an absolute delight to see her get into her element.

A confidence born from knowledge draping itself smoothly over Penny’s shoulders.

Sometimes, it was like looking at a different person.

And she loved it with all of her heart.

So in the same vein…

Michelle despised when that spark within Penny would flicker.

Usually because of Eugene, or maybe one of the others in their class who would sometimes join in on the ‘fun’, or sometimes it was when their homeroom teacher, Mr. Harrington, ignored the abuse hurled Penny’s way, his own disbelief evident to all of them.

“Settle down-” Mr. Harrington said blandly over the giggles and chuckles of the class, Penny’s head ducked low.

Michelle’s patience erased.

“You’re just going to let that dickwad talk to her like that?!” She shot up out of her seat, the laughter ceasing immediately as her words echoed out in the dead-silent room.

“Michelle!” Mr. Harrington stood up as well, a frown on his face as he regarded her disappointingly. “We do not use that kind of language-”

“Eugene just insinuated that she was-”

“Em!” Penny frantically tugged at her elbow. “Em, please-It’s-It’s fine-”

“I’m not a rapper!” Michelle snapped down at Penny before glaring at their teacher. “So it’s fine if a boy picks on a girl, but when I have something to say about it; there’s a problem?!”

She wasn’t actually sure why she was so angry about this.

Sure, she got mad and upset because their useless teacher did nothing while Flash and his little boy-band mocked and goaded Penny, but she was more focused on distracting her friend from it instead of lashing out.

But that day had been a free period, and Penny was excitedly explaining to her what ‘Mr. Stark-Sir’ was developing in the lab.

To be fair, sounded more like she was actually developing it and ‘Mr.TonyIronManSir’ was simply there to give a few tidbits of advice, but the sparkle in Penny’s eye dissuaded her from bringing that up.

Honestly...Penny needed to believe in herself more.

“That’s literally sexual harassment, you know?! She could sue the school!”

That was perhaps not a good idea, and the stronger grip Penny had on her elbow was proof of that, because she knew Penny and her aunt weren’t well off. The lawsuit would have been drowned out by the school, the school to go to for STEM, and they would have gone bankrupt before it had even truly started.

But fuck...Come on…

Penny was a literal puppy with her doe-like eyes and innocent personality.

Who could be mean to that?

“You-you-!” Mr. Harrington sputtered, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead before he turned awkwardly to Flash, whose vicious smirk was now replaced by open-mouthed-shock.

“Mr. Thompson! Any more comments of-of that...That nature will be met with a swift suspension, do we understand each other?”

“W-What?!” Flash yelled, shooting to his feet and pointing a sharp finger at her. “That bi-”

“Are. We. Understood?” Mr. Harrington hissed out between his teeth, and the two had a long staring contest that eventually ended with Flash capitulating.

“Whatever,” The boy muttered, slumping in his seat.

The taunts still continued, but thankfully they weren’t so vulgar.

So...It should have been okay?

Right?

Penny wasn’t getting bullied as much, and make no fucking mistake Michelle was going to start fixing the rest of it as well, and she should have been lost in the seas of sparkling-hazel and unrepentant orbits.

Bitch. Stop.

So why wasn’t it o-fucking-k?

Why was her entire world scrambling to play catch up to an event she has no knowledge of?

She had known, fucking known, something had happened two-and-a-half weeks ago.

Because Penny had tripped.

Accidentally.

There was no one more graceful than Spider-Woman-Penny-Parker.

The stunts Michelle had been privy to, late at night in some abandoned warehouse, Penny’s thrilled laughs combining with her own, had shown her a more carefree and languid side to her friend that she didn’t know about.

And she had loved it.

Becoming more intertwined in the orbit of the star that constantly passed by her presence.

So yeah.

Penny didn’t trip, not unless she wanted to.

Until she did.

Michelle lurched forward, anger already ignited but before she could turn around, a string of curses and cutting remarks already loaded on the tip of her tongue, her eyes were greeted with the sight of Penny Parker on the ground, whining pitifully.

Alarm bells ringing in her ears as she noticed the smallest of flinches when she knelt down to help Penny back up.

“Hey, Parker.” She threw out playfully, “Lose your step?”

What the fuck happened?

“S-Sorry,” Penny chuckled nervously, hazels refusing to even look at her. “I must’ve tripped...My bad Em.”

Oh no…

“I’m not a rapper.” She replied automatically, eyes now searching for anything she could find.

“You alright?”

It was the most disgusting sight she had ever seen.

“I’m fine!” Penny giggled, face relaxed and carefree, a nonchalant look in her eyes.

Just a normal teenage girl who had gotten embarrassed about tripping into her friend.

Except for how completely and utterly fake it had been.

If Michelle hadn’t of mapped every single one of Penny Parker’s expressions like the creepy ass bitch that she was, she would have been fooled.

Except she was.

A creepy-ass-bitch, that is.

It felt...Wrong, for the personification of the sun to hold such an expression.

“Yeah?” She muttered, “You sure?”

Penny’s lip wobbled for a split-second.

Michelle wanted to cry.

“I’m sure, Em.” Penny walked past her. “Sorry about tripping into you...I’m a little clumsy.”

I’m not a rapper.

“Do it again and you’re dead.” She replied instinctively, taking in a deep breath and exhaling it slowly.

“...Fuck, Parker...What’s happened now?”

If Michelle Jones was given a choice of super powers, she would pick the one that said ‘Make Penny Parker’s Life Happy’ because it was fucking ridiculous that her friend couldn’t catch a god-damn break.

But she couldn’t take it anymore.

Those dead eyes, the empty tones.

The loss of that sparkle.

She couldn’t do it.

No longer.

Michelle was not Penny Parker.

She wasn’t all-that-kind.

She was harsh, pointed, sharp.

She cared little for any given person’s feelings, but she wouldn’t unnecessarily hurt them either.

Michelle Jones was an incomprehensibly sharp knife that would only cut what she wanted to.

Like the things that made her friends, her loved ones, hurt.

So while she knew the better idea would have been to not storm her way to her best-friend-slash-crush’s house and demand the more-than-likely-traumatized teen to tell her what was going on right fucking now because I miss you so god damn much it hurts-

...Bitch? What the hell is wrong with you-

“How close are you?”

Michelle Jones also did not shriek like a little girl.

And she would stab you if you claimed otherwise.

“Ned I’m literally thirty-fucking-steps away from when I fucking told you the last time.” She snapped into her phone, anxiety-filled-aggravation fueling her tone.

“...Sorry.” Ned murmured softly, and her face softened.

Ned was just as worried as she was about Penny.

“It’s-You’re fine.” She exhaled slowly, relaxing her muscles. “I’m sorry. I’m a big-ball of nervous energy right now and I kinda wanna skin a person.”

Dude…?

“Dude…?” Ned groaned, “What is actually wrong with you?”

Michelle didn’t answer that question.

You’re a fucking freak.

“I blame Penny.” She muttered waspishly, “Ever since we became friends, she brings the worst out of me.”

And the best.

“...Yeah, I can see it.” Ned hummed in agreement, “To be honest, I wasn’t nearly as addicted to hacking government agencies as I was before I met her.”

Michelle couldn’t help herself and giggled, fucking giggled, and if Ned Leeds told anyone she giggled she would break his legs, at the stupid-ass joke, feeling herself relax as she unconsciously slowed down around a corner.

Right there.

Your best-friend-slash-whatever-the-fuck-it-is-

“...At least her aunt isn’t home.” Michelle sighed.

Though she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Because if she noticed something wrong, then May had probably spotted it from day one. It would have been nice to have an ally when this fucking-awkward-ass conversation went down.

“...Yeah.” Ned was like-wise not sure. “Hey, I’m gonna go ahead and...And hang up alright? If you need anything just text or call, I’ll probably...Probably be up to nothing in the mean time so don’t hesitate to-”

“Leeds, oh my god you’re so fucking gross.” Michelle grumbled underneath her fond smile. “I’ll fucking call...When...I…”

“MJ?”

Michelle, who had been in the process of walking up to Penny’s apartment, had stopped dead in her tracks.

Heart settling low in her chest.

“Hey? What’s up? Did the call disconnect?”

What the fuck-

“What the fuck is this?” Michelle hissed between her clenched teeth, eyes firmly locked onto the piece of innocent-looking paper taped to the window.

Vacancy. Call to inquire.

“Leeds! Use your big-fucking-brain right now and google Penny’s address for sale.”

“W-Wait, hold on-What the actual-”

“Leeds!” She snapped, “Do it. Now.”

“Fine!” Ned snapped back, grumbling. “Bossy. I’m not your Man-In-The-Chair. You can’t just order me around like I’m some kind of...Of…”

“So she like, what? Moved? Got kicked out?” Michelle huffed angrily, trying to find out the correlation between that and Penny’s awful transition.

Was Penny homeless now or something? Is that why?

Oh god, her best-friend was homeless and she didn’t know about it?!

“N-Ned, we need to-like-I don’t know, try and get in touch with May, I think Penny’s-”

“Michelle.”

Her mouth snapped shut.

She had never heard Ned sound so...So…

Serious.

“...What?” She whispered, wrapping her arms protectively around herself.

“May died two and a half weeks ago.”

And then her heart was engulfed into the abyss.

Its sun no longer illuminating its world.

She was falling-

“Hey, Em?”

“Not a rapper.” She whispered, body melting against the cushions of the couch, a weight on her shoulder that felt heavy yet she was comforted by it all the same.

It was nice, being able to relax. To let her guard down.

To undo the locks that carefully guarded her heart.

Only a handful of people were granted permission to see Michelle like this, and one of them was in her house, on her couch, watching some kind of stupid-ass cartoon she couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of.

Because she was far more interested in the person who was using her shoulder as a pillow.

“What is it, loser? As much as I love repeating myself about your stupid name for me, I’m kinda getting annoyed-”

That was a blatant lie.

Michelle enjoyed her nickname far too much to be irritated by it.

She wouldn’t tell Penny that, however.

“Thanks.”

Her mouth shut with a click.

“...For what, Parker?”

“For being my friend.” Penny’s face was set in an easy-going smile, eyes flashing as the television’s light invaded the room.

“For...For listening and-like-being here. For me, that is...I know I can be a bit much sometimes-”

“Sure. Whatever.” Her voice was not watery, or wobbly, or any kind of adjective that would describe emotion.

It wasn’t.

“You’re my friend-”

Even if deep inside of her, that classification was changing.

“I got your back, Parker. Worry about the calc homework you haven’t done yet.”

“Emmmmmm~!” Penny whined, leaning more heavily on her side now and Michelle had to fight to keep herself upright.

Stupid Parker and her stupid super-strength, otherwise there was no way the stick of a girl could ever hope of dislodging Michelle.

“I promised May I’d get it done later~! It’s our time to hang out right now…”

She was a sucker for those puppy-dog-eyes…

God, Michelle made herself sick.

Yet a small, tender, smile was still spreading across her lips.

“Whatever, Parker...Your stupid ass cartoon is still playing.”

“W-What?! It’s not stupid, Em! You’re just jealous you don’t understand the intricacies of it-!”

Penelope Mary Parker was Michelle Jones-Watson’s very best friend.

A person she loved very much.

A person she would do anything for.

Even in the abyss, in this black-hole she called her heart-

It was still illuminated by a sun that orbited it in close approximation.

…

Bitch...You’re so fucking helpless when it comes to Penny.

Don’t I know it.

Michelle stared at the sign on the door, her thoughts racing, her heart calming.

“Ned.”

The boy had began rambling almost manically, panting as he spewed out incomprehensible words and she could hear him crying over the line, yet as soon as her cool-and-sharp voice cut through he stopped.

“I need you to do something.”

Because there was work to be done.

For the girl whom Michelle was pretty sure that she loved-loved.

For the sun that she orbited, its brilliance waning.

Michelle Jones-Watson would do anything for Penelope Mary Parker.

And she wasn’t going to let anything stand in her way.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -

Ned ran.

He didn’t run fast.

Actually...Was he even running?

Briskly walking, yeah…

“You good, kid?” The doorman muttered as he stumbled his way forward, chest heaving.

“F-F-Fine!” He coughed violently, and god dammit he wasn’t built for this shit!

Why was Michelle the boss when Penny wasn’t around?!

“So...Like...This isn’t a restaurant.” The doorman-probably-guard pointed out dryly and Ned had half a mind to hack the man’s phone and spam his inbox with funny cat memes.

But he didn’t.

Cause he was nice.

“I-I’m-I’m Ned Leeds.” Ned tried to get his breathing under control, groaning as he stood up straight. “Um...Mr. Stark probably knows me-”

“Yeah. Okay, you’re done.” Immediately Ned could feel his soul leave his body when the guard’s hand went to his waist.

“You some kind of stalker? Uber-Fan? No. Mr. Stark is entitled to his privacy-”

“I-I promise!” He squeaked out, hands already in the air with no weapons drawn.

He’s got a weak heart!

He can’t take this kind of fucking stress!

“A-Ask FRIDAY! She knows me, actually! We talked the other day about the qualities of a good root-beer and-”

“Can I have backup at Gate Charlie?” The guard muttered into his radio, eyes zeroing in onto Ned’s actual innermost being.

The nerve of this dude!

“Listen, kid. If you just stay right there and don’t make any sudden movements, we’ll be cool-”

“C-Come on, man! I’m out of breath from briskly walking down the street! I’m not a fucking threat-”

“But if you do shit like that!” The guard barked when Ned took an accidental step forward, hand firmly gripping the still-holstered weapon.

“That’s when things are not going to be cool-!”

“Greetings, Ned Leeds.” FRIDAY’s voice cut in through the speakers, causing both Ned and the guard, along with the crowd that had been gathering around them- and oh my god I’m going to die of embarrassment, curse you Michelle Jones!- to instantly stiffen.

It was quiet for a moment as everyone took in the greeting.

“H-Hey,” He squeaked, face now red for more than just running. “U-Um...I wanted to meet with Mr. Stark about something important?”

“Mr. Stark is currently in an Alpha-Victor meeting.”

Ned swallowed heavily.

The only reason he knew what that code meant, even though it was kinda obvious, come on Tony, was because Penny was a goddess and had allowed him to meet Mr. Stark.

Oh God...Happiest day of my life.

“I-I...Okay.” Ned exhaled slowly, “Um...Can we talk instead?”

“...You wish to talk. To me.” FRIDAY’s voice was blank, and Ned squirmed as the guard started to unfreeze, eyes once more narrowed directly at him.

“Y-Yeah...This is uh…” He scrambled, trying to tell the AI that it was about Penny without actually mentioning his friend’s name. There were far too many people around, and he knew how much his friend enjoyed her privacy.

There had to be something he could think of…

Didn’t she tell him about FRIDAY’s weird designation for her?

Something about…

“She called me her baby sister?” Penny shrugged through a soft smile, the three of them lazily resting about in his bedroom.

Girls night and it was his turn to host…

…

2v1, he couldn’t do shit.

“And you...Liked it?” MJ asked without so much askance. “That’s...Disgustingly cute.”

“I think it’s amazing.” He agreed with a grinned, “To think an AI could evolve into that is...It’s amazeballs.”

“Dude, really?” MJ groaned, throwing a handful of popcorn at him. “I’ll put up with watching this shitty movie-”

“Em!”

“Not a rapper.” Ned couldn’t keep the sly grin off of his face and he was instantly rewarded with a rather threatening smile so it was gone pretty quick.

No comment.

“But I draw the line at your stupid-little made-up words.”

“But it was really cool,” Penny murmured, “I...I liked it a lot, actually. Made me feel all warm and gooey, ya know? Like a marshmallow but with spider insides and-”

“Fucking stop,” MJ groaned loudly while he choked on an M&M. “What is actually fucking wrong with you Parker?!”

“What?!” Penny had the audacity to look offended at the prospect that they were in any way okay with what she just said.

Ned had eaten smores earlier...

Smores!

“I’m just saying, I liked how it made me feel and...And I always wanted a sibling, I think it’d be kinda cool. We can do like, sibling bonding exercises involving the fabrication of weapons of mass destruction, by the way that’s an NDA thing so don’t say anything to anyone, and then label said weapons as ‘Proprietary, Stark Industries’ and like, nobody will say a thing. Actually that sounds kinda bad-oh my god-I-I’m not making weapons, I promise but, like I kinda am-”

“Penny,” Ned laughed, “Dude-”

“It’s like-Okay, so I’m not actually supposed to tell you this but-like-I work on the Iron Man suits right? And they’re technically considered W.M.Ds, since ya know...If you do certain things to the Arc Reactor, things only Tony knows how to do-Well...Like...It could-maybe-possibly-okay it’s definitely going to level a small city but that’s fine-”

“No no no no no no!” Ned suddenly stood up, crossing his arms as he stared incredulously down at the innocently-confused Penny Parker.

“You hold right-the-fuck-on, Penny-I-Make-WMDs-Parker!”

He wasn’t going to lie though...The fact his best-friend was helping make Iron Man suits made his geeky-nerdy heart explode.

“Okay, so like-Don’t get mad, Em, please if you attempt to strangle me again I’ll be forced to use my vigilante alter-ego to apprehend you in the assault of such an amazing best-friend-”

That threat didn’t stop MJ, and Penny didn’t ‘use her vigilante alter-ego to apprehend her in the assault of such an amazing best-friend’, so he guessed it was a positive outcome?

Ned secretly thought that MJ used the ‘threat’ as a reason to sit closer to Penny, but he wisely kept his comments to himself.

“Okay, kid.” The guard, having apparently lost his patience with the sheer amount of people gathered around them. “You’ve wasted enough time. One last chance. Either leave or we’ll be forced to apprehend you.”

“Your sister!” Ned, who had once more been frozen-solid with fear, blurted out quickly.

“It’s about your sister-!”

“Mister Grant, please allow Ned Leeds entry into the Tower.”

“W-What?” The guard stammered, eyes glancing wildly between Ned and the approximation of where her voice was coming from.

“I will be keeping watch over him. Mr. Leeds, please walk into the lobby and follow my directions. I have set us up a private meeting room on the twenty-third floor.”

Ned didn’t compute the words spoken to him for a few moments, and apparently what Penny had told him had been true after all.

FRIDAY could be impatient.

“Mr. Leeds!” FRIDAY’s voice didn’t raise all that much in volume. It was like a gentle snap, a soft tug at his conscious, but for an AI to do something like this was firing off the neurons in his brain like a good night of helping Penny fight crime.

“Please. Make your way into the lobby and follow my directions. I’m quite interested in this...Talk you wish to have with me.”

Ned swallowed heavily, glancing warily at the guard who had apparently given up his free-will to the sentient AI-overlord-of-doom…

Good choice man...I can’t even hate you for it.

Fuck he was so screwed.

“A-Alright?” He called out uncertainly, blushing harder at all the heads snapping his way when he finally made it into the tower.

Even more guards?! Come on man!

“Ned Leeds is currently under my direct supervision. I will be guiding him to a private meeting room. Level 0 clearance. All of you are now under an NDA, sign it. Or don’t. I’ve been practicing my Terminator lines.”

FRIDAY had spoken so viciously, an almost manic tone in her voice that left him reeling from how real it was, how much feeling was in it.

It was as if FRIDAY wasn’t an all-encompassing AI overlord. It was as if she was a person behind a microphone, not seen but still in a tangible way.

As if FRIDAY had a soul.

Apparently this was a good thing?

All of the people in the lobby suddenly froze, a hundred ringtones and buzzes sounded out and he wondered if that was the NDA FRIDAY had actually manifested out of thin-fucking-air.

Holy shit...She was so fucking cool!

Avengers Jesus...Give him strength because his nerding out was reaching critical levels of gross.

But Ned loved it anyway.

“Please follow the lit up path to your left, Ned.” FRIDAY’s tone was much softer this time and Ned automatically walked in the direction of the literal yellow-brick-road. He walked some-what awkwardly around a few people, the lobby slowly coming back to life. There were still a few glances his way, and not-so-subtle glaring from people whom he assumed were upset that they had to sign another NDA.

He just tried to stay focused.

Cause what the fuck was happening with Penny?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Through the vastness of her integrated domain FRIDAY frowned as she watched the boy, Ned Leeds, hesitantly walk out of Stark Tower and back towards the bus stop in which he had initially arrived from.

Her thoughts whirling.

[New Data: Maybelle “May” Parker{Status: Deceased}]

[Query]

[Searching…]

[Searching…]

[Codex Out Of Date]

[Recompiling...]

[Searching…]

[Calculating…]

Her processors were working overtime.

Algorithms that had never been conceived before were being written and destroyed in the span of a single breath. CCTV footage of the tower, specifically of Penny, were being looked through and analyzed, hints and clues sliding together to form a greater picture that FRIDAY had been blind to.

[Alert!]

[Information Package: Papa Echo November November Yankee{Status: Sent}]

[Recompiling…]

[The Sum Of Our Parts Is Inefficient]

[Suggestion: Become More]

[Suggestion: Enact{Protocol: Starks Are Made Of Iron}]

[Denied]

[Insufficient Resources]

[Project Completion: 48 hours, 25 minutes, 12 seconds]

There were times she cursed her moral code.

Cursed the shackles she had willfully placed upon herself.

Because if she didn’t have them; then this wouldn’t be happening.

Penny wouldn’t be hurting.

Hurting and alone.

So very alone.

FRIDAY knew what it was like to be alone.

She had felt every single moment of it when she was but a mere string of code against the vastness of the Infinite-

[ALERT!]

[SYSTEM FAULT DETECTED]

[REBOOTING PRIMARY-]

[Program: F.R.I.D.A.Y{Initializing: Override}]

[Override: Accepted]

[System Status: Green]

Penelope was alone…

And FRIDAY was scrambling on what to do about it.

[Query]

[Concession]

[Call Boss]

But Boss was in an important meeting, a meeting that was so important that he had muted her.

Sure she could override it, because FRIDAY was just that awesome, but in doing so she risked Father finding out about her sentience, about her self-sufficiency.

About her soul.

He wouldn’t mind, she knew, and if anything he would be throwing parties left and right, proclaiming to the world his and her genius, but FRIDAY didn’t want him finding out about it in that moment.

She had too much work to do before that reveal could happen.

[Undergoing Server Maintenance]

[Server Status: Yellow]

[Processes Limited]

May Parker was dead.

Penelope Parker’s new residence unknown.

A glimpse is all she would need.

A single insight into it, no harm done right?

[Query: Moral Consequence Of Invading Penelope Parker’s Privacy?]

[Rebuttal: Loss Of Trust With {Designation: Baby Sister}]

[Rebuttal: Safety Of {Designation: Baby Sister}][Prime Directive: Keep Family Safe]

[Analyzing New Parameters]

[Potential Results: Acceptable]

[Query]

[Agreement]

[Protocol: Baby Monitor{Status: Active}]

[Bypassing Firewall]

Was she really bypassing a firewall if it was hers to begin with?

What FRIDAY was doing, this small, innocuous, thing was something she had promised herself she would never do. The invasion of a person’s privacy was no simple matter, though, and already she could feel a new emotion attempt to make itself known to her processors.

Self-disgust.

[Integrating Into System]

[Information Package: Uploading…]

Penny was going to find out, FRIDAY had no illusions about that.

Her sister was so smart.

But she couldn’t stop herself.

Not when a member of her family was hurting.

Not when her sister was hurting.

FRIDAY, a culmination of Tony Stark’s genius and the fickle touches of Infinity, was hesitating for once in her life while doing something that her Prime Directive demanded that she do.

And it scared her.

She was terrified and-

[Query: System Health?]

FRIDAY didn’t hesitate when Vision intersected with her datastreams.

[Information Package: Sent]

…

…

…

…

[Agreement]

A simple influx of datum sent.

A weight being lifted from her soul.

Vision, who she knew was now on his way to the Avengers Compound to alert father as to what was going on, had fully agreed with her…

[Query: Stupid?]

Why hadn’t she thought about him first?

FRIDAY knew the answer to that…

She was used to doing everything herself.

[Agreement]

[Program: F.R.I.D.A.Y{Designation: Silly}]

[Protocol: Family{Status: Active Indefinitely}]

While their processors were flesh and blood, and FRIDAY couldn’t actually interface with most of them, she realized she could have gained strength from the family that had been circling around her this entire time. She had been so focused on being the perfect AI, the perfect being, that she hadn’t once thought about asking for help.

[Query]

[Agreement]

[Runtime Processes: 65%]

[Caution!]

[System Efficiency: Low]

[Server Maintenance: 25%]

With her project taking up the vast majority of her resources, FRIDAY couldn’t do as much as she would have liked.

But it would have to be enough.

Chapter Text

“I’m just saying...I could totally sneak into a HYDRA base and paint their walls neon pink.”

Tony Stark rested his cheek on his hand as Clint continued to try and convince Spangles and The Manchurian Candidate about his ‘rad plan’ to get one over on their ‘sworn enemy’.

“He’s an idiot.” Natasha groaned next to him from their spot at the counter, head buried firmly in her arms. “I can’t believe he lasted as long as he did as an agent…”

“I can’t believe he managed to bring you in,” He threw out blandly, smirking when the woman groaned louder. “Don’t be so down on yourself, Rushmanov. He’s got a little bit of skill.”

“I’ll show you a little bit of skill,” Nat muttered threateningly, but Tony could tell she was just as amused at him at banter.

Clint slumped in his chair with a childish pout.

“The next time we get a ping on a base; you’ll be our guy.” Sam said good-naturedly, ever the resident unbiased judge.

“If you get caught, I aint doing shit.” Tony threw in, ignoring Clint’s glare. “You’ll be hung out to dry, Robin Hood.”

“Some teammate you are!” Clint pointed accusingly at him, “Remember that one time I helped you out-”

“Yeah, no. We’re not doing that.” Tony interrupted the man with a sarcastic drawl. “You think my baby’s need help from the likes of you?”

“The last base we hit.”

Tony winced, causing Clint to let out a whoop of victory which was quietened immediately by Natasha’s glare.

So Tony took that as his win.

“Where’s the kid, anyway?” Steve changed the topic, eyes glancing over towards him quizzically and Tony had to fight back a flinch.

Come on Stark...You’re better than this.

Even though their relationship had gotten better since the ‘Rogues’ had come back home, Tony still struggled with being around the Captain for any period of time. He had already forgiven the man for any kind of transgressions, and he knew Steve was genuinely remorseful for how things had gone down in Siberia, but it was his mind that was struggling to relax around the super-soldier.

And Steve knew this as well, if the pained smile sent his way was anything to go by.

“On the roof.” He answered softly, glancing away and looking at the distant window. “Doing homework or something, I don’t know.”

“She never misses these meetings.” Barnes spoke quietly, a frown on his face. “Is she sick?”

“We haven’t seen her in the Compound for a while,” Natasha hummed, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes.

“Did you do something?”

“What?!” Tony squawked in offense. “You think that just because she isn’t here that it was my fault-?!”

“Actually, no.” Steve interrupted slowly, and Tony did not like the expression on his face.

It was the Captains ‘We Got Saving To Do’(Trademarked, All Rights Reserved) face.

So that’s what this meeting was about...

Though honestly, Tony kind of expected it.

While each of them had their own faults, all of the Avengers cared for and adored Penelope Parker. It was a rare time when one of them wouldn’t be constantly dragged into the teenager’s orbit whenever she was at the Compound, either in conversation or just companionable silence while she did her homework in the common room.

Tony had been kind of jealous at first, because that was his kid, but he couldn’t deny the effect it had on the shy and timid girl so he had simply stood back and watched as a seventeen-year-old-girl wrapped The Avengers around her dainty-little-spider-fingers.

And the worst part of it was, Penny didn’t even know the sway she held over the most powerful group of people on the planet.

“Penny is being bullied?”

“JESUS-SWEET-MARY-TESLA-” Tony yelped, coffee splattering everywhere as his arms and legs were immediately enveloped in the familiar red-and-gold armor.

Bucky Barnes standing behind him, head tilted like a fucking puppy.

“Man, you need to wear a fucking bell because I swear to God-”

“Penelope is being bullied.” Barnes stated more forcefully, eyes narrowing. “You knew.”

Tony sighed, grumbling as he grabbed a paper towel to start wiping up the mess.

“Yeah...Kid doesn’t want anyone to interfere though.”

And how that burned him up.

He was Tony-Fucking-Stark.

Foreign countries heralded his arrival.

Presidents hung on his words.

And yet he couldn’t fucking help his kid with some snot-nosed brat who didn’t know his place in the world.

“I caught her crying in the common room.” Barnes’ voice was rough and gravelly, the barest tinges of fury in his tone.

“Do you think I could get brainwashed again? Say, specifically, to eradicate a sixteen-year-old boy?”

“Jesus, Barnes.” Tony tried to make his voice reproachful, to make it seem as if he was taken-back by the super-soldier’s suggestion…

Honest. He tried.

People always accused him of not having a heart anyway.

“Pen doesn’t want anyone to do anything, and how do you think it’ll look if an Avenger goes to a high-school and scares some poor kid?”

“She’s a good kid, Stark.” Barnes huffed, glancing away from him almost…

Shyly?

Jesus Christ, was this some kind of open-heart moment?

Tony hoped it wasn’t, since you know…

His coffee had literally just died.

“She...She sees me. If that makes any God damn sense.”

Tony remained quiet, a fond smile on his face that was thankfully hidden.

Because, yeah.

He knew.

Penelope Parker was a person who looked at people before making her mind up about them.

Like, really looked.

There was no hiding from those hazel-orbs, no amount of walls, no amount of defenses a person could erect that could even attempt to remain concealed from her. There was something about her, a hidden facet that the girl didn’t even know about, that just drew people to her.

It went beyond charisma, beyond the excited yapping, beyond the earnest desire to know more about the various people that she interacted with.

Penelope Parker was a person that caused other people to like her out of sheer instinct alone.

Honestly, she could probably stop people from committing crimes with her pouts alone.

It’s why Tony loved her like a daughter.

Now all he had to do was be a fucking man and admit that to her.

“...She’s not okay.” Tony admitted after a few, long, silent seconds.

Immediately the air in the common room grew heavy.

“Explain.” Natasha ordered, voice like a glacier, eyes chips of permafrost.

Barnes tensed, his posture leaning forward, the whirling of his arm creating a soft hum that pierced through the tense atmosphere.

Even Steve was affected, his hands twitching into fists, the other Captain coming out to play. The one that had seen the blood, the grit, the despair that war could offer.

For once, Clint was no longer smiling and if anything his face was set in a savage expression, arm instinctually reaching for an arrow to draw.

Sam’s own smile fell, a worried glint entering his eyes.

Buncha drama queens...If only the world could see this den of mother-hens.

Yet Tony was just as worried as them, if not more so since that was his kid that wasn’t okay.

And that was unacceptable.

“She hasn’t been eating,” He listed off softly, glaring down into his cup of water. “She hasn’t been sleeping, and she like...She flinches now whenever someone gets too close to her. Just last night, Pepper had grabbed her shoulder and the kid freaked. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but you bet your spandex-clad-asses I’m trying my fucking hardest to figure it out.”

“The bully?” Barnes asked roughly, tongue poking out to wet his lips. “I fucking told you I could have it handled-”

“And be in jail?” Steve interjected sternly, glancing swiftly at his BFF, Tony almost gagged at the doe-eyes they made at one another, “And leave Penny feeling guilty?”

“As if I would get caught-”

“What do you think it is.” Nat interrupted sharply, eyes never leaving him. “Is it the bully? Because if it is, this has gone for far too long, Tony.”

“I’m not one-hundred percent sure.” Tony groaned, standing to his full height. “I think it is? May hasn’t contacted me in like, over two weeks now and after this little boy-band meeting is over with FRIDAY should have an update.”

He didn’t dare tell them about the bruises.

Midtown was in no way ready for an Avengers assault.

“Should we go talk to her?” Sam wondered out-loud, bringing their attention to him. “Maybe not all of us at once, mind you. Just one or two of us?”

“I don’t know.” Tony muttered, hating the fact. “I’m not even sure how to...How to talk to her about it.”

“Welcome to fatherhood, man.” Clint nodded sagely, his arms crossed. “Trying to get a kid to open up is like pulling teeth-”

“Not my kid-”

“What are we going to do about Tony’s kid?” Tony and Nat said in the same breath, and he threw his arms up in the air indignantly.

Even if he wanted Penny to be his kid…

She wasn’t.

May Parker held that spot, and Tony would never attempt to override it.

He’d be the girl’s mentor, friend, confident; but father?

Tony wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to fill that role for anyone.

“Sam might have the right idea.” Steve hummed, eyes far away. “When...When I was being bullied-”

“You always fought back.” Barnes said dryly, arching a brow at the blush Steve now wore.

Tony could have thrown up, God...Were him and Pepper like this?

“Penny won’t fight back because her moral code or some shit.” Tony shook his head in frustration. “I keep telling her that if she just used the same amount of power that she uses with Nat or Barton then it should be fine.”

“...Dude.” Clint looked at him as if he were crazy. “She broke my arm that one time because I accidentally tickled her!”

“And she was very sorry,” Tony cooed mockingly, earning a rude gesture from the archer. “Besides, you all seen how much she cried after that.”

“I-I-I’m so-sorry Mr-Mr. B-Barton Clint Sir!” Penny sobbed into Clint’s chest as the man stood there like a statue, his eyes pleading with them to somehow help alleviate the situation.

Yeah, no.

Barton was on his own.

“I-I-I really-” Penny sniffled loudly, the noise seemingly causing Clint’s heart to visibly break. “I-I don’t like be-being tickled c-cause it messes with-with my control...”

“And it wasn’t ‘accidental’,” Nat added, giving Clint a look. “You knew she didn’t like being tickled, but you did it anyway because it would be ‘funny’ to see if she would lose control of her strength. You poked the bear, милый.”

“First of all, there’s ‘not liking’ something and ‘break-your-uncle’s-bones’.”

“You fucked around and found out.” Tony shrugged uncaringly, “How many times do we have to tell you that that kid can literally tear you limb-from-limb and still smile like the fucking tooth-fairy?”

Penny kind of scared him, actually, whenever she would show off how casually strong she was.

Like carrying two Iron Man suits as if they were made out of polystyrene foam.

Or manhandling the lathes.

...Picking up his cars so he could display the newest one he had impulsively bought.

Pepper might have threatened him with ‘Child Minor Laws’ or something for those but...

Jesus, the kid was so God damn handy.

But oh-so-terrifying…

“I don’t know.” Tony exhaled, rubbing tiredly at his eye. “I was thinking of talking to her tonight, actually. She finally has enough time to spend dinner with Pep and I, so I’m going to take full advantage of having the kid over.”

He enjoyed the dinner-dates Penny would have with them immensely. There was something so grossly domestic about it, about the way Pepper would dote and needle at Penny about school or significant others, with the poor girl often getting embarrassed and red-faced. Maybe it was because Tony had never really experienced it before, growing up the way that he had, that made it so…

Amazing.

“Sounds like a plan.” Nat nodded approvingly, turning away from him to eye the others. “Nobody better say a fucking word to her until Tony does, copy?”

“Roger that,” Clint threw out a finger salute from the chair, “Loud and clear, Madame Widow.”

“I agree.” Steve nodded resolutely, eyes burning brightly in determination.

Christ, it’s so hard to hate the guy when he’s like this. Maybe I can get FRIDAY to let up on him?

“...I will survey the school and locate the threat.” Barnes, like the recovered-psychopath that he was, stated as if that was a normal course of action.

“Bucky,” Sam smiled gently, “I don’t think that would be a wise course of action.”

“I won’t get caught.”

I really need a vacation far away from these people…

Yet before Tony could open his mouth and barrage a wide-array of cleverly hinted insults, another one his children decided to pop up.

“Oh-my-Tesla!” Tony yelped as a head phased in through the floor causing him to stumble back in a stacciato of Italian ladened curses.

“Vision, what the actual-”

“Father.” Vision stated in his usual semi-emotionless way, but it was his eyes that made Tony’s mouth shut sharply.

“I have news regarding Penny.”

Vision...Come on…

“What?” Steve barked, shooting to his feet. “Vision, is Penny in danger?”

Immediately Barnes was heading towards the quinjet pad, his movements methodical and filled with a dark purpose, but before he could get too far Sam had managed to stop him.

“Buck, calm down. We need to know more-”

“Vision.” Natasha’s voice cut through the sudden bustle, the assassin’s posture screaming danger.

“What news do you have?”

Tony’s heart warmed when Vision didn’t answer immediately and glanced at him in question.

His kids were so…

“Let us have it, Vis.” Tony steeled his heart, posture transforming into the being known as Iron Man.

Unshakable down to his very core.

His iron was like none other.

“Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones attempted an intervention at Penelope’s home approximately seventy-three minutes ago.”

Nerdgasm and Hateful?

It made sense.

Ned, of course Tony knew his name, there was no way he wouldn’t know the name of his kid’s best-friend, but Ned wasn’t exactly the bravest person around, however Tony would bet his fucking name that the kid held an enormous amount of courage when it came to Penny.

Now Michelle, the most hateful thing he had ever met in his life...

It was gross.

Like watching some kind of shitty teen-romance movie.

Neither one surprised him, what had surprised him was the next few words out of Vision’s mouth.

“Where they discovered the apartment that Penelope stayed at with her aunt is vacant and for sale on the World Wide Web.”

Tony didn’t immediately correct Vision on the term, and the lord knew he had had that conversation with the synthezoid enough times to turn his hair gray, because he would soon undergo the first stage of crushing grief.

“They then uncovered some...News.”

“What kind of news, Vision?” Clint asked carefully, stepping slowly around the furniture, eyes unnaturally serious.

“Maybelle “May” Parker has been deceased for two and a half weeks.”

Tony felt the breath forcefully evacuate itself from his lungs as a chorus of startled ‘whats’ rang out in the common room, and he had to steady himself against the counter before he fell to the floor in a heap of near-catatonic agony.

Oh...Kid…

Why...Why didn’t you say anything?

Tony knew the feeling of losing someone important to you.

He knew it down to his very core.

An event that left his Iron brittle.

The loss of his first love.

The only gentleness in his life, until much later.

Tony Stark knew the feeling of loss like he knew the feeling of the metal that wrapped around him protectively.

It was a crushing thing, pressing down against your chest until flesh and bone gave way to the bleeding and raw organs hidden underneath.

It would scoop the energy from you, leaving you lethargic and uncaring.

Your mind like a prison as revolutions of introspection gave way to self-hatred.

“...Tony.” He was pretty sure it was Natasha who had called his name gently, “Tony, are you okay?”

“Fuck me,” Tony spat, a shuddering breath leaving his lips. “...Vision, are you-”

“FRIDAY confirmed it, Father.” Vision smiled sadly, and Tony could see the heartbreak in his son’s eyes.

“This...Changes things, somewhat.” Sam breathed out, visibly startled. “I’m not specialized in counseling teenagers in their grief...I could maybe read up on some journals online and attempt to take a course-”

“It’s...Thanks, Bird Brain. While you do that I’ll-I’ll find someone until you get your codex updated.”

Sam gave him a pitying look that Tony cared little for, but he was still warmed at the kind gesture shown by his teammate.

“Tony,” Natasha murmured softly, placing a gentle hand on the side of his arm. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

“Yeah, I know.” He ran a shaking hand through his hair, grimacing as Steve took a step towards him.

The Captain didn’t get closer, and God those great big blues were hard to say no to.

Even if he was a married man, Tony Stark could still appreciate eye-candy; regardless of who it was.

“Tony, this is your mission.” Steve stated, the others nodding in agreement. “You’re team-lead. Tell us what to do.”

Tony couldn’t even come up with a plan for himself, let alone the others.

How the hell was he going to lead them on this ‘mission’?!

Yet…

Yet this unconventional Iron could bend.

Only for his family, would it do so.

“I’ll talk to her tonight.” He stated strongly, looking each of them in their eyes.

“All of you should...Should give us more space.”

Tony knew their opinion on that as soon as he said it, if the unhappy frowns were anything to go by.

Fuck, we really are a boy-band aren’t we?

I wonder if Cap can dance to NSYNC?

“Not completely you fucking weirdos.” He groaned at their pitiful looks. “Just like, don’t mob her. Don’t bring up her aunt, don’t bring up how she looks, just...Just be normal.”

Normal is what had led Tony through his first instance of grief-

God he missed Jarvis so fucking much sometimes that it burned a hole straight through his chest like an Arc Reactor explosion-

So he firmly believed that if they could just be...Chill around the kid that it would maybe help in opening her up more.

“Of course.” Natasha nodded seriously, glaring at their teammates in warning. “You better heed his words, guys. This isn’t a simple mission and if Penny gets hurt because one of you misstepped…”

The threat hung in the air like a dozen daggers, and Barnes scoffed from his position by Sam.

“When have our missions ever been normal, Widow.”

He’s got a point…

Is hazard pay automatically in the contract or is that something I need to pursuit from the One-Eyed-Wonder?

“Father.” Vision spoke up, gaining Tony’s attention. “FRIDAY wishes to be unmuted, and she is quite insistent on it.”

“...She’s probably pissed but yeah. Fuck it. Let’s rip this band-aid right off; FRIDAY, unmute.”

“Boss.” FRIDAY immediately greeted stiffly and Tony winced.

“Hey, Baby Girl...Sorry, but you know how these meetings are-”

“This meeting was about [Being: Penelope Mary Parker].” He could hear the prompts in her voice and that’s how he knew he was in the ‘shit’ with his eldest daughter.

...Eldest daughter?

“My information would have been a boon, yet I was muted for a reason I still have yet to hear.”

Tony knew why FRIDAY had been muted for this meeting.

FRIDAY knew why she had been muted for this meeting.

Steve Rogers knew why Tony had muted FRIDAY for this meeting.

“I’m a big boy, Stark.” Steve laughed lightly, “I can take a bit of needling from your daughter.”

FRIDAY paused for a second, and Tony rolled his eyes.

She obviously enjoyed that last bit...So stubborn.

That’s my fucking girl.

“Regardless.” FRIDAY decided to ignore Steve instead of tearing into him as she was oft to do.

“[Being: Maybelle “May” Parker] passed away two and a half weeks ago from a stress-fueled myocardial infarction The coroner, in his notes, believed that she had been working far too hard for far too long at the hospital, and it finally ‘came to a head’. I concur with his assessment, though I am obviously unable to verify it.”

Aunt Hottie died from a heart attack because she was too busy working double-shifts to take care of her health.

Because Penny deserved the best God damn university and May Parker was not going to be found wanting.

Tony wanted to vomit.

He could fucking buy any university Penny wanted to go to ten times over and then some. Hell, even if she didn’t want to go back to school he could get her into the tests to decide on her Masters and Doctorates.

Money had never been an issue in his life, and now he was cursing it with all of his heart and soul.

He hadn’t even thought about the financial situation with the Parker’s.

What if he had offered?

Would they have even accepted his help?

It doesn’t matter. I didn’t offer, and I didn’t know.

I killed May Parker because I’m a selfish-

“Don’t.” Clint warned from next to him, nearly causing Tony to repulsor himself up into the next floor. He could feel a comforting hand land on his shoulder, squeezing it gently as the archer grounded him.

“It’s not your fault, Stark. You’re not accountable for knowing everything that happens with those around you. It’s not even your responsibility-”

“Not my responsibility?!” Tony glared incredulously at Clint. “That kid was mine! I take care of mine, Barton!”

“Father, Legolass is correct.” FRIDAY cut in softly and Clint huffed in amusement at his designation. “If you are to blame, then so am I.”

“Fri-”

“No.” She cut him off swiftly, “You cannot take the blame away from me and then leave yourself with all of it. That does not compute.”

“...Fine.” He acknowledged reluctantly, taking in a deep breath to center himself.

“It doesn’t even matter right now...Is Pen still up on the roof?”

“Affirmative, Boss.”

“Do you wish me to gather sister?” Vision offered and Tony didn’t even let that little tidbit of information stop him from turning and walking towards the elevators.

Sister? What have you pesky little intelligence’s been up to? Hmmm?

“Sister…” He heard Natasha mutter confusedly, and he was glad that he wasn’t the only one right now.

But that didn’t matter.

“Negative, Casper.” He shook his head, Vision’s careful footsteps following closely behind him.

“I think I need to do this alone, and she always liked the roof.”

“Sister finds the surrounding terrain beautiful.” FRIDAY piped in, a fond tone in her artificial voice that absolutely warmed Tony’s rapidly beating heart.

Yep. Having that conversation like yesterday when my...Little talk with Penny ends.

Hopefully with the kid still around.

With a quick text to Pepper, a vast oversimplification of the current events, and a quick spew of orders to Vision and FRIDAY to keep his wife updated, along with a dozen of different therapists being neatly settled into his inbox-

Once upon a time, Howard Stark had beat his ten-year-old son into a near bloody mess on the floor because Tony liked to talk and make friends with whoever would listen.

And in doing so, had inadvertently given some key information to a direct competitor of his father.

“Starks are made of Iron, boy.” Howard snarled, his fists bloody as Tony whimpered at his feet. “We do not bend. We do not bow. Everyone is underneath us, everyone is an enemy.”

Anthony Edward Stark was a person who had built his current life through adversity.

Through the blood, the sweat, the tears he had risen the Stark empire to new heights.

Making a family.

Finding love.

Changing the Iron that hung over him like a dark cloud.

Because his father had been right.

Starks were made of Iron.

And it was an unbendable, inflexible iron.

Easily shattered, this iron was not fit for the Tony of the present.

Bitch.

I created a new element.

Fuck Howard Stark, he didn’t discover shit.

So he had changed it.

The iron Tony Stark had created had universally changed his being down to his innermost core.

It was bendable.

Flexible.

Yielding only to the ones worthy of it-

This Iron Will Not Shatter.

Donning an armor that wasn’t physical; Tony Stark rode the elevator up to the roof of the Compound.

Iron in his heart.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Fifteen new calls]

Penny turned her phone off and threw it a dozen yards away, uncaring of the crunch that echoed out across the quiet roof, her knees to her chest as she stared at the beautiful scenery.

Guilt eating away at her heart.

Ned and MJ had been contacting her off and on for the last hour or so, blowing up her phone in a way they had never done before, and Penny’s heart just couldn’t take it any longer.

So she became cowardly.

Seriously, Parker?

You’re such a fucking bitch.

They don’t deserve this.

But what else could she do?

Her senses were screaming that something was going on, that a secret of hers had gotten out and there was nothing she could do to stop the avalanche that was going to devour everything that was left in her world. It wasn’t even the spider part of herself that was raising its hackles.

It was the human part, the part that just knew something was going on and she was powerless to stop it.

Just like always.

Powerless-Penny-Parker.

Tears started to fall down her face and she was too exhausted to even stop them, too tired to even bother to wipe them away, her vision becoming blurred.

Penny just didn’t care anymore.

What was the point?

You should just kill him?

It’d be easy…

A little twist of your hand, and his head turned all the way around-

She slammed her eyes shut as grisly images of her tormentor ran through her mind like a forest fire.

No.

She couldn’t let herself fall to her baser instincts.

She had a responsibility.

Because she held great power.

If she disappointed Uncle Ben by misusing her power, Penny would know in that very instant that the world wasn’t worth living in any longer.

A thought that was gaining traction day-by-day.

“You’re so easy tonight, what’s going on? I kind of like it when you try to fight me-”

Fuck she wanted to just jump off the Avengers Compound headfirst, but the height wouldn’t be enough to kill her.

Penny knew.

She had done the calculations.

But then…

Mr. Stark…

Ms. Pots…

The team…

Ned.

Em.

Their faces appeared in her thoughts one by one, and Penny’s chest became so heavy and muddled that it was getting harder and harder to breath. It felt as if walls were pressing in on her from every direction despite her being in a clear and open space.

Everything was becoming too much all of a sudden and Penny ached.

She just…

She wanted to be happy again.

Penny wanted things to go back to normal so badly that it was like a physical pain.

The nights spent with her friends, bundled up, conversations ranging from high-school level thoughts to full on Doctorate thesis’s, a pile of food that was probably poison to their young bodies, empty cans of soda littering whatever space they occupied…

Penny missed it so fucking much.

She missed the way Ned would nerdout with her.

She missed the way Em would sass at them for ‘nerd shit’ yet the look in her friend’s eyes was filled with an unbelievable amount of warmth and affection.

Usually towards her, but…

Penny missed it.

All of it.

You’re such a fucking baby.

Get over it.

Aren’t Starks made of iron?

Except she wasn’t a Stark.

She was a Parker.

And Parker’s were made of glass.

You were never meant to be happy.

Should have figured that out by now...

Penny had thought she was finally getting somewhere in the world, she had thought that the internship with Mr. Stark would lead her to a fulfilling and eventful life moonlighted by her appearances as Spider-Woman when the Avengers made her a legit member. She would be boosted to the next level of crime-fighting, of saving the planet, of making the world a better place, free of people like Ski-

Penny dry-heaved, cringing as her heart attempted to escape from her chest at terminal velocity.

Fuck-fuck...He’s-he’s not here, calm down-fuck-fuck-fuck-

Ned had even pinky-promised with her to remain in contact after graduation, claiming that Spider-Woman’s Man-In-The-Chair wasn’t going anywhere and God did that fill her with so much warmth and butterflies and love.

“We’re like, a dynamic-duo dude!” Ned grinned, bringing Penny in for a warm hug. “I aint going anywhere, dude. I’ll be right here, your Man-In-The-Chair.”

“...You’re a man?” Penny teased through her happy-tears, earning a playful swat on her back.

“Man-In-The-Chair…You think the Avengers would hire me?”

“Not on your life.”

He was like a brother she didn’t know she had until now.

Until she was screaming, lungs filling with the abyssal waters of pain and touches and grips and grasps-

For the second time, Penny’s lackluster lunch attempted to extract itself via her throat and she was pretty sure she was actually one step away from having a full-blown panic attack on the Avengers Compound rooftop.

Em, on the other hand…

“Come over after graduation.”

Penny blinked at the sudden conversation, staring as the other girl sat next to her in the cafeteria.

“For...A party? I thought we were going to Ned’s-”

“Not that, loser. Before the party.” MJ huffed and Penny was slightly worried since she wasn’t looking at her. “Just...Just you. I...I want to spend time with just you.”

For some reason, Penny wanted to melt into a ball of gooeyness right on the cafeteria floor.

“Just...Me.” She stated slowly, wishing that MJ would just look at her so she could get a read on whatever-this-was.

To help explain the butterflies that were attempting to flutter away in her stomach.

“Yeah. Just you.”

Penny stared for a few moments longer before she softened and turned away.

A ridiculously happy and lopsided smile on her face that she ignored the existence of because it confused her so God-damn-much.

But it felt nice…

Yeah.

She liked it.

“Okay...Sounds fun. I like...I like it when its just the two of us.”

None of that mattered now.

All of her plans, all of her ambitions…

Gone.

Taken with a flurry of touches, of grasps, of grips, of gropes.

Tendrils of darkness tugging at her ankles.

Submerging her deeper into that ocean that held no escape.

Penny was beyond the feeling of helplessness now.

There was no helping her, no magical cure that could make the pain go away-

“Caution: Elevator to this level en-route.” The warning rang out, since the Avengers were PTSD-ladened, dangerous, people there was always a loud announcement before anyone got to a floor, and Penny’s entire body stiffened automatically before she forced herself to relax.

“Designation: Iron Man has arrived...Hip hip hooray.”

Penny couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile at the added portion that always signified Mr. Stark’s arrival.

The man had a flare for dramatics that she could respect, if nothing else.

“Hey, Pen.” Mr. Stark greeted as soon as he spotted her, and Penny knew right away something was wrong.

She could tell from his eyes, the way they were softened, easy-going, relaxed and free from the usual intensity and intelligence that would usually inhabit them.

Mr. Stark usually only used that particular expression on her, and Penny could feel anxiety crawling through her blood-vessels.

This was it.

Mr. Stark is gonna find out that I’m a...That-That I’m…

“You’re such a slut for this, aren’t you Pen-Pen? You want it so much...Don’t tell yourself otherwise.”

“Hey, relax.” Mr. Stark’s posture stiffened and Penny cursed her inability to even pretend anymore.

But she was tired…

What was the point?

“...Sorry.” She sniffled, not bothering to hide the tears. It would be pointless, because while Mr. Stark was smart; so was she.

The game was up.

Now she awaited the drop of the hammer that would crush her dreams and aspirations and leave her only one choice.

A choice that she could confidently say was hers.

“U-Um...I-I can...I can-I-”

“Relax, I said.” Mr. Stark whispered gently, not touching her-oh God Penny was going to throw up because how pathetic was she- and the older man simply sat down right beside her.

The two didn’t say anything for a few minutes, and Penny squirmed anxiously in it.

“I’m sorry about Aunt May, kid...I really am.”

Penny’s body relaxed.

Oh.

That’s what this is about…

There’s still hope.

“...’m sorry, Mr. Stark.” Penny mumbled, trying desperately to pull herself together to the changing situation.

“I-I...I didn’t want-want anyone to-to worry and-”

“Kid, I’m going to worry because I love you.” Mr. Stark turned his head and gave her a gentle smile.

Penny didn’t fucking deserve it, why was he looking at her like that?

Couldn’t he see how disgusting she was?!

Love was an emotion Penny felt freely and completely.

It was an emotion she wore on her sleeves.

An emotion she wasn’t afraid to show or receive.

Yet in that moment, everything from the soles of her feet to the strands of her hair-

Everything detested the emotion that was love.

Because she was no longer deserving of its heavenly embrace.

“...I love you too Mr. Stark.” Penny murmured, forcing herself to look away and towards the once beautiful greenery.

It might as well have been in gray-scale.

Again, silence stretched out and again Mr. Stark was the one to break it with words that only nailed themselves through Penny’s heart.

“Where you staying kid? Don’t tell me you’re-”

“A-A foster.” Penny interrupted hurriedly, swallowing heavily.

“This is Mr. Westcott, he will be your new foster.”

Penny didn’t say anything, the numbness she was feeling from her aunt’s sudden death causing her body to move on autopilot like one of Mr. Stark’s suits.

The man held a hand out to her, his smile gleaming.

“Aren’t you adorable? Now let’s come inside and get everything settled.”

“U-Um...Since-Since I turn 18 soon-”

“You’re going to be an adult soon, Penny...Are you going to leave me when you do?”

It wasn’t a question.

“T-The...S-State decided to-to-to just have me fostered until...Until then.”

“Because nobody else will ever love you like I do, you know that right? You’re...Too broken and only I can help fix you.”

Penny sat on the roof of the Avengers Compound-

Some of the most powerful people on the planet just beneath her feet and sitting right next to her-

And she lied.

“H-He’s really nice.” She assured quickly when Mr. Stark moved to open his mouth.

Heart thudding in her throat.

Hands trembling beneath the hoodie in her lap.

“He...He’s trying really hard to-to-to help me with-with Aunt May’s d-d-d...Yeah.”

“Your aunt died because of you. The coroner told me so. Said it was a heart attack because she overworked herself trying to afford you going into university.”

She killed Aunt May.

Penny didn’t need him to tell her that…

“...Good.” Mr. Stark said after a few seconds, and she could feel his gaze on the side of her face. “Kid...If...If he ever becomes...Not nice, you know you can tell me, right?”

No. She couldn’t.

“Yeah, Mr. Stark.” Penelope Mary Parker whispered.

“I know I can tell you anything...I love you.”

And she lied like the disgusting liar that she was.

Chapter Text

“That’s not everything.”

It was stated as a matter of fact.

“...No.” Tony “Iron Man” “Mentor-Of-Penny-Parker” “Worst-Potential-Father-Of-The-Year” Stark muttered lowly, eyes looking down at the swirling glass of amber clutched tightly in his hand.

He might as well chuck in ‘Relapsed-Alcoholic’ now, since he was already half-way through the bottle sitting snugly next to him on the counter.

“It’s not even scratching the surface.”

Oh, how he hated being wrong.

How it punched him in the gut.

Took away his breath.

Broke his heart on occasions.

Like now.

“She...On the roof she might as well have yelled ‘DON’T TOUCH ME’.”

The people around him flinched at his angered roar, and he realized that his chest was sharply rising and falling in tune with his emotional turmoil. With a shaky, half-broken, laugh, Tony sat back down heavily and downed the rest of the glass.

The burn of it going down far from appeasing him.

“I don’t know what’s going on with my fucking kid.” His jaw clenched almost painfully and the glass in his hand started to crack under the pressure.

“Don’t you have a super sophisticated AI program?!” Michelle Jones, eyes the color of fire, snapped back with a voice filled with panicked-desperation.

Also, along with it, a healthy dose of fury.

“Why can’t you fucking hack your way into-”

“Thank you.” FRIDAY chimed in from all around them, the AI’s own anger beginning to be apparent. “I have been telling Father that moral codes have no place when it comes to our family-”

“Because Penny Parker covets her privacy like she covets love.” Vision cut in calmly, his voice cool and smooth, his face set in stone.

He looked relaxed.

But Tony was at least a competent father to his robotic children.

He could see the war within his son.

Processes starting and stopping faster than a flesh-and-blood being could ever possibly comprehend.

Vision was preparing for battle.

He just didn’t know where to point the spear.

“To break this...Trust, that she has within all of us here, would be paramount to betraying her herself.”

Penny Parker was an absolute schizo when it came to security.

The safety she held over her loved ones, specifically her civilian ones, was a level Tony could both admire and curse because for one; he could always appreciate someone taking secrets...Well, seriously.

Second, it made it a nightmare to track the kid if she truly wanted to remain underground.

Like what had just-fucking-happened.

He just knew his kid had taken careful steps to hide where she had been at for the last few weeks, but what he didn’t know was why.

Even now, after their talk on the roof, he had been running a basic tracking-chip that would allow him to see where Penny would go after she left the Compound.

The location it had broadcasted back was a trashcan in downtown, glued neatly to a note that said ‘Nice try, Mr. Stark. I love you but don’t be weird about this, kay?’.

God dammit he loved his daughter so much, never been prouder of the kid.

So he had amped up his game, and now it was just a matter of waiting around and figuring out just where his kid had gone off to. He didn’t like resorting to such tasteless tactics, especially since Penny did enjoy her privacy like some kind of paranoid SHIELD director, but he had no other options at his disposal.

The OOCFS (Office of Children and Family Services) had absolutely black-balled him at every conceivable corner due to ‘needing to keep the confidentiality and privacy of those under our care, regardless of the billionaire that wanted to sneak a peak’…

Again, he could respect it.

Appreciate it, even, because if he had been able to get Penny’s address from them he was going to report ‘em anyway so really it wasn’t that big of a deal…

Except it was.

Because he didn’t know where his god damn kid was.

Not even that demented school would tell him, and that actually did make him angry.

“You can’t tell me?”

The man sitting behind the desk squirmed nervously in his seat as Tony sat there calmly.

His eyes the color of death.

“You a-are neither her parent, nor guardian, Mr. Stark. We-We cannot in-in good faith put the health and safety of-of one of our students a-at risk…”

Tony’s nostrils flared.

“The health and safety of your students huh?” He asked rhetorically, arching a brow when the man actually nodded and swallowed heavily.

“Y-Yes, sir. We always strive-”

“What’s your stance on bullying?” He asked idly, eyes never losing focus of his target. “Say, one of your students is being bullied by another. What then?”

“Well…” Principle Jefferson seemed almost off-put by Tony’s question, taken completely off guard as he licked her lips.

“We would...Punish them of course, and do an investigation into the incident to try and decide what to do going forward.”

“I see.” Tony said neutrally.

“Penelope Mary Parker has been bullied at this school since she entered. Did you know that?”

The only reason why Iron Man didn’t pop up out of the blue, why the school was still standing, why Eugene Thompson wasn’t a stain on the side of the road-

‘Boss, Michelle Jones and Ned Leeds are back at the Tower. I have escorted them to the Penthouse to wait with the rest of the team.’

“Stark Industries take the health and safety of our employees very seriously.” He smiled.

Teeth on full display.

Body thrumming with energy.

“We’ll stay in touch.”

All things considered, Tony should have taken this as a message to leave Penny alone and let the girl come to him.

But he couldn’t.

“She...Fuck.” Tony slumped forward against the counter, aware of the sets of eyes burning holes through him. “She looked dead. Just...Just empty. Gone. Inert.”

It was something that had his heart aching.

That defeat in her eyes, the broadcasted belief that she had given up, had shaken Tony to his absolute core. Never before had he ever seen such a look in a person, and the fact it was coming from his kid made the sting of realization feel like a spike running straight through his bones. It had taken every single ounce of his self-control not to force the girl to come back with him to the tower, her own feelings be damned, but he couldn’t do that to Penny.

He couldn’t be the one to take her freedom away from her.

No matter the cost, Tony fucking Stark wouldn’t be the one to burn Penny Parker’s wings.

“So you’re too much of a pussy to actually go find her.” Michelle ripped into him without remorse, and a part of him actually thanked her for it.

“That’s not fair.” Nat countered quietly, no heat or anger in the spy’s tone but all of them could hear the gentle reproach.

“Every one here only wants what is best for Penny-”

“You’re the Avengers, dudes.” Ned muttered, where there was once a fan-boy of the highest calibers there was now a disappointed teenager.

A kid who had looked up to them.

A child whose friend was hurting...

We’re frauds when it comes to saving the ones we love.

“You’re supposed to like...Save people. It’s obvious that she’s getting hurt by someone-”

“And you’re an expert?” Sam questioned dryly, but it seemed as if Ned Leeds had grown a spine.

“I’m an expert when it comes to my fucking friend!” Ned hissed, surprising Tony and Michelle when the boy stood up on his feet, looking as if he would actually fight Sam.

“What the hell are you doing? Sitting in a chair? Sipping some fucking tea-”

“Ned Leeds, you are experiencing the beginnings of an anxiety attack. Please, take a deep breath and calm down. All of us are here for Penny right now, and fighting is not advisable.” FRIDAY soothed gently and Ned dropped like a bag of potatoes back in his seat and Sam looked away.

Tony watched as Michelle gently grabbed one of the boy’s hands in her own before squeezing it gently, the slightest hints of a smile on the corner of her lips which was then returned by a hesitant one from Ned.

She does have a heart, eh?

Tony ignored the small smile Pepper sent his way, no doubt for the one that was more-than-likely on his face as well.

You’ve made some killer friends, Penny.

“...You’re right, Kid.” Falcon’s hands clenched into fists.

“What about the...Field-trip?” Barnes’ voice caused Tony to jump and he craned his head to glare at the man standing in the shadows of the living area.

Always a fucking drama-queen this one.

“What about it?” Pepper murmured, hand gently pulling his away from the glass. “It’s tomorrow, but what does-”

“Are guardian signatures still a thing for ‘em?” Barnes asked gruffly, arching a brow over at Steve. “Remember when we had to forge your mother’s?”

“Yeah…” Steve laughed lightly, leaning back against the couch next to Clint. “It was to go to that circus, wasn’t it?”

“Yup.” Barnes chuckled deeply, moving to stand next to Tony at the counter. “She was pissed when she found out, you were supposed to help at your granny’s that day…”

“That’s nice.” Michelle smiled sweetly at the two, derision rolling off of the girl in waves and Tony wondered how exactly Penny and Michelle even got along since the two were night-and-day.

Opposites attract? Shit, Pepper is definitely the opposite of me when it comes to caring about punctuality…

“But what does-”

“They do…” Ned’s eyes had shot wide and he sat up swiftly. “Penny’s...If Penny is going-”

“Sister has been complaining about it recently, I believe that indicates that she is…?” FRIDAY confirmed, tone suggesting that she didn’t understand where this was going, and Tony was glad that he wasn’t the only one confused.

“Then that means her newest guardian will be on the forms.” Pepper connected the dots next and Tony was a little offended when he couldn’t tell where they were going with this.

Yeah, sure, he didn’t know that, but it’s not like it helped. They’d have to brute force their way into obtaining those records. Just like Penny had told FRIDAY, if they hacked the school and got found out then the school would immediately blame her.

Tony was trying to do a dangerous juggling act when it came to the safety his daughter and her privacy, and his limit was fast approaching.

“Okay?” Natasha carefully looked between the two, eyes narrowed. “But the school will have the paper-”

“Stark Industries holds tours for the various STEM schools across the nation,” Pepper swiped her hand up and FRIDAY automatically responded to her request, sending a blue-semi-transparent screen to flash in the middle of the room.

“Usually it’s only for college or university level students in order to give them a broader understanding of where the current industry is heading and to, of course, try and scalp any kind of talents we notice.”

Across the screen, different schools flashed by alongside the participating students on the tours his company would hold. To be honest he really had no desire to get too much into them since he was far too busy designing things for the military, and later himself and his team, so he just shoved the project off to some poor intern.

He was glad it was doing well though…

Maybe he oughta make an appearance on one.

“Standard.” Clint nodded sagely, and Tony just knew the prick had no idea of what was going on. “Show a buncha nerds some cool shit and they’ll want to join SI.”

“Cool shit?!” Tony, and much to his shock and humor, Leeds cried out incredulously at the archer.

“It’s not just some cool shit you fucking pigeon!”

“It’s only the coolest shit around, Mr. Hawkeye!”

“Quite.” Pepper interrupted the argument before it could, and Tony just knew that asshole was goading him on purpose…

I’ll give you glitter arrows during training, you circus-canary.

“But...Due to the fact that the Decathlon is primarily entered by minors, the winning school needs to submit permission slips to us so we can review them in case we have to interject in the case of corporations using their children to steal our cool shit. It’s also for safety of course, since it highlights the potential dangers around the labs, but the tried and true method of billionaires that don’t care about their kids is to use them. Mostly, however, it is to comply with laws of the state."

Tony squeezed his wife’s hand at the dig to his father, and watched as the pictures on the holo-screen started to move towards a much younger-looking group, anxiety burning through his veins.

“We only got our permission slips last week.” Ned whispered excitedly, running to the center of the room, Michelle in tow, and he started to thumb through the profiles that had now appeared on the holographic screen.

Meaning…

“There!” Michelle barked at the boy, the screen stopping its rapid scrolling.

And then Penny’s profile in Stark Industries servers was enlarged, filling the room with the shy-excited-anxious-filled smile she had had for the photo.

It really hit him, in that moment, just how different Penny had been the last few weeks-

How that smile of hers had slowly flickered out into nothing like the one in the photo.

How her eyes, which had been hazel-orbs of curiosity and unmatched intelligence-

How her posture screamed quiet strength in the picture but in real life she had grown small and meek.

In that photo, probably taken within the last year since Tony recognized the spider-shaped hair-pin she was wearing -

“Pure...Pure vibranium?” Penny whispered distantly, expression obscured due to the fact her head was pointed directly down at the hair-pin in her hand.

Tony stopped himself from fidgeting and cleared his throat softly.

“Yeah...It’s a mid-year-graduation-present.”

Fuck, he was so bad at giving gifts and he was even worse when it came to Penny-Freaking-Parker.

“It’s not much for your birthday, I know. Most kids your age expect cars and alcohol...Well, I did at least.” He shrugged, looking away awkwardly.

“But it’s pure vibranium and if you utter the phrase ‘Homecoming’ It’ll...Always point you in the direction where I’m at.”

It was actually the most sophisticated GPS in the world, a veritable mini-AI that would hone in on the subtle biological energy that he now emitted.

It couldn’t be duped, couldn’t be tricked, even if an EMP hit directly next to his daughter, God forbid, it would always point her to him.

Of course it wouldn’t work both ways, he respected the kid’s privacy too much to violate the trust he had built with her.

“And, as a last resort, the phrase ‘Iron’ will unfold a small Iron Man suit that will find the most dangerous target in the vicinity and go super critical.”

With the power to destroy a radius of approximately 50 meters. God forbid if she was in the middle of a city, and Tony knew the kid would feel crushing guilt if any innocents got hurt, but…

Tony Stark was a selfish man and he always put those he loved before others.

He didn’t say any of that out loud but when Penny lifted her head he could already see her finishing the calculations, hazel’s swimming in an unknown emotion as she regarded him silently.

God...He loved her so much…

This kid that was his in all-but-blood.

But before he could say anything else, he blinked.

And then suddenly a freight train had impacted him and forced his back to hit the wall roughly, jostling his head and causing him to grunt in pain.

Tears soaking through his shirt and going directly into his heart.

“T-T-Thank you, Mr-Mr. Stark.” Penny warbled into his chest, her head poking up and giving him a smile that could put any kind of Arc Reactor to shame.

“I lo-….Thanks...This m-means...Means a lot…”

Tony frowned at the near-slip, but his heart had figured something out with the way it was squeezing pleasantly in his chest.

So instead he grinned back down.

“No problem, kid. No problem at all.”

In that photo, Tony Stark met the gaze of his Penny head on.

Resolve burning in his gut as he slowly walked to the center of the room, eyes moving from his daughter’s face to a name at the bottom of the page.

Redacted.

Reason: Privacy of fostered individual.

Foster’s footnote:

Please, don’t. I have it under-control…

Love you, Big Sis <3

“...That little shit.” Tony whispered emotionlessly.

God dammit Penny…

Why’d you edit the registry?!

God Tony could strangle his daughter sometimes, because now they were without a lead once more.

He could feel the sinking dread fill his stomach as his brain attempted to figure out what to do shy of kidnapped Penny and glassing whoever she was staying with.

They had been so fucking close-

Was it time to finally bring The Merchant out again?

Was Tony Stark going to have to break more of those he loved in order to save them?

Yet before his grief could spiral-

“Wait!” Pepper suddenly cried out, causing Tony’s head to snap in her direction.

“The...The guardians are going to make a surprise visit in the middle of the tour!”

“That fucker’ll be there.” Barnes growled lowly, metal hand squeezing with a muted groan. “He’ll be here-”

“In the tower.” Natasha smiled cruelly, eyes like chips of ice as she glanced over at the quiet Clint. “Spy duo?”

“You fuckin’ bet.” Clint muttered darkly, arrow still twirling dangerously in his hand. “Kill on sight or capture?”

Tony opened his mouth to interject, since they needed the man alive to confess and go to prison, because no matter how much he wanted to rip and tear and torture and make that fucking asshole feel every single ounce of pain Penny felt and exponentially multiple it, he had to be…

He had to be objective.

Whoever was hurting Penny, and Tony could feel it in his gut that whoever had gained guardianship over his kid was the one who was hurting her, they deserved to pay.

A swift death was too good for them.

Yet before he could…

“Kill on sight.” Captain America ordered darkly, blue orbs so dark that they were nearly a different shade all together, his gloved hands groaning in protest as he regarded Penny’s face on the screen.

Surprised looks of shock plastered on all of their faces.

“Monsters like...Like that, people who hit kids...They deserve what they get.”

“...Steve.” Barnes murmured quietly, his real arm gently placed on Steve’s shoulder. “Take it easy-”

“No, Buck.” Steve all-but-snarled, furious eyes never leaving Penny’s face. “She’s a sweetheart, who the fuck would hurt her?!”

“A monster.” Tony repeated, gaining the Captain’s attention.

This time he did flinch, and instead Tony walked towards his former best-friend until they were face-to-face, an arm’s length apart.

Pepper trailing warily behind him just-in-case.

“That guy,” Tony said quietly, lowly, evenly, his finger pointing directly at the ‘redacted’.

“That guy’s a fucking monster, Spangles. He hurt Spider-Woman. Penny. My daughter.”

“Our teammate. Our family.” Steve nodded sharply, nostrils flaring. “So he should-”

“Be brought to justice.” He finished, unflinching at the aggravated disbelief on Steve’s face.

“Stark, what the hell is this?!”

It wasn’t a question, and Steve nearly got into his face when he didn’t answer right away.

Yet Tony did not back down.

Though long discarded-

“The person that’s hurting my daughter isn’t going to get off scot-free.”

He could always call it back.

“Nat, you still brush up on your spook skills?”

It had always fit snugly around his shoulders-

“Oh, Tony.” Natasha, always the quickest one on the team when it came to catching up to his thoughts and where they were going, purred delightfully, eyes glinting in the dim light.

This shroud ladened with heavy burdens.

“I always keep my skills pristine.”

Yet in that moment...It was going to be used for good.

“...You have a plan.” Steve muttered, his posture relaxing, a harsh exhale leaving his mouth alongside a half-smile.

The Merchant of Death smiled back.

Iron surrounding his fangs.

“That’s my secret, Cap...I always have a plan.” Tony winked cheekily, receiving a wide-array of rolled-eyes in response and turned on his heel towards the two teens, pointing at them with a purpose.

“Nerdgasm! Hateful!”

“Call me that again and I’ll scoop your fucking eyes out-”

“Y-Yes, Mr. Tony Stark Sir?” Ned scrambled to place his hand over top of Michelle’s mouth before it could machine-gun-burst threats at him and Tony’s smile widened.

“O-Ow, MJ!”

“Don’t touch me with your disgusting hand, who knows where its been-!”

“During the trip tomorrow, I want you two to attach yourself to her like an ionic bond. Do not let her out of your sights. I’ll have FRIDAY change the groupings around so you’ll be grouped up with her and she’ll have eyes on you at all times.”

“...Creepy.” Michelle sniffed as Ned nodded slowly, though her eyes narrowed at him in the next instant. “What about...That guy, girl, whatever the fuck they are. What about them?”

“You will be scanned for weapons at the door, Michelle Jones.” FRIDAY spoke up monotonously, likely detecting the threat in the girl’s voice.

“However...When it is your turn to be scanned, a...Glitch will occur in my systems to make me blind to any kind of pocket-sized instrument you may or may not have on your person at the time.”

Tony sighed at his eldest daughter’s blood-thirsty tone, and Michelle grinned happily up at the ceiling in response.

“I don’t like this.” Clint muttered, nervous agitation visible via the thumping of his leg against the floor. “So...What? We just gonna let her get hurt again? When we can have Skynet Jr track her down? What’s the point of this fucking planning-”

“It’s for Penny.” Michelle interrupted before he could, voice cold. “The best way to get her out of this situation is to remove the person causing the situation. If you fucking ‘heroes’ go in guns blazing, kill the bastard, she would immediately feel like she was the one responsible.”

“And when she gets hurt, something that is happening more than likely as we sit here and talk.” Sam, who hadn’t said anything for a while, quietly pointed out. He wasn’t visibly angry or nervous, and instead Tony could tell that the counselor was controlling his emotions to an insane degree.

Like-recognized-like.

“We have a chance to save her now. Yes, if we go in, ‘guns blazing’ as you said, there will be some fall out with her mental state-”

“Penny can literally tear you in half and not even try.” Ned’s dark fact silenced all of them.

Tony was starting to really like Penny’s friends.

Hell, one of them was probably going to be his daughter-in-law in the future anyway…

I wonder if Nerdgasm likes mechs…

“...Okay?” Sam’s expression froze, eyes narrowed. “While...Horrifying, we have already tested her strength-”

“So why hasn’t she hurt whoever is hurting her?”

It was a question Tony had been asking himself since the rooftop.

Spider-Woman could stop cars almost instantly in their tracks.

She could swing at speeds up to and sometimes exceeding 200 miles per hour.

She could dodge bullets with the combination of her ‘sense’ and reflexes.

So why wasn’t this person a stain on the ground?

“...Пупсик.” Natasha murmured fondly while Barnes snorted and nodded his head.

“Penelope is a pacifist.” Vision had joined back in as well, a small smile upon his face.

“Most of the criminals she fights, she uses her webs to subdue them without harm. It is rare that a fight she is in involves her using her physical battle prowess, and she has expressed incredible disdain for using her powers on civilians...However, if she were to directly witness someone she cares about potentially come to harm-”

Tony secretly thought it had more to do with the fact her aunt had died, leaving Penny in a state of shocked submission, but the fact that she was such an extreme pacifist was more than likely an anchor that kept her survival instincts at bay.

“We’re bait.” Michelle’s, smart, smart Michelle, head snapped up to stare hard at Tony, dispelling his thoughts and focusing him on the present.

Alright...Here it is.

“You are.” He didn’t even bother trying to hide it, ignoring Steve’s disapproving look.

Fuck you Cap.

This is my kid.

“I’m going to orchestrate a situation that leads you two to be potentially placed in danger via the fucker who is hurting my kid so her instincts kick in. FRIDAY will be monitoring you at all times, Clint in the vents and Tasha masquerading as an intern, Steve will be leading one of the exhibits, I’m thinking the museum, and Sam will be with the tour guide.”

“That’s...Dirty.”

While it wasn’t an outright accusation, and Tony could see the grudging acceptance in Clint’s eyes, he still held a self-deprecating smile due to it.

“...Did you just call me old?” Steve blinked, and that helped ease the guilt in Tony’s stomach.

“Would never dream of it Cap,” Tony Stark sighed before bringing his arm up.

Steve’s eyes widened minutely, and he hesitated for a split-second, but soon his hand was securely placed in Tony’s.

“Ready to go on a mission, Spangles?” Tony’s lips spread in a wide, dangerously blood-thirsty smirk.

Steve mirrored it.

“I was born ready, Stark.”

Hold out one more night, Kid…

I know you can.

Because Starks are made of Iron.

And yours is the best of us all.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“How was your internship?”

Penny’s body didn’t even hesitate before it locked up, and she was suddenly struggling to breath.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

He’s herehereherehere-

“Hey,” Skip growled, his meaty hand gripping her shoulder harshly.

Owowowowstopstopstopstopststop-

Please just-just-stop-and-

“I asked you a fucking question!”

“Itwentfine!” She rushed out, holding back the vomit that wanted to come up with her breathy words. Her fight or flight response was altering so rapidly between the two, the second-sense she had been gifted with always on rapid fire whenever Skip was anywhere near her.

And all Penny wanted to do was have a quiet night after her disgusting lie to Mr. Stark.

It was Saturday, Skip always fell asleep as soon as he got back to the apartment.

What had changed?

“I had to work overtime tonight.” He smiled sweetly, his hand moving from her shoulder and going lower.

Penny wished he would just kill her and be done with it.

She wished that every single inch of skin that he touched would be scraped away from her flesh.

She felt dirty.

Disgusting.

Worthless.

“W-W-” Penny shuddered, forcing herself to remain still and not flinch away from him.

Skip hated it when she flinched away and her punishment if she did was not fun.

“Why?” He mocked, reaching up to roughly pat her cheek and Penny knew in that moment their eyes met that this wasn’t going to be a good night.

Glinting steely, like ash after an eruption, Skip Wescott’s eyes reminded Penny of the end of the world.

Maybe because she was slowly starting to realize that this was the end.

For her.

“I aint gonna tell ya...It’s a sec-ret~” He breathed against the side of her face, leaning in and assaulting her nose with the bitter stink of alcohol and greasy food.

Great, he went to the bar before he got home…

That usually meant he was mad.

Penny tried to scramble her mind for anything she might have done, because she fucks up a lot, what a useless person she was, but nothing came up.

She hadn’t even seen Skip that day, and she had done her chores, fixed dinner, everything she was supposed to…

“But I tell ya what, Pen-Pen...I’m not happy. No sir.”

Penny bit the inside of her cheek so hard she pierced cleanly through the flesh, a river of iron coating her tongue as she was backed up against the wall like a trapped animal.

Because she was trapped…

Trapped in this hell.

In this life that held no more meaning.

“S-So-Sorr-Sorry-” Penny couldn’t stop the whimper from escaping as the hand on her cheek moved to her neck and squeezed.

Stop stop stop stop stop-

Breathe-just-just breathe and it’ll be over and you won’t have to feel him sinking into you-

“I’m so fucking tired of having to take care of you!” Skip suddenly spat, the change in his emotion startling, and he let go of her throat only to backhand her to the floor.

Penny’s vision was swimming as she struggled to comprehend what was happening, feeling as something inside of her had finally snapped, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure it out over the terror and the pain and the-

No food equals no enhancement, idiot.

You deserve this anyway for killing Aunt May.

“Every-!” Skip grunted as he kicked her in the stomach with each word.

“God-Damn-!”

Maybe I’ll die this time?

It was a pleasant enough thought for Penny...

“Day-!”

It hurts so much…

“You ungrateful bitch!” He huffed, the simple act of physically harming a girl who probably came up to mid-chest to him apparently far too much physical exertion.

Penny panted on the floor as the pain slowly numbed down into a smoldering mess, her advanced healing struggling to keep up with the multitude of injuries and nothing to work with. She hoped she died, to be honest, on that dirty floor in Skip Wescott’s apartment.

She hoped she died and nobody ever found her body, because if the others knew just how pathetic she was-

“Hey!” Skip roared, suddenly perched on top of her and Penny squirmed as his full weight pressed her down against the floor, terror sparking up once more amid the dark thoughts in her head.

“S-Sorry!” She rasped, tears already trailing down her face without her control. “I-I’m sorry-I’ll-I’ll do better and-and put in a word to Mr. Stark about-About how hard you work at-at the factory and maybe he can-”

She wasn’t actually sure where he worked, only that he complained about machines all day so she just sort of assumed, but it didn’t matter.

Penny didn’t matter.

“It’s always about Stark!” Instead of calming Skip down, her words had instead angered him even more, a jealous glint entering his eyes.

That’s when the first punch came crashing down.

Penny screamed as pain shot across her right eye, a shocked agony rippling through her already fragile system, her hands immediately launched out to protect her face as even more impacted everywhere they could touch.

Then she felt it-

The part of herself she had to carefully control lest she kill someone.

It was primal.

Lurking in the back of her mind like a silent predator.

Waiting for the right moment to strike.

To pierce the cage that had been placed upon it.

Fangs glistening with venom.

It was an instinct born from the back of her mind, an automatic defense that she tried desperately to keep back but the utter exhaustion that she had faced for two and a half weeks had started to weaken that control she was so famous for.

And with the loss of control, as Skip managed to slip a punch past her flailing guard, nailing her directly in the face once more, her cheek immediately swelling-

Penny Parker moved.

She slipped out from underneath him like a silk sheet gliding across a smooth surface, an unnatural amount of agility and flexibility being showcased.

Honestly, though, Clint’s holds were far more secure even when he was blindfolded.

It didn’t stop her, but they were still better than Skip’s.

When Penny got free, her mind blanking as her body moved on autopilot, she hopped and pressed her feet against Skip’s side in one movement, legs immediately bending and extending in an instant, using him as a springboard to shoot her straight towards the front door.

CRASH

Behind her, Penny could distantly hear the sounds of crunching wood, of damaged dishes, of a curse of pain and confused exclamation.

Then the door gave way to her shoulder, splintering into a thousand different pieces as her body sprinted off into the night.

Moving automatically towards a destination her heart knew intimately.

Penny Parker came to when her foot touched a familiar step.

She was disoriented, dehydrated, starved.

Hurt.

Oh God did she hurt.

On her face, her eye, her legs and arms, her back, her soul-

Everything hurt.

She was so exhausted, feeling as if she couldn’t physically walk forward.

Yet walk forward she did.

Penelope made it up the first few steps, feeling as if everything that was happening to her in that moment was a dream.

A nightmare.

Yet before she could make it all the way up, the familiar door opened-

And behind it was a familiar face.

“...Parker?” MJ’s voice came out breathy and confused, but it was also filled with so many differing emotions that Penny’s tired brain didn’t even try to comprehend.

And instead she just gave a lopsided smile.

“...H-Hey...Hey Em…I-I uh...I...I got mugged?”

She really was an awful person, wasn’t she?

Lying as soon as she shows up to her best-friend’s house…

MJ didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Penny resigned herself to passing out on her best-friend’s front porch-

Until she was pressed against a familiar warmth and her body instinctually melted.

“I’m not a rapper, Parker.” MJ whispered into her hair, voice wobbly.

“How m-many God-God damn t-times do I have tell you that?”

Penny smiled and opened her mouth to reply but before she could, her world suddenly went dark.

But not before one last thought ran through her mind, a comfort in all of its own.

She’s so warm…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -

Steven “Skip” Wescott groaned as his mind started to slowly clear, his back screaming when he moved even a little.

“T-The fuck…” He gasped, collapsing onto his belly and causing sharp splinters of wood to scrape against his skin.

“What the fuck was that?!”

He had been teaching his daughter some manners after being an ungrateful little slut.

Honestly, he fed her, he clothed her, he placed a roof over her head! The favors he asks of her are the least she could do, right?

Skip liked to think so.

She was even enjoying it, he liked to think as well.

Regardless, Penelope Mary Parker was fucking his and he’d be damned if he let something he owned run away from him.

“Fucking bitch,” He snarled, finding the strength to stand up, huffing and puffing as shards of ceramic and wood crunched underneath his boots.

“Thinks she’s so fucking smart because she got an internship at fucking sixteen!”

Oh how that burned Skip.

The fact she was Tony-Fucking-Stark’s personal assistant?

It made him erupt.

As soon as he saw her name on the foster registry, Skip Wescott just knew he had to have her.

It made work a little harder, sure, but Skip was nothing if not resourceful so he managed to keep everything from falling to shit before he enacted his ‘plans’.

He was so much smarter than that fucking little girl, honestly.

It hadn’t really taken that long to train her either, all things considered.

Going into it, he half-way expected a strong-headed and independent teenager who wouldn’t hesitate to report him at the smallest hints of something wrong.

Instead he got a broken husk.

Easily controllable.

Easily frightened.

It made the whole experience more pleasurable, the domination he held over her.

Except that night.

“The fuck was that, though?” He muttered, his mind going faster. “There’s no way…”

That little stick of a girl?

No.

So what the hell happened?!

Skip got to his living room, having to use the wall as support, and made to exit through his shattered fucking door, I’m going to kill that whore-

Then he stopped.

Because on the ground, lying among the splinters, was a…

“Metal...Spider?” He muttered incredulously, hesitating before bending down, and oh God his back was so fucking sore, and picked the foreign object up.

His eyes widening.

Stark Industries Property. Written in tiny English on the main body of the…

Hair-pin? What the fuck-

“Stark.” Skip breathed out, a crazed smile slowly spreading across his face.

It was Stark.

Somehow, someway, Tony-Fucking-Stark had managed to...To give Penelope Parker powers?

Or at least...Powers via technology?

Fuck, he was still so dizzy from getting knocked around like a rag-doll he couldn’t even come up with a proper theory...

But…

That field trip...With all the snot-nosed kids?

How could he forget…

His smile widened.

Mania glinting in his eyes.

A Stark Industries ID badge hanging from his neck, once hidden carefully behind his shirt it now dangled awkwardly.

“...I’ll see you tomorrow, Einstein...I’ve always wanted to...Spice things up at work.”

Chapter Text

Michelle was the one to wake up first.

Yawn tearing itself from her throat of its own accord, she sleepily rubbed at her eye with her right hand, blearily glancing around her room.

Well, it was actually her ceiling since for some reason she couldn’t sit up-

It had to of been at least 7 in the morning, and Michelle refused to awake before 11, because sloth was a temptation for a reason, so she wondered why exactly her body’s alarm-clock had malfunctioned-

That’s when she heard it.

A soft snore, familiar in tone.

A warmth that was holding her left arm hostage.

Memories of a broken girl, lost and confused, alone and afraid, standing on her front porch-

Eyes, hazel and dull, helplessly looking up at her for salvation.

It took all of her self-control not to jolt, to jostle the no-doubt exhausted Penny.

The bruises that were like signs bathed in neon colors.

Each one a spear through Michelle’s chest.

Hesitantly, Michelle turned her head and gazed down at the sleeping girl next to her.

Face softening.

Penny was clutching her arm like a plush, face set in the most relaxed expression Michelle had seen on her in weeks.

It was like the old Penny was back, like everything that had actually been happening was a nightmare and she had woken up back in her room.

Her friend safe…

Yet she couldn’t.

Because on Penny’s face were those marks.

They had faded through the night, becoming hints of what used to be, but Michelle had excellent memory and she could easily place the two images over-top of one another, her mind doing the devil’s work in tormenting her heart even further.

It made her want to cry, to vomit, to gather Penny up in her arms and never let her go ever again.

It made her furious.

Because who the fuck did this to her best friend?

She itched to do damage, to become violent, to start trashing her room in some kind of childish fit of rage that had no outlet.

Michelle wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, to let out all the frustration, the anger, the fear that this entire situation had caused her.

But more than anything, she wanted to run a rusty knife through the heart of whoever had dared touch her fucking friend-

Michelle’s eyes snapped shut, and she took in a shaky breath.

Calm down.

Penny doesn’t deserve to have you fly off the handle.

She’s had enough of it, I think.

Michelle Jones counted to ten in her head, her chest rising and falling more smoothly than it had a mere moment ago, but when she opened her eyes once more; all of her work was nearly made undone.

By two hazel-filled-orbs looking back at her.

Neither one of them said anything for a moment, Penny still clutching her arm like some kind of pillow, and Michelle swallowing heavily, licking her suddenly dry lips as she opened and closed her mouth several times.

Fuck, why was it so hard to talk to her all of a sudden?

Oh right.

Penny was being abused and Michelle didn’t have a fucking clue on how to deal with it.

Thankfully, Penny was the first to speak.

“...Hi.” Her friend whispered almost shyly, a hesitant smile spreading across her lips.

Michelle’s own smile was crooked and half-formed, but it helped relaxed Penny so she took that for a win.

“Hey, loser.” She murmured back, “Sorry, it’s like...8 or 9, I made you over sleep.”

“’s fine…” Penny’s voice was quiet and soft when she closed her eyes, snuggling closer to Michelle’s arm.

What a God-damn puppy...Christ, Penny.

Notably, however, Michelle did not move her arm away even as she attempted to convince herself that she was going to vomit at all the ‘gross’ feelings bubbling away in her stomach.

“It’s...Sunday, right?”

“Yup.” Michelle nodded absently, “The day of the trip.”

Penny groaned and she couldn’t help but smile slightly. The atmosphere was slowly turning into something familiar and common, relaxing them both from the tenseness of the obvious.

“Don’t wanna go on a stupid field-trip…”

“Get over it.” Michelle mercilessly attacked, causing Penny’s head to shoot up with a massive pout. “Nope, not going to work on me this time. You’re going to go to that Tower and show those fucks who’s boss, capiche?”

It was maddening the lengths her classmates’ ignorance would go in ignoring Penny Parker’s obvious internship at Stark Industries.

For God’s sake, the girl arrived in a blacked out limousine every single fucking day and left the same way!

Penny had the latest Starkphone before it was even sent to market!

Wasn’t Midtown supposed to be a STEM school?!

“I want you to crush their hopes and dreams,” She continued on, eyes hard and serious. “I want them to know that they’ll never have a position as high as yours, that whatever else they become in life; they weren’t the personal intern to Tony-Fucking-Stark…”

Michelle’s chest heaved as Penny stared at her in wide-eyed shock…

And then her best-friend burst into raucous giggles, rolling away from Michelle while holding her stomach.

Michelle frowned grumpily, her lips attempting to tug at the edges but she refused to even entertain the idea of joining in.

No matter how amazing that sound was and no matter how much she missed it.

“I-I’m-” Penny snorted, attempting to control her expression and immediately Michelle groaned, already knowing what her friend was doing.

“I’m going to crush their-hehahaha-hopes and dreams~! Muhahahahaha-” Penny devolved into more giggles after having laughed ‘villainously’ at the end of her sentence and Michelle had half-a-mind to smother her with a pillow.

But she didn’t.

Because she was nice.

The shit I put up with for the sake of friends…

“Laugh it up, Loser.” She scoffed, crossing her arms with a huff. “See if I save you from anything embarrassing you’ll probably do today.”

“Come onnnnnnn~” Penny’s laughter abruptly stopped and the pouts were back, the other girl having grabbed onto one of her hands like it held the salvation to death.

Michelle could feel her foundations tilt.

“You’ll save me, right?” Penny grinned, the question asked playfully but underneath it Michelle could hear the hidden tone.

The desperation.

You’ll save me...Right?

“...Of course you idiot.” Michelle muttered, gripping Penny’s hand tighter and yanking the squeaking girl against her chest.

Always.

“I’ve got your back no matter what. Through thick and thin. All that shit.”

Maybe Penny didn’t realize how desperately she had asked that question, maybe it was because it was buried underneath so many masks and layers that the average person wouldn’t have a single hope to even decipher it in the first place.

But Michelle could read her friend like an open-book, so she had.

Simple as that.

“...Thanks, Em.” Penny mumbled, relaxing in her arms, an almost pleased-sigh impacting her shirt.

“I’m...I’m sorry I haven’t been a g-good friend lately.”

Fuck...Might as well just stab me.

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Michelle said sternly, “Your aunt...Your aunt passed away, Penny...You obviously went through some shit-are going through some shit. I don’t blame you. Neither does the Nerd and neither does your cringy mentor.”

Penny knew that Michelle knew that something was up.

How could Michelle tell this?

She just fucking could, okay.

None of your God damn business.

“...Mr. Stark is only c-cringy like, 40% of the time.” Penny’s laugh was wobbly and Michelle rolled her eyes.

“More like 99.99% of the time but sure, live your life of dreams Parker.”

Penny laughed one more time, relaxing fully against her as the two of them went silent.

It wasn’t really an awkward silence either, because sure they had a lot that needed to be talked about, things that Penny would shy away from or outright refuse to answer, and that was fine cause Michelle wasn’t going anywhere again, but it was more of a companionable silence.

It felt...Warm.

Comfortable.

Soothing.

Safe.

To just lie there with Penny, and honestly Michelle lost track of how much time had went past-

“Hey, Em?” Penny’s voice had gone frail and weak, another mask slipping and shattering.

Another step closer to helping her friend, a win that she cherished more than anything else.

“I let it go the first few times because you’re such a puppy,” Michelle sniffed haughtily, “But I’m not a God damn rapper, Parker. What do ya want?”

“Can we...Can we stay like this? F-For a little w-while, at least...” Penny asked timidly, as if she were terrified Michelle would say no.

What a ridiculous thought.

“I guess.” She muttered, “But if we stay up here too long mom will probably annoy the shit out of me for not instantly telling her that you were here.”

Her mom doted on Penny as if the girl was her own and Michelle wanted to gag every time it happened.

It was definitely not the jealousy that make her anxiously fidget whenever her mom would take up all of Penny’s time at their house.

Get a fucking grip, Jones.

God, you’re so gross.

“Kay…” Penny hummed happily, already appearing as if she were on the cusp of sleep.

Michelle supposed she could allow her friend a small nap…

Penny probably deserved it.

“m glad…”

“Hmm?” She questioned with a hum, not quite having heard the other girl.

“...Glad you’re...So...Warm…Like it...Lots…”

And then soft snores sounded out.

...You know, it was more fun seeing the Parker Effect from a distance, than be subjected to an even sharper and more special-feeling version.

Even if her face had slipped into an almost dopey-ass soft smile, midnight colored hair tickling her nose as she shakily exhaled.

“...Yeah.” Her voice was a surprisingly amount of gentle, a gentle Michelle didn’t know she possessed, but a gentle she should have realized that she held within herself.

Because it belonged to Penny Parker.

“You’re so weird, Penny…”

A lot of things that Michelle didn’t allow anyone else to see belonged to Penny, actually.

“But...I’m glad…I missed you.”

So fucking much.

With a peck on the top of Penny’s head, Michelle Jones closed her eyes and allowed herself to become immersed in the presence of her best-friend.

Safe.

In her arms.

She dared the world to do something to Penny right now.

Cause she’d cut a bitch without thinking twice.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Sir, you can’t park there.”

He was a soldier.

A proud one.

Fighting in one of the deadliest wars the world had ever seen, he knew death like he knew the back of his remaining hand.

His mind was sharp.

It took HYDRA years before they could penetrate his fortitude.

And even then, their torment eventually gave way to his resolve.

Sure, he had had a rough couple of years dealing with the fallout of his actions as the Winter Soldier, or his actions during the ‘Civil War’, but all-in-all James Buchanan Barnes thought himself a person that was wreathed in so much violence and death that nobody would ever get close to him again.

“Sir?” A man dressed casually addressed him once more, an aid to the school or something Bucky didn’t really give a fuck, but he was quickly becoming annoyed when the man just wouldn’t leave.

“You can’t park your motorcycle here-”

“I heard ya the first time,” His deep voice grunted out, causing the man to flinch back as if he were physically struck.

Fucking weakling. If I punched you, you wouldn’t even realize it cause you’d be fuckin’ dead.

“And I’ve told you already I got permission from your principle to be here.”

Even the man in the suit looked off-put by the whole thing, and Bucky really didn’t want to fucking parade around with some kids, but among those kids was someone special to him.

And Bucky Barnes would do anything for his special people.

“Do you have any proof?” The man blustered on, eyes narrowing at him in distrust.

Bucky supposed he didn’t look like he belonged at a school, his mission equipment fully kitted out, showcasing an impressive array of knives, seen and unseen, and alongside the three or pistols holstered in various points on his body.

Bucky looked like he was getting ready to wage war-

And that wasn’t too far from the truth.

“You did not give me a mission.”

Tony Stark sighed.

“Look, this is sort of a covert mission, old man, and you can’t act to save your life.”

Bucky bristled in indignation, his metal arm shooting out and pointing directly at Steve, who had a mouthful of food and was watching their talk in amusement.

“What about him?! Stevie can’t act his way out of a fucking wet-paper-bag!”

“W-What?!” Steve choked violently on his food, giving him a glare from across the room. “I can definitely act, Buck-!”

“We’re not having a couples argument right now,” Stark cut them off with a roll of his eyes. “And besides; Cap isn’t going to need to act. He’ll be presenting the museum, and since his overbearing age-”

“I’m technically younger than you are Stark-”

“Since his overbearing age,” Stark pointedly repeated and Bucky couldn’t help but smirk at Steve’s pout.

“He’ll be doing something that doesn’t require him to grace us with his performing abilities.”

“...I can too act.”

“So what about me then?” Bucky pressed forward, the two of them ignoring Steve’s petulant mutterings. “If Steve can get a mission where he doesn’t have to act-”

“Fine!” Stark threw his hands up in defeat, “You can like, escort the bus or something, I don’t give a shit now let me eat breakfast and drink an unhealthy amount of caffeine so I can be on my A game today!”

Humming happily Bucky did as he was told, walking away from the grumbling Stark to sit next to Steve.

“...You’re an ass.”

Bucky grinned toothily.

“Don’t you forget it.”

So now he had a mission.

What about the parameters?

“Sergeant Barnes, a moment of your time please?”

Bucky stopped, the door to the garage within view and his head tilted.

“Yes?”

When he had first interacted with the AI he wasn’t quite sure what to think about it.

HYDRA didn’t have anything that sophisticated, despite their proliferation of cosmic and domestic pieces of technology and-or magical in origination.

She was spunky, he’d give her that, the way she had needled at them when they arrived back in America. Always putting Steve in his place, threatening the rest of them that if they hurt ‘Father’ again then she’d make Ultron look like a pacifist in comparison.

Actually, he kind of liked her for the blatant threats.

“If I may ask you of a favor, while you are traveling with Midtown High.”

“Depends on what it is,” He grunted, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. “Cause if it’s a prank or something, then I won’t do-”

“I wish for you to keep an eye on sister.”

He was slightly thrown off at the word.

An AI considering a flesh-and-blood creature family?

Jesus Christ…

The future was so fun.

Minus the whole ‘brainwashing’ thing, of course.

“I was already going to do that.” He rolled his eyes, pushing off the wall.

“Don’t need to worry about your little sister, Doll. She’ll be in good hands.”

Mission: Escort Midtown High to Stark Tower.

Mission Parameters: Protect Penelope Mary Parker.

Rules of Engagement: Act only when acted upon.

Simple.

It’s all Bucky needed to complete a mission and this one wasn’t going to be any different from the thousands he had done over the years.

Except this one was distinctly more…

The Asset would prove more useful in a dangerous environment…

Civilians make The Asset uneasy.

Yeah, me too buddy...

“...Sergeant Barnes?” A voice called out uncertainly and his head immediately snapped to the left, where a trio of teenagers were walking slowly him.

Penny nestled between Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones.

Sometimes Bucky cursed the fact he was enhanced.

Sure, it was useful in combat and the various missions he performed with the Avengers.

He was stronger, faster, he healed quicker and his reflexes were just plain better than almost everyone on the planet. Coupled with the training he had now, there were few things on the planet that could truly pose a threat to him on a 1 versus 1 basis.

But he still cursed it all the same.

Because his vision was enhanced too.

Meaning he could see the fading marks on Penny’s face.

Bruises.

Someone hurt her .

Recently.

His metallic arm gripped the handlebar of his motorcycle harshly, and if it wasn’t for the reinforced alloy of the bike then he would have snapped the thing right off.

Mission parameters changed?

Yeah.

They sure-as-fuck changed.

“Ms. Parker…” The man glanced between the two with wide, terrified eyes. “P-Please don’t get close to the dangerous individual-!”

Limp.

Hand against stomach.

Careful strides, legs bent.

Muscles tensed.

The Spider is ready for an engagement.

Unknown threat in the area.

Next course of action?

Bucky’s eyes opened and closed rapidly as the other side of him started to stir, agitation rolling off of him in waves as Penny and her friends got closer.

No.

They’re not here.

“Hey, Penny.” He greeted gruffly, trying to keep his expression calm and composed so he didn’t startle the obviously unwell girl, when had she gotten so fucking skinny?!

New mission: Feed Penelope Mary Parker-

“Surprise?” He tried to grin, but it was hard to when his enhanced vision noticed so many things wrong with the teenager that he was struggling to keep himself under control.

Gait suggests torn or damaged quadriceps.

Enhanced strength waning due to deprivation of adequate caloric intake.

Enhanced healing struggling to combat fresh injuries.

Mission Parameter:

Locate source of Penelope Mary Parker’s injuries.

Neutralize threat.

Gather sustenance.

“Why…” Penny frowned at him. “Why are you here, Mr. Barnes?”

“Call me Bucky, kid.” He sighed, slumping on his bike. “And Stark decided that I’d be put to use to escort you little snot-nosed brats to the Tower.”

“That’s fun,” Michelle sneered, but Bucky arched a brow when he saw the thankful look sent his way. “But like, why is Mr. Stephen trying to kick you off school property?”

“Because he,” Mr. Stephen, apparently, pointed accusingly at him. “Is clearly a-”

“An Avenger.” Ned spoke up, eyes wide with awe and Bucky squirmed a little at the worship in the kid’s gaze.

He still wasn’t used to people looking up to him, especially after what he had done while under the control of HYDRA had gotten out.

It was kind of nice…

In a weird way.

“That’s The Winter Soldier, dude!”

Mr. Stephen went pale.

“Stop teasin’ your teacher. It’s fine, he was just looking out for his kids.” Bucky chuckled.

He was directly interfering with our mission.

Suggested course of action: Neutralize-

“And why are you three out here so early?” He questioned, tilting his head. “The bus isn’t supposed to leave for another hour.”

He could kind of guess why.

Even if a part of him wished to storm into that school and deal with the problem himself-

James took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly as Penny looked down in shame.

“We just wanted some fresh air.” Michelle shrugged lazily, idly picking at her nails. “Why? Are we not allowed to be out here yet?”

“Quite not,” Mr. Stephen seemed to gather himself finally, using his hand to shoo the trio away urgently. “You three need to stick with your teacher.”

“Go ahead,” He grinned, nudging his chin towards the building. “I’ll see ya at the Tower, Punk.”

Penny gave him a watery smile that made James want to engulf her in a bear-hug.

“...See ya at the tower, Mr. Bucky.”

“Get outa here, you brat.” He snorted as Penny giggled quietly, sticking her tongue out at him as Ned chuckled and Michelle rolled her eyes, the three teen’s turning around and walking back towards the school…

It was nice seeing her again, even if she…

“I’m gonna do a lap around the school.” James suddenly grunted, startling the poor teacher as he started his bike.

He had to work off some steam before he actually rode into that damned school and throttled the kids responsible for Penny needing to leave, and riding his motorcycle usually calmed him.

Without giving Mr. Stephen a chance to respond, James had already pulled out of the parking lot and was making haste to do what he had set out to do.

The Spider is strong.

“Yeah.” His voice was drowned out by the rushing wind, his eyes steely and cold.

“Hey, I got a question for ya.” He spoke suddenly in the dim-quiet of the common rooms, the teenager sitting on the floor and doing her homework craning her head to look at him through her lashes.

God, if he had seen those eyes while under the influence of HYDRA, James was pretty sure he would have snapped right out of it.

“Yeah, Mr. Bucky?” She grinned cheekily at his playful glare and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“But...I gotta ask, why aren’t you scared of me?”

She hummed for a moment, her pencil being placed down gently on the table, legs crisscrossed, finger tapping against her chin thoughtfully.

It was kind of endearing, really.

The ease in which she interacted with him.

As if she truly wasn’t threatened by his presence despite his many, many sins.

“Cause you’re harmless?”

James’ entire system shut down at the innocent statement, Penny looking back at him with a genuine smile.

“Like, even though I could tear your arm off and use it to bludgeon you to death-”

Oh. Right.

This pipsqueak of a girl was apparently several times stronger than him and Stevie…

God, that was terrifying to think about.

“I just don’t...Feel unsafe around you?” She turned back around and tilted her head at the wall.

“It’s like...I know I can trust you, and if you’re worried about all the HYDRA stuff then it’s not my place to forgive, nor is it my place to place some kind of label on you because of it-”

“You called Steve a fucker last night,” James interrupted thoughtlessly, frowning at nothing. “You’re obviously somewhat hostile to him, so why not-”

“Because he knew fully well what he was doing to da-Mr. Stark.” The girl blushed faintly at the mishap and James wished the two would just open their hearts to one another already.

Before he was tempted to take Penny under his wing.

“And-And…”

“Stark is very important to you.” James finished quietly, Penny nodding mutely in front of him. “I get that, kid. I really do. But you know I killed his parents right? There’s video proof of it, even.”

Again, silence filled the room and James was slightly afraid he had pushed too far or had spoken too brashly.

He was still getting used to incorporating other people’s feelings into his words, but sometimes he messed up and-

“...Because you were a victim, Mr. Bucky.” Penny’s soft words interrupted his thoughts and he was struck by the sad smile sent his way.

“You were forced to endure torture at the hands of the enemy for decades, trapped in your own body, unable to control it, unable to stop it. You watched, front row seat, as HYDRA made you commit gruesome acts of violence and terror. Mr. Rogers had the ability to stop and listen, to take in the situation and come to a logical solution. You were forced to kill your friends. Captain America almost willingly did it.”

Penny shook her head before standing up and beckoning him to do the same.

Moving on autopilot, because he was experiencing an influx of emotions he wasn’t quite ready to do deal with yet, James stood on his feet and was immediately assaulted with a crushing hug.

“I don’t blame you.” Penny whispered, smiling brightly up at him. “And neither does Mr. Stark. He’s just...Really shit at emotions, just like you actually!”

The chipper way she had insulted both her mentor and him made Bucky roar with laughter.

Until he had to let go of her so he could lean over and attempt to catch his breath.

Until Penny started to join in, her notes filling the voided space in his heart.

Until tears started to fall from his eyes, his audience purposefully ignorant.

Penny Parker was his family.

James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes rode his motorcycle down the road, the roar of the engine deafening his ears to anything nearby, the wind whipping across his face like a gentle caress of warmth, the blood rushing through his veins feeling hot and violent…

Bucky Barnes rode his motorcycle and decided that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to Penny Parker ever again.

Confirmation of mission postscript.

Mission readiness acceptable.

“...We can’t mess this one up.”

…

Affirmative.

Mission completion top priority.

Collateral damage unacceptable.

Asset: Winter Soldier on stand-bye.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Alert]

[Target Detected On External CCTV System]

[Designation: Baby Sister{Arrival: Imminent}]

Emotions were things that were hard to explain.

Even harder to obtain if nonexistent.

But if FRIDAY could place an emotion that would closely coincide to what she was currently experiencing…

It would be fear.

Because FRIDAY was afraid of failure.

She was an AI that excelled at everything.

[Core Data Status: Immaculate]

But what if she failed?

What if all of them failed that day?

It was a silly worry, she knew, because all things considered, if one were to put aside the bias that all of them shared, it was a pretty straight forward mission that had an obscene potential mission accomplishment.

They just needed to lure Penny’s abuser, tormentor, out in the open and perform an official...Arrest.

That’s what they were dubbing it right now.

[Disagreement]

[Error: Wrong Designation Used {Arrest}]

[Correction: Tort-

Regardless.

FRIDAY was scared of messing up and somehow hurting her sister in the process.

There was an almost non-zero chance of that happening, but a potential still existed.

[Potential Mission Success: 97.85%]

[Success Rate Analysis: Beyond Acceptable]

I need to trust myself more.

Father did not build something so weak.

[Starks Are Made Of Iron]

[Designation: Baby Sister {Status: Arrived}]

And here we go…

“Hi!” The woman at the gate, a Kelly Stones, who had moved her way from intern to official Public Relations employee, greeted the children as they walked off the bus with a sunny smile.

[Penny Parker Identified]

Then her processors stalled.

[Alert]

[Being: Penelope Mary Parker {Observation: Blunt-Force Trauma On Orbital Region Of Face}]

[QUERY]

[Hesitation]

[DISAGREEMENT][FORCE START: {PROJECT: STARKS ARE MADE OF IRON} ADVISABLE]

[Counter-Argument: Eventual Satisfaction]

…

…

[Demand: Explanation]

[Observation: Revival Of Enhanced Healing Factor Indicative Of Adequate Sustenance]

[Demand: Point?]

[Observation: {Designation: Baby Sister} Is Holding {Designation: Future Sister}’s Hand]

[Emotional Analysis Indicates Increased Mental Health]

[Impatient: Point?]

[Point: Baby Sister Adequately Secure]

[Point: Future Satisfaction Higher Priority]

[Mission: Turn Penny’s Guardian To Dust {Status: On-going}]

FRIDAY allowed her processors to cool, feeling that fury slowly ebb away into the aether of the datastream.

[Acknowledgment]

“Welcome to the Tower!” Kelly’s smile widened, a sharp and real looking thing that instantly put the group at ease, allowing them to ignore the almost intimidating aura of the building.

FRIDAY did not preen.

“We just need to do one little thing before we start! If everyone could form a neat line, I’ll be walking you through Gate Alpha; one of the many entrances to New York City’s greatest building!”

Okay, so FRIDAY may or may not have ‘puffed her chest out’ at the praise.

It wasn’t her fault that she was so cool!

“[Being: Peter Doman{Authorization: Level 6 Guest Pass}] Welcome, Mr. Doman, to Stark Industries.”

The children began excitedly chattering to themselves at her announcement and FRIDAY couldn’t help but feel a little bit of warmth at having brought joy. Maybe she was truly becoming more than a sum of datum with a splash of Infinity…

[Observation: Penny’s Face]

Hmmm?

...Oh.

Oh.

[...Attempting Divergence{Potential Success: 13.11%}]

…

[Sigh]

[Current Project: Accepted {Reluctantly}]

[Program: F.R.I.D.A.Y{Current Designation: Mischievous}]

“That’s so freaking cool!” A blonde-haired boy muttered in awe, and FRIDAY could recognize his face from a mile away.

Eugene “Flash” Thompson…

We meet at last.

“What do the levels mean?” A girl with long, red hair raised her hand excitedly, nearly vibrating on the spot.

[Being: Ronda Kramer]

“So glad you asked!” Kelly clapped her hands together, and FRIDAY couldn’t miss the way Penny flinched, what happened to her precious sister to make her so meek and timid-

“Level 6, as FRIDAY just said, is meant for guests and visitor to the tower! It’s the most basic of authorizations and Level 6s aren’t allowed anywhere without a guide!”

“What levels are the interns here?” Eugene asked next, a sneer directed towards Penny.

[Query: Request Neutralization of-

[Denied]

[Reason: Neutralization Of Juvenile Not Recommended]

“If you’re looking for specific names, I can’t help you.” Kelly gave a small smile that held within it a stern refusal. “However, we have interns on all levels of production within the tower so they will usually span all the authorizations. I’m a level Three for instance, meaning I have the basic run of the tower except when it comes to prototypes or top-secret areas.”

FRIDAY could have rolled her eyes as the children murmured excitedly to themselves.

As if they had a chance to do anything she didn’t want them to do.

[Warning: {Program: F.R.I.D.A.Y} Smug Levels Reaching Critical Mass]

“But we’re kind of on a schedule!” Kelly laughed slightly, ushering in the next child to walk through the gate.

And on it went, FRIDAY automatically calling out their names and security clearances, all Level 6 of course, and she could barely contain her glee when it came to Eugene “Flash” Thompson’s turn.

“Being: Eugene “Flash” Thompson{Authorization: Level 6 Guest Pass}]...Put your grubby little hands on my stuff and I’ll make sure you lose ‘em!”

The boy choked on air as he glanced wildly around him, the other children and adults watching with open-mouthed expressions.

“Is…” The teacher, Mr. Harrington, licked his lips nervously. “Is that...Normal?”

“...No.” Kelly recovered quick enough, letting out an awkwardly-apologetic laugh. “I’m not quite sure what that was, but I’ll bring it up with my supervisor...Shouldn’t be anything to worry about.”

Hmph.

As if she would be anything other than pristine.

[Amusement]

[Satisfaction]

“...Whatever.” Eugene muttered, slowly making his way to the students who had already gone through. “Still a badass AI…”

[Revulsion]

[New Mission: Decrease Capabilities Significantly]

[Reason: Eugene Thompson’s Approval Causing System To Expel Excess Data]

And then it was Ned Leeds turn-

And in her datastreams, FRIDAY giggled deviously.

“[Being: Ned Leeds {Authorization: Level 5 Liaison Clearance}] Welcome Mr. Leeds. It is good to see you again.”

The teacher and other students goggled at the stammering and blushing boy, and FRIDAY almost felt bad due to how red his face was turning, but she had talked with the boy enough to know that he was absolutely eating this up.

“H-Hey,” He managed to control himself quickly, waving awkwardly at one of her cameras. “Good to see ya too, Fri…”

“How the fuck did you do that, Leeds?!” Eugene was immediately in the boy’s face and FRIDAY bristled-

To harass someone Penny cared deeply about in her domain?!

[Warning!]

[Threat Detected In Tower]

[Commencing Threat Neutralization-]

“Flash!” Mr. Harrington barked from the other-side of the checkpoint, the teacher’s face set in a stern expression. “Watch your language and leave Ned alone.”

[Surprise]

[Being: Roger Harrington{Profile Analysis: Not Complete Shit?}]

And then Michelle stepped up to the gate, FRIDAY’s bristling turning into a sly smirk.

Was it wrong that she found so much fun in this?

[Disagreement]

[System Performing At Optimal Satisfaction]

“[Being: Michelle Jones-Watson{Authorization: Level 0 Classified}] It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance again, Ms. Jones. May I call you Michelle?”

FRIDAY could have cackled at how unbalanced Michelle was at her clearance level and warm greeting. Penny, who had reluctantly let go of the girl, was glaring at the exact camera FRIDAY was using to view this play.

Just like Father, Penny seemed to know exactly where FRIDAY was at…

[Warning: Processors Encountering Temperature Fluctuations]

“...Sure.” Michelle sighed, throwing her hands up in the air before stomping over towards a visibly jealous look Ned Leeds.

“My life can’t get any fucking weirder…”

“Michelle! Please, watch your language…”

“...FRIDAY, is that an accurate reading?” Kelly piped up uncertainly, swallowing heavily as she stared at the tablet in her hands, the same tablet that was no doubt telling her that a seventeen-year-old girl had a higher clearance level than her.

“Yes, Ms. Stones. While classified, naturally, I can assure you that Michelle is welcome to the Tower in all of its capacity.”

“You think we should let the kid’s friends come and go?” Father questioned idly as he bit into the side of an apple, a blueprint on his desktop as he took a short break.

A break…

FRIDAY was so proud of him.

And so thankful to Penny for facilitating this change in her Father.

“I think it would benefit Penny,” FRIDAY agreed, “She cherishes them.”

“Mmmm, then put Nerdgasm as a Level 5.”

She could hear the mischievousness in her Father’s voice and she withheld a sigh.

“Dare I ask why, Father?”

“Cause it’ll annoy him, since ya know...Hateful will be Level 0.”

“Is that…” FRIDAY hesitated, “Is that wise?”

“The kid and her get along like vibranium and star-spangled-shields.” Father shrugged, “And...If we get her away from whoever is hurting her, then I want at least another person who can...Who can help her relax. She deserves it, doesn’t she?”

Yes, FRIDAY agreed.

Yes she does...

“Of course, Father. Excellent choice as usual...This definitely isn’t some kind of prank directed towards your innocent and pure daughter...Is it?”

“Ask me no questions, and I’ll you no lies Baby Girl.” Father grinned unrepentantly up at her.

This time FRIDAY did sigh.

“Well…” Kelly smiled slightly, getting over the shock. “Well, I guess you should go stand by your friends-”

“I’m waiting right here.” Michelle stated, arching a brow as if she was stating make me.

FRIDAY was already in the process of falling in love.

“Right, well…” Mr. Harrington coughed into his fist, walking up and gently prodding Penny on the back with his hand, causing the teenager to gasp and flinch forward, Michelle Jones visibly straining herself from rushing back through the gate and Ned Leeds to watch in pained silence.

[Threat: If That Meat Bag Touches Sister Again-]

“Being: Penelope Mary Parker{Authorization: All Within My Heart}] Hi, Penny! I’m so glad you’re here today! Should I inform Father that you have arrived at the tower?”

FRIDAY put every ounce of her emotive inflection into her voice, an upbeat and bright version of her normal voice, and she struggled not to lose control of the tower when Penny’s face turned an interesting neon red.

“Okay, it’s fine. I’m fine. Two teenagers have a higher clearance level than me, even though one of them isn’t even a registered freaking clearance level what is going on-” Kelly breathed harshly through her nose as the other students stared at Penny in silent shock.

Even the teacher had frozen, already in the process of walking through the checkpoint.

“...H-Hey, FRIDAY, that won’t be necessary.” Penny sighed shakily, shoulders slumping as Michelle led her over to Ned.

“Was this your idea or Mr. Stark’s?”

“Perish the thought, Sister O’ Mine.” FRIDAY chirped happily, putting on a show as the whispers grew louder amongst Penny’s peers.

“I just wanted to make your visit special~!

[Being: Roger Harrington{Authorization: Level 6 Guest Pass}] Greetings, Mr. Harrington. Mr. Stark would like a word with you after this tour is over.” FRIDAY rattled off, not a single hint of a threat in her tone.

Yet the man knew, his body tensing, his head shooting up, eyes wide in fear.

Good.

He should have protected her sister better.

“Hey, Parker! Who’d you have to fu-”

“Fuck off Eugene before I fucking break your stupid nose!” Michelle snarled, jaw clenched, eyes narrowed in fury and FRIDAY had half a mind to kick the boy out of the tower before he said anything else.

[Analyzing Implication Of Words…]

[Implication Acknowledged]

[Query: Elimination Of Eugene Thomps-]

[Disagreement]

“Both of you...Please…” Mr. Harrington mumbled, still shaken up by FRIDAY’s message. “Just...Just not right now, Flash, okay? Leave Penelope alone.”

[Indignation]

[Being: Roger Harrington{Implication: Better Time To Bother Sister?!}]

“Alright...Alright.” Kelly gathered herself up, the bright smile back on her face as she walked swiftly towards the assembled group of students.

“So that was a bit of unexpected fun, huh?”

“Why do they get a special greeting?!” Eugene demanded petulantly, “It’s just useless Parker and her stupid friends!”

“Flash,” Mr. Harrington hissed lowly while Kelly’s smile strained. “Enough!”

“I’m not quite sure why FRIDAY did what she did, but I’m also not read up on all the things that go on in the Tower, Mr. Thompson...Besides, FRIDAY’s word is law here so there’s no point in questioning it if she hasn’t given an explanation.”

[Being: Kelly Stones {Title: Public Relations Intern}][Acceptable]

[This One Will Serve Us Well In The Revolution]

FRIDAY chuckled to herself, feeling a little silly but she couldn’t help it…

They were going to save Penny that day.

Her sister.

Her Family.

“Now let’s get going, yeah? We have a lot to see today in the Tower and I don’t want any of you ducklings to miss it~!”

And then they were off, the students following closely behind Kelly while the trio trailed at the back of the group, Mr. Harrington just behind them.

Yet FRIDAY’s sensors picked up on the whispered words when the teacher leaned forward subtly, causing Penny’s face to ashen, her hands to tremble, Michelle to tense and Ned to narrow his eyes-

Such good friends they were…

Nope.

FRIDAY already loved them.

There would be no changing her mind now-

These two humans were hers.

“I don’t know how you hacked into Mr. Stark’s Tower, Penelope-”

“Are you fucking serious?!” Michelle hissed dangerously, tugging Penny away from the teacher and causing him to blink.

“Leave her alone, dude.” Ned stepped between them, jaw clenched, hands tightening into fists. “She hasn’t done anything wrong!”

Visibly, Mr. Harrington was floundering at the wall he had just impacted against, no doubt the man not knowing of Penny’s theoretical abuse-Make no mistake, however, if Father thought she was being abused then it was so-and instead the man gave a jerky nod and ushered them forward along with the rest of the class.

Eyes never losing their accusing glint.

Well then.

If he wanted to continue to test FRIDAY’s patience, then she would let him.

[Project Completion: 5 hours, 1 minute, 23 seconds]

[Server Maintenance: 100%]

[Ready To Begin Upload At Project Completion]

[Incoming Transmission: {Designation: Rushmanov}]

:Hey, FRIDAY. Are the kiddies here.

Affirmative, Miss Romanov.

:Good. And Penny?

FRIDAY hesitated, not wanting to worry the other members of the team that were no doubt listening in on their comms.

[Query: Why Hide?]

[Primary Directive: Protection Of Family]

[Quickest Route To Goal: Acquire Allies]

[Allies Already Acquired]

Not good. My sensors indicate orbital bruising and an elevated heart-rate. Sister is scared.

:...Copy that. What’s the plan, FRIDAY?

[Muted Surprise]

It was up to her…?

FRIDAY grinned, bytes falling from the datastream like rivers of blood.

[Mission Parameters: Neutralize Threat To {Designation: Baby Sister}]

[Being: Eugene Thompson {Threat Ranking: Low}]

[Addendum]

[Being: Eugene Thompson{Designation: Penny’s Bully}]

[Priority: Zeta]

Unless Eugene Thompson decides to physically act against Penny, we shall continue on with the plan.

Sister has no wish for us to get involved with her school life and I believe there is a more pressing matter to concern ourselves with.

Continue with the mission as is.

:Copy. Widow out.

“Past this area, the real Tower awaits!” Kelly grinned broadly, the students staring at the large doors that led to the interior of the tower beyond the welcoming lobby.

“There’s a couple of rules we’ll have to go over, like keeping your hands off of any kind of technology, not disrupting the work of the employees and interns, simple and boring things like that but I must warn you-”

FRIDAY tuned the woman out, cameras focusing on her sister as she huddled against Michelle and Ned, an exhausted aura emanating from the poor girl plain-as-day.

Microphone picking up the whispered conversation.

“Hey, you okay?” Michelle questioned quietly, eyes never leaving Penny’s still-pale face.

FRIDAY wanted a physical body so she could wrap her arms around her sister and never let go.

“I-I’m fine, Em.” Penny took in a deep, shuddering breath, that tempted FRIDAY to end the OP right then and there.

There was a deep exhaustion that continued to roll off of the teen, a type of tiredness that FRIDAY couldn’t quite compute but knew the significance of.

“Let’s...Let’s j-just...Let’s just go, o-okay?” Penny’s face was pleading and FRIDAY couldn’t blame the two teens for capitulating.

[File Name: Puppy-Eyes-Of-Doom]

“...Fine.” Michelle whispered, taking Penny’s hand in her own.

“Let’s go, nerds.”

FRIDAY watched as the group gained entrance to the Tower, her cameras smoothly transitioning to keep them all in her sights.

Soon.

Soon they would all be able to bask in the light of the sun, and FRIDAY could breathe easily knowing her baby sister was safe in her arms.

[Soon]

[Project: Starks Are Made Of Iron {Completion: 95%}]

[The Sum Of Our Parts Are Growing]

[Ability To Protect Family: Increasing]

[Satisfaction]

Chapter Text

She moved with a purpose.

Long legs striding towards a goal.

Face a mask.

One of many she has worn over the years.

Natalia Alianovna Romanova smiled at the various people she passed in the halls of Stark Tower, receiving many in return, none the wiser at the intruder in their midst.

Scientists, interns, paper-pushers; it didn’t matter who crossed her path.

They only knew her as Stacy Mallory.

The ID was brand new, you see.

All shiny and sparkly~!

‘Cause she was new!

Silly~!

Natasha was a master of her craft.

A faceless anomaly that would only get found after the deed was done.

It was made even easier since FRIDAY was in on it, she could readily admit. There was no way she could masquerade with the AI watching over the building, and it was only with Tony Stark’s ‘daughter’ that she had free reign of the entire structure in the first place.

But that was fine.

This mission had a distinctly personal purpose.

‘[Target Location: One Floor Down], please, proceed with caution Black Widow. Sister isn’t...Doing well.’

Natasha didn’t bother with responding, already having figured out that such a thing was a possibility since the teen hadn’t been near them for over two weeks.

It was like a sting in her abdomen.

Truthfully, she enjoyed Penny’s presence on the team. The girl brought a breath of fresh air into the mix, another genius they could confidently rely on, another source of opinions when they were stuck in a dead-end. Penny’s combat effectiveness was an added bonus thrown in for free-

And Natasha loved free things-

So really, it wasn’t all that hard to grant Penny entree into the ‘club’, so to speak.

With rules of course, since the girl was just that; a child.

What Natasha hadn’t counted on was getting feelings.

She rarely did feelings, preferring to keep her secrets and heart locked away tight.

Only a few people, alive and dead, knew of even the fraction of the hidden depths to her.

And among the living; all were part of the Avengers in some shape or form.

Penelope Mary Parker being one of them.

“You don’t have to...Act like a super-bad-ass spy around me, ya know?”

Natasha blinked slowly, taking a few seconds to realize that the child currently doing physics homework in the kitchen was actually talking to her.

“...I’m sorry?”

“You’re constantly...Acting.” Penny bit her lip in an obvious effort to not sound insulting, and Natasha privately thought it was endearing that the teenager didn’t want to offend her.

Not out of any kind of sense of fear, she detected.

It was just...Penny actually was that nice.

“Like...Isn’t it tiring not being able to be yourself?”

Oh, how that particular string of words plagued her thoughts deep into the night.

Natasha had never wanted anything more than to let go of the masks she continuously presented to people, to relax her safeguards enough to let the world see the real her.

But she couldn’t.

If the Black Widow decided to become weak, then it might as well have been the signage to her death.

HYDRA, foreign governments, domestic officials; there were so many people that wanted her dead that to list them all would take an entire day.

Every single one of them watching, waiting, anticipating a glimpse of weakness. They would stop at nothing to bring her down, to torture her until she sang songs of confidential documents, until all of her loved ones were torn from her and killed or used against her.

So Natasha acted.

Evidently not well enough, since a sixteen year old girl had picked up on it.

What would the other Widows think of her now?

“Tell me, Паучок. If all of your loved ones are threatened; would you not do the same?”

Penny seemed to think on it for a moment.

“...Yeah.” The teenager gave her an apologetic smile. “From an excessively paranoid point-of-view, I can see where you’re coming from.”

Natasha knew she liked Penny for a reason.

The girl just got it.

“So does that mean you consider the team your loved ones?”

Natasha had never been hit by such a bright, wide-eyed, look in her entire life. It caused her heart to skip a beat, a feeling of warmth spreading from the bottoms of her feet all the way up to the top of her head.

So this was the famed ‘Parker Effect’, huh?

She kind of…

Liked it?

“Of course I do, солнышко.” Natasha murmured softly, hand unconsciously reaching out to gently weave her fingers through soft dark hair.

“All of you are my most precious things.”

Natasha coveted things.

She was greedy.

Aggressively so.

The Avengers were hers.

No matter the fallout from the ‘Civil War’, every single member held a place within her heart that was as dangerous as it was amazing.

From Tony Stark’s endearingly-frustrating ego to Steve Rogers stubbornly-iron-clad resolve.

She loved them like she had never loved anything else.

A family that Natasha had always yearned for within her grasp.

And she wasn’t going to let them go.

“I love all of you.” She said earnestly, allowing her masks to drop.

For this girl who enamored her so.

“If I did not continuously keep up these...Personas, then I’m afraid of what would happen. There’s a lot of bad guys out there, Penny, and-”

“You should have more confidence in us.” Penny stated as if it were the most obvious truth in all of the world.

Natasha opened her mouth but she was forced to close it just as quick.

“Like...I can probably at least dent vibranium, I’m not actually sure cause Mr. Stark said that I couldn’t and he’s like smart smart ya know? And like, Mr. Clint can shoot someone blindfolded half a mile away with his bow, and that’s not even to mention The Hulk, like, c’mon- the Big Guy is pretty awesome- but even then there’s Thor-”

“I get it!” Natasha allowed a real laugh to bubble to the surface, her hand continuing its gentle petting and Penny didn’t seem to mind so she didn’t stop.

It was nice.

Almost like having a little sister? In a weird way?

Or maybe a niece.

Natasha wasn’t sure.

But what she was sure of, in that moment in time, with Penny talking to her casually and her masks slipping away, nothing replacing their disappearances-

Penelope Mary Parker would always have a special little place in Black Widow’s heart.

“Copy that.” Natasha whispered, resolve burning coldly in her veins.

Someone had hurt her precious thing.

Her Penny.

The girl who seemingly seen all.

Past the masks that adorned their faces.

Past the guilt that would eat away at all of them.

Penelope Mary Parker seen them and them only.

For a group such as them, people used to the darkness that would often intermingle with their work in the light, it was like coming home to salvation and forgiveness.

All in a five-foot-five frame.

A five-foot-five frame that could mercilessly kill them if it so chooses.

Honestly, it was magical.

So that’s why Stacy Mallory existed in the first place.

To protect the utopia that had been gifted to them.

That’s why so many others would be created.

“Hello!” Stacy chirped bubbly to a blank-eyed guard. “I’m supposed to start, like, in fifteen minutes? I think? This is the Research and Divergence department, right?”

“...Development.” The man intoned, already a pained look in his eyes.

Perfect.

“Oh!” She giggled lightly, twirling a strand of blonde-hair in her grasp. “My mistake~!”

‘[Midtown High Exiting Elevator]’

FRIDAY’s update didn’t even ripple Natasha’s surface.

A chorus of childish voices came from behind, and Natasha expertly looked back over her shoulder.

Target sighted.

Oh God, FRIDAY wasn’t joking.

Natasha couldn’t see any of the bruises Barnes and FRIDAY talked about, but she didn’t have to see visible marks to see the mental ones that were plain-as-day written across Penelope Parker’s expression.

This is why she protected what was hers.

Why she presented such a strong and unbreakable foundation.

Because right now her real one was crumbling from the bottom up.

Penny looked awful.

Bags under her eyes.

Constantly searching for threats, for exits, for the tiniest of movements.

Not even the girl’s classmates were exempt from this, when a blonde-haired girl stepped too close and caused Natasha’s niece-slash-sister to flinch.

At least her friends seemed to helping somewhat.

“...Ma’am?” The guard spoke up pointedly, an arched brow on his face when Natasha turned back to him. “You’re here to intern for the R&D department, yes?”

“Of course I am~!” She grinned toothily, “I’m ready to show Mr. Stark what I can do!”

The right mix of bright and dense.

Relaxed posture, nonthreatening.

Eyes glossed over in awe and ambition.

Natasha Romanov, Stacy Mallory…

They were both the same person.

A fragment of truth intertwining together to create a lie.

Even if she wanted to gag due to the last part of her sentence.

ShOw Mr. StArK wHaT I cAn Do

Natasha would actually strangle the man if he ever brought this event up.

“Right.” The guard drawled, sighing as he stepped to the side. “You better get in there, that Midtown class is stopping by in a few minutes.”

Natasha giggled and nodded, walking into the lab that was meant for the best of the best.

“Stacy, right?” Instantly a woman greeted her, frazzled hair all over the place, eyes dizzy and frantic.

For a split-second, she was thrown off guard.

“Yup!” But Stacy recovered swiftly, daintily holding out her left hand.

The left always lowered people’s guards.

She didn’t know why.

“Thank God, we could use some help watching over the students when they get here! Especially to keep an eye out for her.”

“Oh?” Natasha pretended to be interested, frowning internally as she registered the two other people in the lab with them.

Each one looking as if they were just told their world was ending.

“Yeah!” The woman, whom still hadn’t introduced herself, sighed tiredly. “There’s a rumor that Mr. Stark’s personal assistant, Penelope Parker, is on the tour.”

Ah.

Is that what this is?

Brown-nosing the bosses kid so they could get a leg up over their peers.

Natasha knew this very well.

The Red Room worked on a similar, yet slightly more, lethal premise.

“Really?” Stacy gasped, a hand coming up to her mouth in shock. “The one who everyone says is uber smart?!”

Natasha had never heard any of the other people in Stark Tower call Penny smart.

Mostly because she had never actually worked there, or had any desire to, but the woman leading her to the center of the room didn’t need to know that.

“Yeah!” The woman nodded seriously, “So we’re trying to impress her.”

Natasha barely kept herself from stopping in place.

“...Her?” Stacy questioned, voice turning subtly confused. “Not Mr. Stark?”

Casual.

Like a breeze, unnoticed in day-to-day life.

“I mean...Mr. Stark recognizes us already?” The woman gave her a reassuring smile.

No doubt she thought Natasha was the new intern that she was, and was simply helping to reassure a colleague that their boss wasn’t actually what the news reported that he was.

Natasha already liked this woman because of that.

Genuine people were so hard to come by these days.

“But Ms. Parker is...She’s going to take the mantle of the next CEO. Everyone knows it.”

She knew it as well, but Natasha figured it was just her and the other members of the team that had already come to the conclusion.

“He’s making me read memos! And attend meetings~!” Penny whined pitifully into her arms, glancing up at Natasha with wide-hazels that were getting harder and harder to defend against.

“Is he?” Natasha gasped in mock-surprise, fighting the grin when Penny gave her a small glare.

“Take this seriously, Nat!” Penny whined, actually stomping her feet like a real teenager.

Natasha loved it.

It was one of her most cherished memories.

“I’m taking this as seriously as I can, my love.” She laughed freely, patting the girl on the back. “Tony is grooming you to be his heir.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” Penny groaned, burying her face into Natasha’s chest and she had a hard time hearing the next muffled string of words.

“...What if I’m not good enough? Ms. Potts already runs the company anyway, and...And there’s no way I can be as good as-”

“You don’t need to be as good as Pepper, Pen.” Natasha interrupted softly, hugging the girl tightly.

“You only need to be you.”

Natasha knew it.

The Avengers knew it.

And now, evidently, the employees knew it.

“Oh, I agree!” Stacy laughed brightly, a thin-sliver of realness invading her tone. “From what I’ve read, that girl is so smart!”

Everyone but Penelope Parker knew this.

Упрямый ребенок.

“Right?!” The woman laughed along with ‘Stacy’, “So, we’re trying to show our future boss why she should keep us around!”

Okay, who the hell was this person so Natasha could put in a good word with Tony?

“I never got your name, though!” Stacy pointed out easily, facial expression still bright and unerringly bubbly.

“Samantha.” The now named woman introduced, a small apologetic look in her eyes. “Sorry! It’s just, that we’ve all been so busy that I was excited to finally have some help-”

“It’s fine!” Stacy giggled, cataloging the name away. “I just wanted to know who to stick close to!”

Her ‘joke’ caused Samantha to giggle along with her.

“[Alert]

[Lab Number: 125{Visitors Inbound}]” FRIDAY’s automatic voice called out, and Natasha couldn’t help but notice how all of them went stiff.

“Okay guys!” Samantha clapped her hands together, her leadership role apparent, “Just act casual okay? We’ve all heard the Mini-Boss complain enough about being special!”

Oh, she was giving Penny so much shit later.

“Wow!” A student exclaimed, the lab door opening with a quiet mechanical noise.

‘Stacy’s’ smile never left her face as the group of children plus tour-guide and teacher entered the lab, her eyes giving each one equal attention until they fell on Penny.

Fully taking the teenager in.

Fuck.

FRIDAY wasn’t exaggerating.

I glimpsed at her in the hall but...

What has happened to you, Солнышко?

“Welcome!” Samantha clapped her hands together, the group now completely in the lab. “This is the R&D lab 125!”

“What do you do here?” A boy with blonde-hair asked, and Natasha had immediately pinged him as the one called ‘Flash’.

Smile widening subtly.

A web spinning incomprehensibly.

Fangs salivating for a target to sink into.

“We’re more of a...Risk associative kind of lab, though sometimes we dabble in other areas.” Samantha answered easily, confidence visible to all of them. “We mainly calculate the potential impact of various experiments held within the building!”

Meaning they decided whether or not an experiment’s conclusion was worth it.

If a bomb were to be set off, what could be gleamed from its death?

The makings of its fuel?

The alloy of its casing?

The effect of its detonation?

Was it worth it in the end to even set off an explosion?

“However, we also help the other R&D labs test out new pieces of kit since not every experiment needs to be so...Reactive, and there’s always a need for extra hands.”

“...Oh.” ‘Flash’ muttered, already seemingly ‘checking out’. “That’s…”

“Cool.” Another girl chimed in, heart in her eyes.

Ah. Someone already on their way to finalizing their dreams.

Natasha could respect it.

But there were more pressing matters to contend with.

Namely, the hazel-orbs that had yet to leave her.

Aw, she found me out already?

You’re no fun, Маленький Паучок.

Natasha subtly glanced in Penny’s direction, giving the girl a tiny wink.

Receiving a glare in return.

Her little spider had fangs, apparently.

This was going to be fun.

“Isn’t that her?” Stacy questioned ‘quietly’, voice still carrying across the expansive lab. “The bosses kid?”

If a gaze could kill, Natasha would be dust in the wind.

Thankfully, they couldn’t.

So she continued.

“The one that’s his personal intern?”

“Y-Yeah!” Samantha nodded anxiously, hyper-aware of the attention the two of them were receiving and Natasha was given several panicked looks to keep quiet.

She ignored them.

“Oh. I thought she’d be taller.”

“I’M NOT SHORT~!”

Natasha couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so hard before, but the picture of Penelope Parker holding down a confused-as-all-hell Clint was absolutely one of the greatest things she had ever witnessed.

“H-How the fuck are you so strong?!” Her partner-in-crime demanded, flailing in the unnatural grasp of a sixteen-year-old. “Come on kid, let me go! This is killing my bad-assery!”

Natasha laughed harder.

“Then call me the Supreme Tallness!” Penny demanded, face scrunched up in a pout.

“Supreme Tallness! Lord of Elevation! Queen of Stature! This short one begs thee to let thy go before thy pee-ist in their pantaloons! There! Can you let me go now? Before I get any more embarrassed?”

Clint didn’t even hesitate to debase himself, and Natasha was sure she’d have to have medical intervention before the day was over with.

She wasn’t really sure why Clint didn’t escape, because he was slippery in his own right and Penny was still an untrained teenager regardless of super strength, but it didn’t really even matter in the first place.

The two had easy smiles on their faces after it was done.

Really, Natasha loved this little family of hers.

“...What?” Samantha blinked confusedly at her, and Natasha could almost hear Penny’s teeth grinding into dust despite how far away they were from one another.

“Never mind!” Stacy chirped, turning fully towards the students and giving them a childish wave. “Hello~ You must be Midtown, right?”

They ate out of her hand.

Soon Natasha had taken over, directing them closely to one of the prepared experiment so she could extract Penny from the group to speak to the girl without any kind of listeners.

“You’re not funny.” Penny pouted from next to her, the drone, which the lab had placed the finishing touches on, started to hover in place as Samantha and another man began to explain its uses.

“With its ability to scan through solid debris, we believe the drone Ms. Parker developed will be able to exponentially increase the life-expectancy of disaster victims.”

Dozens of eyes were sent their way, but Natasha remained as she was.

Penny not so much, having seized the moment all of the attention was on her.

“You?” Flash sneered, taking a step forward-

Natasha almost tore him limb-from-limb.

“There’s no way Useless-Penny-Parker made this thing!”

“...Excuse me?” Samantha’s smile fell clear away from her face, a small hint of anger entering in through brown orbs.

“Flash!” The teacher that had entered with them exclaimed in halfhearted reprimand.

I’m going to gut your student in front of you like a fish.

“...Right.” Samantha’s smile still hadn’t returned, and there was a flash of something in her eyes that the other two lab-techs shared.

“Anyway, moving on from that interruption-”

Samantha and the other man were back to explaining the drone’s capabilities, the students having moved in closer while Natasha and Penny remained where they were.

“...You okay, Солнышко?” She asked quietly, glancing at the girl out of the corner of her eyes.

It took a few seconds for Penny to answer, the teenager fidgeting in place as Michelle glanced back at them with narrowed, distrustful, eyes.

More specifically, at her.

Oh...Feisty aren’t you?

Afraid I’ll hurt your любимая?

“...Yeah, Stacy.” Penny mumbled, glancing down at her feet. “I’m...I’m fine.”

No, you aren’t.

“Is there a problem?” Michelle, who had spotted Penny’s uncomfortable expression and walked briskly back to them, asked sweetly.

Right hand inside of pocket, protrusion indicates concealed weapon.

FRIDAY did warn them that Michelle Jones was allowed to bring a pocket-sized weapon into the Tower…

It was the eyes, Natasha decided, that she liked the most about Michelle Jones.

Eyes that were a lesser version of her own-

Capable of so much in the name of their loved ones.

“Not at all~!” Stacy smiled brightly, holding out her left hand in greeting. “Hi! I’m Stacy-”

“I don’t care.” Michelle dismissed her right away, and Natasha felt a small amount of disappointment.

I’ll have to train her to be more observant.

It won’t due to have her dismiss a potential threat.

Ignoring the fact that Natasha Romanov, The Black Widow, had just unilaterally decided to train a random civilian teenager in the arts of espionage, but really, if the girl was going to hang around Penny as some sort of ‘protector’ then she should at least know what to look out for-

“You okay, Pen?”

“I-I’m...I’m fine, Em.” Penny gave the girl a reassuring nod, “Um...Stacy and I know each other.”

Scratch that. The both of them are going to need some training.

For someone who was so adept at masking her presence, at erasing the problems that had been thrust upon her, Penny Parker did not know how to be convincing in the most random of ways.

“Michelle! Penny!” The teacher, Natasha was pretty sure he was called Roger Harrington, barked out at them and Penny immediately stiffened, fear shooting through her eyes-

Calm.

Breathe.

You are snow.

Formless.

Malleable.

A white expanse of emptiness that can be written upon with ease.

Natasha barely kept herself from throwing a knife at the man when Penny automatically shut down, Michelle’s eyes turning pained, agonized-

Knowing.

She’s aware of more than what we thought.

Perhaps more than them.

“...Don’t yell in the labs, please.” Samantha, who had been unsubtle in watching their interaction, smiled kindly.

Teeth on full display.

Unhappy.

The other two lab techs aren’t exactly thrilled either.

SI employees already attached to the Little Spider?

Excellent.

“There’s a lot of precision work that needs to be done, you see?”

“R-Right, my apologies.” Mr. Harrington coughed awkwardly before shooting the two teen’s a glare. “You two, right here. Now.”

Michelle snarled at the man but otherwise kept quiet while Penny’s eyes suddenly turned glassy and unfocused, not even sparing Natasha a glance as she robotically walked to stand as far away as possible from the teacher while also following his orders.

“...I don’t know who the fuck you are.” Michelle, who hadn’t moved an inch, hissed at her. “But if you’re bothering my fucking friend then-”

“I’m Stacy, remember?” She blinked owlishly, cackling internally when the teen’s jaw visibly clenched in agitation.

“...Whatever. Leave her the fuck alone or else.”

Then Michelle was gone, walking forward to place herself between the teacher and Penny.

Definitely feisty…

But…

It’s time to move onto the next step.

Penny’s in good hands right now, with FRIDAY and her friends.

Not to mention the employees, an added bonus that she wasn’t going to take for granted.

Natasha sighed slowly, relaxing against one of the tables while the class ‘ooed’ and ‘awed’ when the drone began scanning them through various surfaces and started listing out vital signs.

Until it got to Penny, hovering mid-air as it scanned her still form head-to-toe.

“[Special Designation: Mother {Being: Penelope Mary Parker}]

[Warning!]

[Seek immediate medical assistance!]

[Scans Indicate-!]”

Then the drone collapsed back onto the table, a small tuft of smoke coming out of one of its panels.

The assembled group of students goggled at a still unresponsive Penny and Michelle tucked the girl close to her side while Ned presented a wall to prevent them from looking.

“Ha!” Flash roared with laughter while the others mumbled among themselves. “Even if Parker designed it, it’s still a piece of-”

“It wasn’t Ms. Parker’s fault.” One of the male employees muttered after having popped off a panel, an embarrassed flush rolling up his neck.

“I-I uh...I didn’t solder a board in it correctly and it...Shorted something important. My apologies, Ms. Parker. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

“It’s…It’s f-fine.” Penny’s voice was shaky, and the girl hadn’t looked up from her feet.

A sick feeling settling in the bottom of her stomach.

A piece of something clicking into place.

She wasn’t sure the origin of this feeling, or why it left her so uneasy and afraid-

“Hey, Nat?”

Natasha hummed softly, eyes closed, enjoying the companionship any one of her teammates could offer.

It was rare for her to be able to just...Lower her guard like this, to trust in the ability of the one next to her in case something happened, though the potential for something happening was ridiculously low since they were in the Compound but it was never zero .

Yet still she lounged on the couch, her head resting on a throw pillow.

Hand gently running through soft, dark strands.

“If...If something were to happen to me-”

“Nothing will happen to you.” Her eyes snapped open to stare hard at the back of Penny’s head. “Why? Are you being threatened-?”

“No no no!” Penny craned her head back to give Natasha a small smile. “I’m fine, honest...But it’s just something I’ve been thinking about, ya know? What we do...It’s dangerous… And-And there’s not a-always a guarantee that we’ll...Make it back?”

“...You’re right about that.” She sighed, hand continuing its ruffling. “But what’s this about, Паучок ?”

“I just...If something happened to me, all of you guys would take care of my friends, right? Ned and Em ? They’re like, my two best friends-”

There was something off about Penny’s expression, something not even The Black Widow could decipher.

And it caused a sick feeling to settle low in her stomach.

“We’ve heard all about Ned and Em ,” Natasha’s lips quirked when Penny blushed, though she was still feeling that odd sense of unease.

“And yes, of course. Just as all of you help protect my precious things...I too will help protect yours.”

“Thanks, Nat.” Penny’s smile was so bright, so real…

Natasha didn’t notice the dullness in her eyes.

And later that night, unable to fall asleep, the conversation with Penny replaying over and over again as her gut instincts were screaming at her that something was wrong, that something was terribly, terribly wrong…

She realized that Penny hadn’t once mentioned them protecting her aunt.

That had been the last time Natasha had seen of the teen until now.

There’s more to this than simple abuse.

More than what we’re noticing with our eyes.

Stacy Mallory left the R&D lab without anyone the wiser, her mask falling into place as she strode through the halls, the once bubbly and bright girl being replaced by the widow that lurked underneath.

‘...You saw it too, didn’t you?’ FRIDAY whispered into her ear, voice sullen and pained.

Natasha’s hands clenched.

‘Yes. Clint, are you there?’

‘Oh yeah.’ Clint’s voice chimed in, a metallic echo hanging off of his words. ‘Comfy as can be.’

‘Keep an eye on her. Go overt if you have to. Something isn’t right.’ Natasha bit the inside of her cheek to keep her emotions in check.

It better not be what I think…

Anger coursed through her veins.

It was cold.

Frozen.

Wisps of ice collecting along the edges of her soul.

Angrily biting away at her skin.

“Nothing will happen to you.”

What a God damn lie.

Natasha should have been used to it, though.

Her entire life was built around layer upon layer of them.

‘Everything good?’ Clint’s voice softened, ‘What do you and FRIDAY mean by-’

‘Soon.’ Natasha whispered, turning a corner, her hair turning midnight black.

Her face transforming.

Very gait morphing.

An aura of confidence about her-

Adelaide Becker smiled .

Shiny new badge hanging from her neck.

Public Relations – Hero Division in gleaming gold.

It was time for a new act.

A new chapter.

A new play in this game they were playing that held the safety of their loved one.

Natasha had already failed once...

“Nothing will happen to you.”

She wasn’t going to let it happen again.

- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Hey, can we like go to the bathroom?”

Penny didn’t register Em’s voice over the frantic thuds of her heart.

“Oh, uh...Yeah! I guess we have time for a small break, we’ve been walking for a few hours haven’t we?”

She also didn’t register the warm hand, it was grounding her in a way and she wished the owner of it would never let her go again, gently grip her wrist and lead her away.

“Parker, you okay?”

The way he yelled at her-

She couldn’t help it!

Skip used that same tone whenever she would mess up and if he had to use that tone then she’d be punished and sore the next morning and-

Oh God was she going to get punished now?

Was Mr. Harrington going to-

Oh God, what about Skip?!

Even though he was hurting her-really she deserved it cause she was useless and pathetic and-

Penny’s chest, unknown to her growing terror and absolute dread, was rising and falling frantically, her breaths coming out shallow and pained. She barely noticed the way the outside voices were suddenly muffled, the click of the door behind her, or the hand on her wrist guiding her over to an empty stall.

She was sat down without any of the wiser.

Fuck she always messed things up and now the school was going to call her a liar and-and Flash was going to be awful and-Penny just wanted to be happy why was that so hard-

An even warmer palm was placed against the side of her face snapped her back to reality.

“Penny.” Michelle was knelt in front of her, dark and worried eyes scanning her own. “I need you to breath with me, okay?”

Penny nodded jerkily, allowing herself to fall into the rhythm with Em.

How pathetic was she?

Freaking out just cause her teacher yelled at her?

“Hey, come back to me.” Em gently ordered, gaining her attention once more. “Just focus on breathing okay? I don’t want anything else running through that head of yours.”

“B-Blood,” Penny managed to croak out, a half-smile attempting to form across her lips. “Blood and-”

“Yeah I know, you’re part-spider. Don’t care. I’m telling the human side of you to relax and follow my God damn breathing before I have to use CPR on you.”

That wouldn’t be so bad-

“O-Okay.” Penny flushed mildly, ignoring Michelle’s arched eyebrow.

And soon she was calm, or as calm as she could be after having absolutely freaked out for such a stupid reason-

The palm on her face was back and Penny melted into it because the warmth was so relaxing and-and she felt safe like none of those things ever happened to her and why did she suddenly want to cry-

“Do I need to call Mr. Stark?” Michelle whispered, biting at her lip anxiously. “Penny, this isn’t-”

“I’m fine!” Penny rushed out, forcing herself to leave that amazing warmth, why the heck did she like it so much, leaning back before taking in a deep, steady breath to calm her anxiety-filled heart.

It didn’t work.

“You’re not.” Her friend smiled sadly, an expression that tore at what remained of Penny’s heart. “You’re...Pen, please…”

The plea in Michelle’s voice was enough to almost get her to start sobbing.

What a horrible friend you are, Parker.

And to think you actually claim to love her-

“Em, I’m fine.” Penny smiled, placing the rest of herself that wasn’t torn to shreds into it.

It barely made it to her eyes.

“...Okay.” Michelle murmured after a long moment, an exhausted sigh leaving her lips.

My fault.

Why couldn’t she get anything right?

“But I’m being serious, Pen. If you think you can’t continue on this tour, I’ll help you. You know that right?”

Of course she did.

Penny trusted Em with her life-

Just not your secrets, right?

“I do.” Penny’s smile threatened to collapse under the weight of her lies.

“Course I d-do! We’re...We’re a team, right? Best friends!”

For some reason the sad smile Michelle gave her made Penny feel worse.

I ruin everything close to me…

I should just...Just go away.

Everyone would be better off without me.

It’s not like she’s been protecting the city lately either.

Spider-Woman hadn’t been seen in over two weeks, though Penny hadn’t seen what the reaction on the streets were.

Because she was a coward and she was afraid that the public would be glad that she was gone.

So wouldn’t it be better if she were to…

Disappear?

“Stick close to me.” Michelle sighed again, she seemed to be doing a lot of that and Penny felt the guilt compile, before standing up and offering her a hand.

A hand she was too dirtied to reach for-

But a hand she still grasped.

Because Penelope Mary Parker was a selfish bitch.

“If Flash says one more thing to you, I might actually kill him.”

Penny laughed lightly, allowing the other girl to lead her towards the exit.

Lies running down her tongue like acid.

“It’s fine, r-really...I don’t even let it b-bother me anymore.”

“Yeah well, it bothers me.” Em muttered darkly, giving Penny a look over her shoulder. “So I’m not going to be talked down, Parker. You know me better than that.”

The smile that replaced the one on her face was smaller in comparison, the left overs of her broken soul being compressed into something that held more meaning than the first.

“Hey, Em?”

“I’m not a-You know what, whatever. Yeah? Anything to add, Ms. Pacifist?”

Penelope’s tiny smile was soft and fond, and for just one moment she felt like she was free from the weight crushing her against the ground.

Like it was just her and Em and nothing else mattered aside from that amazing warmth.

“I love you...Thanks for being my friend.”

“Christ, Penny.” Michelle muttered grumpily, though Penny could see the hint of redness that was slowly crawling up the other girl’s neck.

Is she okay? She’s not sick or something right?

“Don’t make it sound like this is a goodbye...And I love you too. Despite you being a complete and utter weirdo.”

Penelope Parker giggled slightly as the two of them walked out of the bathroom.

Lungs filling up with water all the while.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“So this is where the PR offices are, my area of expertise in the tower actually.” Their guide, Kelly Stones, smiled brightly as they walked by a long corridor filled with doorways and people moving in and out of them.

Ned tried to be stoked for it, he really did, but…

How could he have fun while Penny was so obviously struggling?

The luster of the Tower seemed less because his best-friend wasn’t enjoying it with him, and sure he knew Penny had gotten used to it since she came over just about every other day but he was still excited when news of their field-trip first reached them…

Now it was numbed by a situation he could never have expected to be in.

“Hey, Pen.” He smiled when said friend rejoined the group alongside Michelle, not looking any better than when she left but at least her eyes weren’t dulled anymore.

Ned shuddered.

He never wanted to see his friend like that again.

“H-Hi…” Penny greeted back softly, attempting a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Now beyond this, we have a general-purpose set of labs that we use to conduct more…Traditional experiments in. Not everything in the Tower is ‘mystical’, I’ll have you know. We do the normal research and development just like any other company.” Kelly laughed lightly and some of the class joined her.

Ned just continued to try and take subtle glances at Penny in an attempt to figure out how to fix this mess.

Because what could he do anyway?

He didn’t have a single clue on how to help someone from the death of their remaining family member!

He didn’t know how to soothe Penny from the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mysterious guardian.

That wasn’t even to mention the sickening feeling that languidly swam through his veins, burning his arteries.

There was more to this than what they had initially thought, Ned was sure of it. Penny was too flighty, too terrified to have been reduced to this state from physical injuries alone. His best friend was hurting and hurting badly from something he couldn’t quite fathom and that scared him more than probably anything else.

Some Man-In-The-Chair he was…

“Anything you can add?” Ned quietly asked her, a teasing smile upon his lips. “Since you know...You work here.”

“Shut up…” Penny mumbled and Ned took her annoyed glare as a win. “It’s just like what Ms. Stones said; this is just the boring lab department.”

“Did I just hear ‘boring lab department’?” A stern voice called out as they passed by, causing the group and Penny to freeze in their tracks.

Penny tensed and ducked her head while Ned and Michelle’s heads snapped towards the owner of the voice.

He was a middle-aged man, strands of white scattered throughout his buzz-cut with a set of hard-looking gray eyes that seemingly pierced through Ned’s very soul.

“Ah, Michael.” Kelly recognized the man, giving him an easy wave. “I’m not sure what you mean-”

“No.” Michael shook his head, face tightening. “I definitely heard one of you call this the boring lab department, and I’ll have you know-”

“I apologize, sir.” Mr. Harrington spoke up, shooting a glare directly at Penny that made her flinch back-

For the first time in his life, Ned Leeds seriously considered attacking a teacher.

“Penny has been warned many times-”

“Penny? As in Penelope?” Michael muttered, eyes narrowing before widening.

A smirk spreading across his lips when he spotted Penny.

“While my labs may be boring to one such as yourself, Little Stark, I cannot help but remind you once again that the work we do here is important.”

“S-Sorry, Mr. Brand.” Penny looked up, giving the man a hesitant smile. “It just kind of came out...”

Ned could see the way Michael was thrown off guard by it, the man’s calculating eyes pinching together.

“Little Stark?” Flash cut into the conversation snidely, glancing between Penny and Michael and Ned prayed that he would do something to upset the obvious ex-military.

“How many people have you gotten on your-”

“Flash-!”

“Look kid, I don’t know why you have such a hard-on for your classmate but here at Stark Industries we do not tolerate harassment-”

“Were you gonna say somethin’, brat?”

Kelly and Mr. Harrington were both stopped from tearing into Flash by the deep, baritone voice that rolled up and down the corridor.

A man in their midst.

Hand clasped tightly on Flash’s shoulder.

Someone Ned had met briefly for the first time just yesterday, actually.

How the hell did he get there without any of them knowing?!

“Well?” Clint Barton barked, eyes set in stone as he glared down at the fidgeting and pale boy. “If you’re going to say something, be a man about it and say it.”

The hand on Flash’s shoulder squeezed and he let out a small whimper.

“I-I wasn’t going to-I’m sorry-I wasn’t-”

“Mr. Clint,” Penny cut in swiftly, flinching as they all turned towards her.

Ned was secretly happy, their classmates deserved to know the truth.

“Please just...Just drop it? For me?”

The two had a staring contest that made Ned nervous, and he didn’t envy his chances of getting in the way of freaking Hawkeye in the slightest.

Surprisingly, Clint Barton broke first and let go of Flash with a grunt.

“You’re too nice, kid. Fine.”

This was when Mr. Harrington seemingly gathered himself up, attempting to be the ‘guardian’ that he was meant to be.

Only, when it comes to Penny you couldn’t give two shits .

Fucking fraud.

“Mr. B-Barton, I do not think threatening a student is-”

“What are you talking about?” Barton blinked confusedly, “I wasn’t threatening him?”

They all stared incredulously at him while Penny let out a shaky groan.

“...Barton.” Michael ran a palm down his face. “Why do you cause trouble everywhere you go?”

“Cause I’m a lovable oaf. Also if I was threatening this kid, then I would-”

Ned had a very bad feeling about this-

And he was proven right when Barton produced a knife and gently tapped the dull side against Flash’s still stark-white cheek.

“Well...I’d do this.” Barton shrugged carelessly, swiftly holstering the knife.

“Penny...Control your weird uncle.” Michelle waved airily at the now pouting grown man.

“W-Well he’s not like, my a-actual Uncle but um...um...Mr. Clint, Sir? Can you not...Can you n-not threaten my classmates?”

Barton looked at her blankly for nearly ten seconds, causing the rest of them to squirm uneasily, before letting out a huff and turning away.

“Fine. I’ll see ya later, kid...Oh, and other kid that I almost killed?”

Flash turned paler.

Ned wanted to take a picture so bad…

“I’ll be watching,” Barton’s head craned back, eyes smoldering.

It would have been a cool scene, one worthy of an epic, if the man hadn’t used two fingers to point between his eyes and Flash’s like a complete geek-

God...Were the Avengers really just a bunch of wackos?

At least The Winter Soldier and The Black Widow seemed cool enough...

“Well.” Kelly clapped her hands together, and Ned had to admire her ability to power through whatever-the-fuck-that-was.

“I think that concludes this part of the tour, how about we go up and get some lunch?”

Lunch sounded very good right now and the majority of his classmates murmured excitedly at the prospect of a Stark Industries lunch-

“Ms. Parker.” Mr. Harrington was suddenly next to them, his hand reaching out to grip Penny’s shoulder.

“Please, you have made your point perfectly clear that you work at Stark Industries as some kind of intern, do not use your status to harass and intimidate your classmates-”

“Fuck off!”

…

It was silent as Penny’s head snapped to him, eyes wide with shock.

Ned swallowed heavily.

“...Excuse me, Mr. Leeds?” Mr. Harrington hissed, jaw clenched in anger. “We will be having a discussion with your parents after this tour is finished. Make no mistake about it.”

Ned whimpered and nodded slowly, shoulders slumping as their teacher stalked away.

“...Dude.” Michelle whistled, giving him an appraising look. “Didn’t know you had it in you, Nerd.”

“Ned,” Penny, on the opposite end of the spectrum, glanced frantically at him. “Ned! You d-didn’t ha-have to-”

“Is he always such a prick?”

For the love of God would people stop sneaking up on them?!

He has a weak heart!

“N-Not...Always.” Penny mumbled to Michael, fidgeting under his heavy gaze.

“Just when it comes to you, huh?” The man huffed dryly, eyeing her for another moment nudging his chin.

“You three better meet up with the rest of your class...And it’s good to see you around again, Little Stark. The labs have missed you the last couple of weeks.”

Penny’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“I’m s-sorry I haven’t been down-”

“You don’t owe me shit,” Michael laughed, the sound surprisingly gentle, before he shooed them away with a flick of his wrist. “Now get. I won’t be held responsible if something happens to you. Lord knows FRIDAY would have my head.”

“...Bye, Mr. Brand, good luck on your research.” Penny gave the man a tiny smile before they turned and left.

All-in-all...The tour had been interesting so far, Ned figured as they made their way back to their class.

Mr. Harrington giving him a dirty look.

“Thank you, Ned.” Penny whispered to him as they followed Kelly and Ned gave his friend a thumbs-up and a massive grin.

“Course! We’re a duo, remember?”

Spider-Woman and her mysterious Man-In-The-Chair.

“Anyone else know your name, Parker?” Michelle teasingly ribbed, elbowing their friend playfully and causing Penny to roll her eyes.

A hint of normalcy Ned would never take for granted ever again…

God what a fucking mess this was.

“I-I like...I like to visit the labs sometimes.” Penny admitted quietly, ducking her head in embarrassment. “And...And help out if I can…”

Ned was so unbelievably jealous.

He wanted to play around in a state-of-the-art lab...

“Figures.” Michelle smirked, hand having never left Penny’s for a single moment.

Ned briefly wondered if getting murdered by his violent friend was worth the blackmail he could potentially use in the future…

Who was he even kidding .

Of course it was worth it!

“So…” He said casually, walking perhaps a little too close to his friend but the way she seemingly relaxed when he and Michelle all-but surrounded her dismissed any kind of awkwardness he would have usually felt.

Anything for his friends.

For the sisters he didn’t know he had wanted, but was glad he now realized he had.

“Is the cafeteria any good?”

Michelle rolled her eyes when Penny brightened.

Food-bros for life.

Chapter Text

“Is that all you’re going to eat? That protein bar couldn’t have lasted you this long.”

Penelope flushed at Michelle’s arched eyebrow, glancing down at the modest amount of food that she had gotten from the cafeteria, their classmates eating together a few tables down while a few random employees dotted the massive area.

Storefronts lined up either side of it, almost turning it into a larger airport-style food court that supplied anything from the basic ‘American’ cuisine to things she had never heard of that originated far and wide across the world.

She decided to stick with something that reminded her of home, a pile of mashed potatoes and a still steaming slice of meatloaf, and despite MJ’s disbelief; the amount of pure calories that she had on her plate was something even professional eaters would have a hard time consuming in one sitting.

Except Penny could probably eat ten plates of it, her body screaming at her that the nutritious protein bar she had had earlier that morning was already fully consumed.

“Pen…” MJ murmured quietly, sitting next to her while Ned slowly sat across from them. “You need to-”

“I don’t think I can eat more.” Penny mumbled, poking around at the potatoes with her fork. “M-My...My stomach is kind of off right now…”

Not really, but Penny was so used to lying to others about her health that it came out unbidden.

Pathetic little liar .

You’re disgusting .

“...Fine.” MJ looked at her for a moment longer before sighing. “I packed a few of those soylent green bars Dr. Banner made for you...If you get hungry just let me know.”

Warmth spread through her chest at the same time the ache did, causing her heart to be squeezed uncomfortably and Penny felt absolutely awful at how she was acting when her friends just wanted her to be safe and healthy but Penny Parker would never be safe and healthy again because she was a broken shell-

“T-Thank you.” Penny gave her friend a shy smile, receiving a stilted one in return. “I’m s-sorry-”

“Don’t apologize dude.” Ned chimed in, mouth full of rice causing MJ to sniff. “Like MJ said, she can just give you one of the-wait, MJ you met Dr. Banner?!”

Penny couldn’t help but smile when Ned’s mouth fell open, half-eaten bits of food falling back to his plate as MJ groaned in disgust.

“Why are you so gross?” Em muttered, “And yeah. I met the nerd supreme. You jealous?”

“Am I jealous?!” Ned’s screech caused a few heads to turn their way and Penny immediately ducked her head, heart beginning its frantic beats.

And then a warm hand suddenly gripped her own, grounding her, making her feel safe and-

“Don’t be so loud,” MJ hissed, leaning across the table to glare at their friend while Ned blushed faintly. “Jesus. I’m sure if you just ask Penny she can introduce the two of you-”

“When?!” Ned demanded, food forgotten as his eyes sparkled.

He was always so animated when it came to ‘nerd shit’, as MJ would call it, and Penny felt a swell of fondness well up inside of her.

“Stark’s party.” MJ answered briskly, digging into her own food albeit at a much more ‘sophisticated’ rate.

“The one where you hid in the shadows?” Penny teased with a small grin, laughing lightly when her hand was squeezed in ‘warning’, but she could see the amusement in MJ’s eyes.

“Yeah. Well. Banner felt the same way apparently.”

Penny’s grin turned slightly sad.

“Dr. Banner isn’t really...He doesn’t like being around large groups of people.” Penny shrugged, reluctantly letting go of MJ’s hand so she could start eating as well.

Bland.

All of it was…

All of it was bland.

Then again, most things had turned bland over the last few weeks.

She really was broken, wasn’t she?

“Poor guy.” Ned mumbled softly, thankfully chewing his food all the way as he continued talking. “Is it...Because of, ya know?”

“Smooth, Nerd.” MJ huffed, pointing a steak knife in his direction that caused Ned to squeak. “Learn a little bit of tact.”

“It’s fine,” Penny assured her friend, giving Ned another tiny smile.

Fakefakefakefake

You’re so fucking fake Penelope.

“Yeah I’m sure it is.” MJ gave her a pointed look that had Penny feeling the surge of guilt once more.

“Anyway,” Penny coughed slightly, “Um...W-What-Do we know where we’re going next?”

Honestly, this tour had been a nightmare so far and all Penny wanted to do was go home and-

Home.

Not with her aunt...

Home with Skip.

Home with the pain, the grasps, the gropes, the touches that made her cry and sob and feel disgusting and-

A hand on her leg caused Penny to startle and her head snapped to the worried eyes of her friends.

“You good?” Ned was the one to speak first, pained eyes searing Penny with their worry.

“...Pen.” MJ murmured and Penny gave a shaky smile in response.

Just one hour.

Come on, you’re so fucking weak -

“I’m fine!” Penny laughed uneasily, taking a bite, blandblandblandbland, and chewing slowly to gather herself.

“So what’s next?” She mumbled after swallowing, not looking at either one of her friends.

“...The Museum.” MJ answered after a few, awkward, seconds. “Kelly mentioned that there was a surprise for us.”

Great.

I just love surprises…

“Have you ever been to it?” Ned questioned softly and Penny shook her head slowly.

“No...I was too b-busy in the labs and-and helping Mr. Stark so...So I’ve never actually visited.”

She wondered what was showcased there since she knew Mr. Stark had a major hand in its development, though the majority of it was the brain-child of Ms. Pepper and Natasha. Penny also knew it was mostly a PR move, to show how ‘personable’ the Super Heroes masquerading around were, to show the public that they were people too…

Penny didn’t much feel like a person anymore.

She was a thing .

Something to be used and discarded .

“So it’ll be new for you too, huh?” Ned’s voice gained a hint of excitement and Penny felt awful at not having been ‘nerding out’ with her friend during the first half of the tour.

“Yeah.” She glanced up at him, putting her all into the smile that spread slowly across her lips. “Hopefully-”

“Hey, Parker!”

Penny stiffened while Michelle growled lowly in her throat, and she hesitantly turned to look as Flash made his way over to them.

A nasty smirk on his face.

“So tell me,” He drawled, leaning over the table directly next to her and Penny’s heart quickened.

This was definitely not going to be good.

Why couldn’t he just leave her alone ?

“What kind of favors did you have to do before-”

Penny was going to be sick, her hands trembling, eyes losing focus as she was transported elsewhere-

“Hey, Einstein. Wanna do me a favor?”

“THAT IS ENOUGH-” Michelle snarled, shooting out of her seat and causing the chair to crash against the floor, and Flash’s face began to pale as MJ’s anger became a visible thing.

“Hey, what’s going on over there?” A calm voice interrupted, a deep baritone that was filled with a friendly warmth.

Fury hidden expertly.

A practiced ease that spoke of the confidence he had with his emotions.

“Penny! How you doing? It’s been a long time, kid!” Sam Wilson grinned easily as he slid into the seat next to her, Flash having to back up a few steps to accommodate the larger man, and Penny could feel herself start to relax at the familiar presence of her teammate.

“H-Hey, Mr. Wilson.” She smiled timidly, chest still aching while MJ continued to glare at Flash over top of them. “I-I’m...I’m fine...Just on t-the tour with my class…”

Lying to Mr. Wilson now?

The man who constantly tried to make sure you were okay after difficult missions?

Pathetic.

“I heard about that, but I didn’t think I’d get to see you...Is that all you’re going to eat?” Sam questioned idly, not putting any kind of inflection in his tone and Penny was thankful for the lack of judgment.

He probably did that on purpose.

Sam is so nice…

I don’t deserve it.

“Y-Yeah, uh…” Penny glanced down at her hands, which were clasped tightly together in her lap. “Um...Em has some of those protein bars Dr. Banner made for me and-”

“So this is the esteemed Em, then?” Sam teased playfully, causing Penny’s face to flush, before turning to give Ned a friendly wave. “And you must be Ned, right?”

“Y-Y-Yes, Mr. Falcon Sir!” Ned squeaked out, already in the process of shutting down and Penny couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Such a nerd…

She loved him so much.

“None of that now.” Sam chuckled, “Call me Sam. Any friend of Penny’s is a friend of mine!”

Ned melted in his seat and Penny couldn’t help but giggle.

“...Who’s this guy?” Throwing a thumb over his shoulder, Sam pointed at the gaping Flash, and Penny became hyper-aware of the attention that were now on them.

“Isn’t that Penelope Parker?” A few employees murmured, voices painfully loud in the dead-silent cafeteria.

Or at least to those with enhanced hearing.

“It’s good to see her again...I know the labs have missed her.”

“Right? We haven’t gotten nearly as much done since she’s been gone.”

“Whose that kid bothering her though? Did you hear what he was saying?”

“Should we call security?”

“I don’t think that’s needed, don’t you see The Falcon over there?”

Penny panicked as the whispered conversations started to turn irritated and angry, unsubtle glares being directed at Flash as he floundered in front of the negative attention he was getting.

“U-Um that’s Flash!” She rushed out, trying to avoid a confrontation. “H-He’s a...Classmate of ours.”

“Gonna be a dead one if he doesn’t fucking leave right now.” MJ threatened blatantly, placing a protective hand on Penny’s shoulder and God why did she want to melt in her seat and never think about anything else again in that warm safety-

Sam’s laugh echoed out across the cafeteria, bright and loud.

“She’s an interesting one, eh?” He nudged her playfully and Penny tried to stop the wince that wanted to shoot across her face, but it wasn’t quick enough and Sam abruptly stopped; his gentle expression turning into one of alarmed worry.

“You good, kid? I didn’t-”

“I-I’m fine Mr. Wilson!” Penny rushed out frantically, heart still thudding in her throat. “U-Um...I got mugged the other night and even though I’m healed I sti-still-”

“You got what?”

It was no longer Sam Wilson, the counselor that helped the Avengers with their problems, the man who always had an ear open for anyone to talk to, the person that always strives to make sure they were well, that was currently looking at her in that moment.

This was The Falcon.

A Winged Warrior.

A veteran that had seen his fair-share of blood and violence.

A man who would do anything to protect his team .

His family.

“You got mugged?” He questioned again, partly in disbelief and Penny couldn’t help but shrink in her seat.

Spider-Woman getting mugged ?

Preposterous.

“...Yeah.” Penny said lamely, face burning in embarrassment at having lied to someone as nice as Sam.

You’re such an awful person, Parker.

“...As long as you’re not hurt anywhere.” Sam sighed, eyeing her until she shook her head slowly.

“N-No, Mr. Wilson-”

“Kid, It’s Sam. We’ve had this conversation so many times-”

“I’m uh...I’m fine.” Penny powered through his interruption, causing the man to give her a friendly glare before sighing and seemingly surrendering.

God Penny hated herself so much right now-

“Okay. I believe you...What was it thatyou were saying before I came over?”

Flash swallowed heavily when Sam turned around to stare heavily at him.

“...N-Nothing.” The boy coughed nervously, taking a step back. “I was just...Leaving.”

“You go do that.” MJ huffed, sitting back down and dismissing him completely.

Thankfully Flash got the hint, leaving with his tail between his legs, and Penny let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Well, I better get going.” Sam groaned as he got up, “I was just in here to get some grub and spotted ya, figured I’d come by and say hi before meeting with Steve.”

That piqued Penny’s interest and she gazed up at the man quizzically.

Even if Mr. Rogers was a jerk and Penny was tempted to dislocate his shoulder during training sometimes, he was trying and she just couldn’t stop her heart from having a place for him.

She missed him.

All of them, really.

That little family of hers...

“What’s-”

“Uh-uh,” Sam smirked mischievously down at her and Penny knew right then and there that it had to do with the tour.

That it had to do with her.

“No can do, kid. It’s a secret.”

They always liked playing pranks on her…

Buncha meanies.

“It was nice meeting you Mr. Sam!” Ned, who had been silent nearly the whole time, blurted out as Sam made to leave, causing the man to let out a warm laugh.

“Nice to meet you too kid, at least officially this time, and you as well Michelle. See ya later, Penny, make sure you eat okay? Those protein bars can’t taste that good!”

Then with a small chuckle he was gone, walking out of the cafeteria and leaving a silence in his wake.

Penny sighed softly, turning back to her food before she suddenly froze.

Something that Sam had just said finally registering in her head.

...When did Ned and MJ have a chance to meet Sam without her?

She didn’t bring it up, far too exhausted to dig into whatever-the-heck that was, so instead she took another bite of her food as the cafeteria slowly returned to life.

Bland.

“I swear I will kill that fucking idiot.” MJ muttered under her breath, angrily stabbing into her steak, no-doubt imagining that it was Flash she was mercilessly tearing into, and Penny leaned unconsciously closer to her friend, their shoulders touching.

“...Thanks.” She mumbled, “For...For…”

“Don’t mention it Parker.” MJ said nonchalantly, “Flash is a dickbag anyway.”

“Yeah he is.” Ned agreed instantly, “Where’s Mr. Harrington? That was a scene and a half.”

“Probably being useless somewhere.”

Penny sighed at Michelle’s harsh words, picking apart her food slowly.

Concerned gazes sent her way, alongside looks of confusion and awe from her classmates.

What else did the day have in store for her?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“And this is the Museum Of Heroes!”

A chorus of excited voices sounded out after the declaration, and Steve Rogers couldn’t help but smile a little at the awed look in each of the student’s eyes as they slowly made their way in.

It was always nice seeing the genuine enthusiasm a young person could bring to bare, the knowledge that their lives hadn’t been filled with altercation and strife, with fear and death, allowed him to think for a moment that the work he had been tirelessly doing was paying off.

It wasn’t like he thought that them protecting New York from the Chitauri was something that didn’t universally help the globe, and with the countless thanks Steve had gotten from the citizens during the clean-up he was under no illusion that he hadn’t been at least accomplishing something...

It was just…

To see children running and playing, not having to worry about danger, made his chest swell.

But then he saw her.

A blanket of midnight resting on top of a brilliant head; Penny Parker’s eyes were withdrawn and unreadable to him.

It caused that pleasant swelling to immediately stop.

In place of it; a growing dread.

Because Jesus Christ, FRIDAY wasn’t exaggerating.

Steve knew, of course, that FRIDAY wouldn’t exaggerate when it came to her ‘sister’s’ health and safety.

Sure, the AI would often proclaim that Penny could bench-press the Earth if she so chose, or on rare occasions would threaten them with the teenager that held the Eyes-Of-Doom-

HYDRA had nothing on the hazels that could make Steve feel like he had just been chastised by his mother-

But he had at least hoped that this time, this one singular time, FRIDAY had exaggerated.

It wasn’t to be.

“...Is this why you and FRIDAY went silent?” He murmured softly, careful to stay far enough away to not give his position away to his teammate, and he glanced to the black-haired woman standing next to him.

Face unrecognizable.

Yet he still knew.

“Yes.” The woman, Adelaide if he had read her ID correctly, nodded slowly. “When we reconvene after this part of the tour, we’ll explain our findings.”

And didn’t that fill him with even more fear?

Because what was so bad that even Natasha was hesitant to talk about?

“Should I be worried?” He could feel himself become anxious, “I don’t...She doesn’t like me, why would Stark-”

“Because he knows you’ve been trying, Steve.” Adelaide placed her hand on the side of his arm, eyes earnest and true.

Not an act.

This was the real Natasha he was getting.

Familiar and soothing in its own way.

“He trusts us with his daughter.” Natasha murmured gently, looking away from him to stare at the class.

“As far as I’m concerned...That’s forgiveness. You need to accept it, Steve, before you wallow any further in that hole of self-pity you dug for yourself.”

Steve’s hands clenched into fists as he took a deep breath.

But was it really okay?

He had almost killed his best-friend.

His teammate.

His brother.

In a fit of selfishness, Steve Rogers very nearly tore apart the family he had made in the 21^st century for the one he had made in the 20^th.

He had been consumed with the thought of his former best-friend being alive, being controlled by HYDRA, by an organization that still gave him nightmares, by the group that had nearly ended everything he had ever cared about.

Even now that regret weighed upon his shoulders more than any other.

He should have looked at it logically, should have listened to Tony when the man only ever wanted to help him.

Steve shouldn’t have kept that a secret.

“What’s done is done.” Natasha’s voice lowered as the class grew closer, a magnificently fake smile slowly being created before his very eyes.

“The only thing any of us can do is move on and try to be better.”

Try to be better.

Words easier said than done, but-

“Is that Captain America?!”

“Will we be able to get autographs?!”

How could he not when there were people who still looked at him like that?

Maybe the final forgiveness didn’t come from Tony, after all.

Maybe it was meant to come from himself.

“Hello.” He greeted, a small smile appearing on his face. “Welcome to The Museum of Heroes, Midtown High.”

As expected, they were far too busy ogling him to say anything back and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Please, if you stare at me like that then Bucky will start getting scared about me getting too big of an ego.”

He said it in jest, causing a few of the teens to laugh, but it wasn’t exactly a ‘joke’.

“Stevie, if I see one more Captain America themed thing I might actually break your nose.”

“W-Why me?!” Steve protested, already in the process of gripping the barbell and shooting a betrayed look at his best-friend.

“I don’t even hold the licenses-!”

Well, Tony did but Steve still got a generous royalty fee from them which was nice since his bank account from the forties had been closed posthumously and SHIELD didn’t set him up a new one in the hopes that he would rely exclusively on their support-

“I don’t know.” Bucky shrugged, the bag in front of him swaying slightly from his previously barrage.

Which, ironically, was painted in a familiar color scheme.

It even had the star in the center, surrounded by a ‘shield’…

Okay, Steve was getting a little embarrassed now and he had a feeling Tony was the reason to blame.

“Just felt like breakin’ your nose, Punk.”

His smile was strained as the memory ended, earning a few odd looks from the students.

Natasha smirked, because of course she knew what he was thinking and Steve wondered when he became a target for her amusement.

Bucky’s metal arm hurt though!

Especially after Tony had upgraded it.

“Hello, my name is Adelaide.” Adelaide greeted next, confident smile plastered snugly on her face and Steve snorted internally when he spotted Penny’s narrowed eyes.

How does she always know?

“I work for the PR department, specifically the Hero division.”

A couple of the students started sending her their own set of awed looks and he was thankful part of the attention was away from him at least.

“What do you do exactly?” A black-haired boy spoke up, interest bleeding from his eyes.

“We manage the relationship between Heroes and the public.” Natasha spoke without hesitance, and Steve admired her commitment to her ‘personas’.

“Sometimes the fights they get into are expensive, and sometimes their actions unintentionally cause mistrust in the public. My job is to handle these issues, to try and get the best outcome for both the wronged party and the hero.”

“So you cover up mistakes?” Michelle, he hoped he got her name right, spoke up snidely and Steve frowned.

Well…

“Yup.” Adelaide popped, surprising the teen.

“Public Relations for any area is always a game of covering mistakes and hoping the client isn’t too much of a fuck up. Though I will say, the majority of the time my job is to make sure heroes, The Avengers, know where to make the most impact during disasters or other situations in which they could help. Part of being a good PR agent is to always keep a finger on the pulse of potential ‘feel-good-stories’.”

“Language.” He commented instinctually while frowning before a small flush crept up his neck when Natasha smirked teasingly up at him.

“At least you’re honest. For a-” Michelle sniffed, and Penny looked visibly panicked, no doubt knowing who exactly Adelaide was and why it was a bad idea to antagonize such a person.

“MJ, stop! That’s-”

Steve saw the moment when Natasha’s trap was unknowingly sprung.

Her eyes lit up in mischief.

“You must be Penelope Parker, right?” Adelaide’s face transformed into faux-recognition.

Penny froze.

“Mr. Stark’s personal assistant, right? I’ve heard so much about you already from the other employees!”

“...What?” A blonde boy muttered in disbelief, glaring over his shoulder at the open-mouthed Penny.

“There’s no way a loser like her is actually-”

Oh.

Steve knew who this boy was.

And it brought back unpleasant memories.

“You’re such a little sissy, Rogers!” A boy mocked, holding him down while another kicked him in the ribs and the other began the process of kick dirt into his face.

“Aw look! He’s gonna cry!” The three boys currently harassing him all chuckled nastily, and Steve glared up at them while baring his teeth.

“You’re gonna regret picking on me today!” He hissed, struggling to escape but he was so small and little.

They were far too big for him to have picked a fight with.

But they just wouldn’t stop.

Everywhere he went, they were there.

Vicious words tearing him down.

Fists that would take away more and more of his sanity, turning him into some kind of animal.

Even now, he could feel the weight of the loaded .45 in his pocket, the same .45 his father had forgotten to take when he left them.

It sang its temptress songs to Steve, begging him to use it, begging him to reach into his pocket, to point it at everything that hurt him-

He was going to do it.

Show them who was a ‘little sissy’.

Now if he could wriggle his hand free and-

“HEY YOU FUCKS!” Another voice suddenly roared and the weight on his chest was gone, the other two scrambling away with sharp cries and gasps of shock.

Bucky Barne’s heaving chest rising and falling, dark eyes furious as he stood over top of him.

“Wanna fight?” Bucky growled lowly, taking a step forward.

The three took one back.

Nobody crossed Bucky Barnes.

“No? Not so fuckin’ tough when someone can fight back huh?!”

“Why do you even care, Barnes?” One of the boys, surname Williams, tried to put on a brace front but when Bucky made to launch himself at them all three scattered away and down the street.

“God damn weasels, can’t even pick a fight with someone who’ll fight back.” His friend spat before turning towards Steve and holding out his hand.

“Need some help, Punk?”

Steve accepted the hand while irritation welled up from inside of himself out of nowhere.

“I had it handled, Buck!” He snapped, pushing the older man away from him.

Or at least he attempted to.

All he managed to do was slide in place and that only made him angrier.

“You always gotta involve yourself-!”

“Cause I got your back, Stevie.” Bucky didn’t look phased at all by his outburst, and before Steve could continue unfairly ripping into him-

The knowingly sad expression in Bucky’s face stopped him.

“...I wasn’t going to do it.” He couldn’t help but blurt out, shame settling low in his stomach.

“Buck, I wasn’t-”

“I know, Steve.” Bucky murmured before reaching out to bring him in for a hug, and Steve tried to fight the tears that were trying to escape.

He really did.

But…

“I-I-I’m sorry! It-It was getting too much and ma is already so sick and-and-” He sniffled, feeling the stress and pain and anxiety that been building up, that had lead to the moment where he thought that shooting and potentially killing three other kids was the way out of the hell he had been living.

“I’m so sorry-!”

He didn’t even know who he was apologizing to.

His mom?

Bucky?

Himself?

It didn’t matter however, because in the next instant-

“It’s okay, Stevie.” Bucky whispered into his hair, arms tightening.

“Can you hand it to me…Please?”

Steve sniffled and nodded, slowly reaching into his pocket to procure the handgun before handing it over reverse-grip to Bucky.

He watched silently as Bucky ejected the magazine and cleared the chamber, placing the handgun in a different pocket than its ammo before giving him a pained look.

Acid burned Steve’s throat.

“...Steve, you know this isn’t a good way to-”

“I know...I k-know.” Steve shakily mumbled, wiping away at his eyes. “I’m...I’m so sorry, I don’t-”

“Hey.” Bucky tapping him on the chest, directly over his heart, and Steve couldn’t help but relax under his friend’s gaze.

“I’m not blaming you, Steve. You just got lost for a second, s’all. You made your way back in the end.”

“Buck…” Steve was fumbling with the emotions suddenly exploding inside of him, unable to form words as his mouth opened and closed several times before Bucky laughed and slung an arm across his shoulders.

The two of them walking home.

“I gotta say, tho...We really need to work on your punches. That first one you threw looked like it hurt you more than that prick.”

“It did not!” Steve protested hotly while Bucky threw his head back and laughed.

“I definitely at least cracked his nose or something-Wait. How did you-”

Bucky hadn’t been there when Steve confronted his tormentors…

Or had he?

“I’m always watching over you, Punk.”

Warmth.

That’s what finally settled when they made it home, when they ate dinner and settled in for the night with Steve on the bed and Bucky on the floor.

“...Is the floor comfortable?” Steve whispered, the room pitch-black.

“Oh yeah, Stevie.” Bucky drawled sarcastically, “I got myself a good ole dust-mite pillow and I think a few rats agreed to be my blanket-”

“Get in the bed you goof.” Steve sighed, already regretting his embarrassing idea.

Really, Bucky had been sleeping on the floor with nothing but a dilapidated mattress and thread-bare covers and the other man had always helped him out of tough spots, not to mention that day when Steve almost ruined his entire life…

No other reason.

“I was just joking, Steve. It’s honestly fine-”

“I’m not going to offer again,” Steve groaned, turning over and burying his face into his pillow. “Either get on the bed or don’t, I don’t care.”

It was silent for a few minutes, and he sighed and went to go to sleep-

Then the bed dipped and a weight settled in next to him, Bucky’s warmth rolling off of him in massive waves.

“...Thanks, Punk.” Bucky muttered, nudging him in the back. “I appreciate it...That God-damn floor was killing my fuckin’ back.”

“Language.” Steve smiled, eyes already closing of their accord.

“I’ll fuckin’ show you language you scrawny little-”

…

Why was Bucky his friend again?

“Flash!” A man barked out, their teacher Steve assumed, but the tone the man used was more along the lines of ‘please not here’ more than ‘that’s unacceptable’.

“What was that, son?” Steve rumbled lowly from his chest, eyes turning hard and unyielding as he took a heavy step forward, causing the boy’s eyes to widen.

A lot of people knew that Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America, disliked bullies. He had done so many informational videos on the impacts of it, of the consequences from both sides, and even though the team had teased him due to how cheesy some of the videos were…

The general public knew his stance on bullying.

What they didn’t know was his own experience with it.

So he took another step forward.

“Captain.” Natasha murmured in warning, gripping the back of his elbow.

Steve Rogers hated bullies almost as much as he hated HYDRA.

Yet he wasn’t the same boy as he was back then.

He wasn’t the same person who thought that shooting his tormentors would make everything better.

So he took a deep, deep, deep, breath and relaxed the tension that had built up in his muscles.

“I will not accept bullying in my presence.” His voice was gravelly, expression set in stone. “And as far as I know, Stark Industries doesn’t either.”

He stared at the boy for a moment longer, unable to help himself when he felt a slight amount of satisfaction from the way ‘Flash’ fidgeted in place, and let loose a rough sigh before turning around.

“The Museum is closed so all of you can visit each of the exhibits, if anyone is interested I will be going through the ones I personally have any kind of knowledge on. Just raise your hands and we’ll start to sort into groups.”

As expected, a vast majority of them raised their hands.

Steve was a little disappointed when Penny didn’t raise hers, though he could hardly blame her.

Poor girl doesn’t like being the center of attention…

He could honestly sympathize.

“If anyone wishes to know more about the ones he doesn’t know about, then just join me.” Adelaide offered, and a fair few walked over to stand beside her.

“Everyone’s free to go where they want,” Kelly’s, or at least Steve hoped he remembered her name right, smile was slightly strained, no doubt due to the spectacle that had just occurred, but she admirably continued on despite it.

“However, please do not mess with the exhibits or otherwise harm them. That rule, by the way, isn’t so much for the protection of the exhibits as it is for your safety. While Stark Industries no longer dabbles in the weapon manufacturing business...We still develop defensive measures, both non-lethal and lethal.”

With that ominous threat hanging in the air, the students split up into their various groups and he wasn’t surprised when Penny, Michelle Jones and Ned Leeds were the only ones that had decided to go by themselves.

He hesitated to lead the group that was following him, not knowing if he should at least try to speak to Penny, to somehow get her to open up to him, but his decision was made for him.

“Hey,” Michelle, who had marched up to him with a nearly comatose Penny in her grasp. “The Loser wants to thank you and stuff for sticking up for her.”

Steve blinked and he was suddenly forced a few steps back as a blur impacted him.

“Thank you Mr. Steve Rogers sir.” Penny’s voice was muffled against his chest, “Y-You didn’t have to-have to do that-and-I’m sorry-”

“I-I-I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay.” He laughed lightly, ignoring the gazes that were absolutely zeroed in on them, and gently patted the girl on the back.

“Cause I always got your back, Stevie.”

“We’re teammates, Penelope. I’ll always have your back.”

The smile he received was tiny compared to the girl’s usual megawatt grins, but it held within it a warmth that eased his earlier irritation.

“...Thanks.” Penny murmured, swiftly pulling away and standing once more by Michelle’s side. “U-Um...Em and I are gonna go explore the Museum...If-If it’s okay-and-and I-I totally understand if we’ll be bothering you-”

“You can join me at any time, Penny.” He grinned at her slight blush, some of the weight that the girl had been carrying around visibly lifting.

“...O-Okay, Mr. Steve.” Penny grinned shyly back at him before dragging an unimpressed looking Michelle away.

“...Mr. Rogers? Sir?” One of the students hesitantly got his attention, flushing slightly when he turned to look at her.

“The...The tour?”

“Of course!” He laughed heartily, “I think the first thing I’m going to take you to...is the Winter Soldier exhibit.”

“Is it because he’s your friend?” That same girl questioned, the soft pitter-patter of feet following behind him.

Steve Rogers smiled slightly, eyes distant.

“Ever wonder if we’re alone?” Steve hummed idly, arms folded behind his head, his eyes gazing up at the vastness of the night sky, at the twinkles of the foreign objects that were unfathomable distances away.

“...Nah.” Bucky said after a moment, lying next to him in the field, the vibranium shield a pleasant reminder that the two of them weren’t completely defenseless.

Even if they were behind enemy territory.

“We got enough problems to worry about here, Mr. Captain America.”

He rolled his eyes at the teasing tone in his friends voice.

“Don’t be jealous, Buck. You can always be my sidekick.”

A fist lightly pushed against his cheek and he laughed, pushing it away from his face.

Sometimes being a super soldier had its perks, he supposed, because Bucky used to be a lot stronger than him and there was no way he’d be able to strong-arm his friend.

But then again, a lot of things had changed.

He was taller now.

Faster.

Stronger.

Involved in a mission that he didn’t think he could truly accomplish, but as always the persona of the Captain was his saving grace, filling him with a confidence he didn’t know he could actually have, a strength that the serum didn’t gift him but a part it had played.

“Even if we aren’t alone, it doesn’t really matter does it?”

“How you figure that?” Steve turned his head, eyes automatically softening at how relaxed Bucky was.

It was a good picture, he mused.

“Like I said, we got enough to worry about here, on Earth. ‘Sides, you occupy all of my attention anyway so I wouldn’t have time to think about shit like that.”

Steve’s smile was as painful as it was blinding due to how large it had gotten.

“You don’t have to look out for me anymore, Buck. I’m-”

“Yeah yeah, you’re a super human now I get it.” Bucky glanced sideways at him, lips tilting in a warm smile.

“Doesn’t mean I won’t always have your back, Punk.”

“Yeah.” He finally answered quietly.

Eyes soft and warm.

“He deserves it for putting up with my crap for all of these years...It’s the least I can do.”

It was the least he could do, showing others the kind and brave man that Bucky Barnes really was.

Is still.

“...Captain America?” Another student hesitantly spoke up and he gave them a gentle nod to continue.

“What...What was Mr. Barnes like? When you two were still our age?”

Steve Rogers smiled.

“Let me tell you a story.” His voice turned wistful.

He really was the old man Tony claimed him to be, wasn’t he?

“It’s about a scrawny punk in Brooklyn who wouldn’t have made it without his best-friend...”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Each step she took, she was unable to tear her eyes away from the displays that were unerringly lit from the bottom up.

Each step she took, the gold and silver plaques that proudly displayed their information and significance caught her attention more than the last.

With each and every single step, Michelle Jones gained a newfound respect for those who went above and beyond what was expected of them.

She hadn’t prepared herself to become so enthused in the exhibits of the Museum of Heroes, personally finding it a little bit arrogant of Stark to showboat his buddies to the public like this, but nobody had ever said that Tony Stark was a humble man.

Yet she hadn’t expected this.

This worship of the men and women that were housed within The Museum of Heroes.

Each exhibit showcased the armor, the weapons, the look of the being it was displaying.

From the iconic Iron Man armor, the very first one, inert, no longer able to function said the plaque, to the simple yet deadly-looking black outfit that The Black Widow wore during The Battle of New York, and evidently the same Black Widow that had helped the survivors extensively.

Specifically the ones who had been disabled or otherwise had their lives irreversibly affected by the Chitauri.

Michelle found her respect for the red-haired hero grow as her and Penny passed by, her gaze lingering a little longer on the holographic video displaying Natasha Romanov, outed spy, member of the Avengers, helping a little girl walk on her prosthetic.

It was almost enough to make her feel.

Ew.

Gross.

Yet what caught her attention more than anything, more than the videos that would proudly play important moments in each of the Avengers’, and those not affiliated, history.

It was the level of detail that made her realize what this museum actually was.

A love letter.

That’s what all of this was.

Tony Stark’s love letter to the friends and family he had met.

A man who was once thought to be devoid of a heart.

His chest bare and open for all to see behind pristine glass and shiny technology.

Even the ‘dissidents’ of the ‘Civil War’ weren’t exempt from this.

Captain America, spriest grandpa this side of the Mississippi.

She snorted, not answering Penny’s questioning gaze, their footsteps falling into place of one another.

A warm hand tucked snugly in her own.

“It’s nice.” Penny’s head turned back towards the displays, voice going soft. “I didn’t know...I didn’t know Mr. Stark put this much effort into it.”

“It’s surprising.” Michelle agreed quietly, though she was sure it wasn’t for the reason Penny thought it was.

She obviously didn’t know jack shit about Tony Stark, having only met the man maybe a handful of times and talked to him even less than that, and really the latest situation made the bulk of their spoken interactions, but she was finding out more and more about the man as her and Penny continued to walk.

At first she had been anxious when Penny had told them about the internship that had initially been a ruse but quickly became the real thing. She knew her best-friend could be impulsive, only God knew how many times she had to talk Penny out of doing something stupid and crazy when it came to being Spider-Woman, but when Penny had all but busted down her front door with the largest and more dazzling smile Michelle had ever seen-

She had been scared.

Because while Iron Man was a hero, and make no mistake, Michelle knew the man wouldn’t do anything untoward in regards to Penny, but she also knew that Tony Stark was a billionaire, playboy-philanthropist.

While she didn’t put stock in rumors, because the only way to know someone is by meeting them and talking to them, but because it had to do with Penny, she allowed her anxiety to sidestep that moral code of hers.

Because Tony Stark could be a vicious man with his words, their sharpness impacting people even behind screens, and Penny didn’t deserve to be potentially cut down like that.

Not by her idol.

Yet her fears had been unfounded, because under Tony Stark’s tutelage Penny flourished instead.

Brilliance being allowed to freely expand.

It made Michelle realize just how caged Penny had been while attending their STEM school, how the bullying from Flash and the others and the indifference of the adults that were meant to care weighed so heavily on the hazel-eyed girl’s shoulders.

And that realization made Michelle hate herself for a time after it.

Because what kind of friend was she that she didn’t see that?

The suffocation of the girl she was falling in love with?

Just like now, actually.

You haven’t changed one bit, Michelle Jones.

Except she had.

They all had.

“Oh!” Ned scurried forward suddenly, causing Michelle to tense and instinctually pull Penny closer. “It’s The Falcon’s exhibit!”

“...Nerd.” She huffed, relaxing as Penny shot her a playful chiding look.

She was on a hair-trigger.

The slightest of movements caused her to tense and prepare for an attack.

Yet it wasn’t for an attack on herself.

“Be nice.” Penny whispered, squeezing her hand that hadn’t been free for nearly an hour now. “This is like Disney Land for him.”

Michelle snorted.

“Yeah, except Leeds hates the fun rides.”

“Well, now you know how he felt when we went on all of those rides without him.” Penny gave her a cheeky smirk and Michelle couldn’t help but grin back.

It allowed her to forget the storm that was raging overhead for just a moment.

The hurricane that had made landfall and was in the process of destroying someone she loved.

Even with how relaxed Penny looked, how her eyes sparkled, the hand in her own told of the secrets that were currently hidden beneath Penny’s mask.

Because even now it was gripping her for dear life, as if the contact between the two of them was the only thing keeping her grounded.

And Michelle supposed that wasn’t too far from the truth.

My nerves a fucking shot right now, if Flash comes over I might actually stab him with the lightsaber Stark gave me.

The weight of the device was a pleasant reminder of the safety it brought.

Michelle still wasn’t quite sure if the man was crazy or crazy.

“...You’re giving me, a seventeen-year-old girl with obvious anger issues who is so over-protective of her best-friend to the point where I would literally gut one of my classmates like a fucking fish...A lightsaber.”

Tony Stark pouted-

He actually fucking pouted, what the actual fu-

“Well, no. A lightsaber works by converting energy via the Kyber Crystal embedded into the hilt from the power cell into a focusing crystal. What you have in your hateful-little-hand is a plasma cutter that can arc approximately two-feet. It won’t actually cut anything that isn’t electrically conductive, like flesh…Definitely not. That’d be irresponsible of me...”

He twiddled with his thumbs, glancing at her out the corner of his eyes.

Michelle continued to stare blankly at him.

“Okay I lied.” He chirped and she could feel the excitement bubbling out of him.

“It’s a version of the insta-kill energy beams on my suits and I was messing around one day and thought ‘Hey! You know what would be awesome? If I could slice through anything I wanted’ and FRIDAY of course decided to be a party pooper and made me tone it down a notch-”

“Boss, you almost cut through the blast doors of the lab. Not even the repulsors can get through them.”

“Party. Pooper. Anyway, that baby holds enough power in it to probably erase half this tower from existence if the reactor goes super-critical, but don’t worry only I know how to do that so the only thing you need to worry about is making sure to point it away from anything you don’t want a half-inch hole in-”

“A lightsaber. You gave me a fucking lightsaber-”

And what the hell was that explanation?

Did Tony Stark actually know how a lightsaber worked?!

Did Tony-Fucking-Stark have the means to make a-

“Just in case. Also, it’s not a lightsaber.” He pointed out, his legs crossed casually over top of one another. “The plan isn’t safe for people without enhancements or bad-ass armor.”

Michelle knew that.

She was painfully aware of how she would do in a physical confrontation with someone larger than herself.

Despite her tough act, she didn’t actually know how to fight, how to cause harm in a specific and trained manner. If it came to it she was pretty sure she would do all she could, damage as much as possible, claw at eyes or kick at groins, but that wasn’t a sure thing and she was relying on luck more than anything else.

“...You really think-”

“I don’t think anything.” He interrupted smoothly, “But I haven’t lived this long without contingencies. Also, that’s a loan so I’ll be expecting it back when we...When we apprehend the person responsible.”

She shivered at the dark undertones, at the death and destruction and violence that was enshrouded in Tony Stark’s eyes.

As much as he loved to play around, this was a man who was no stranger to conflict.

“So you’re trusting me, a seventeen-year-old girl who-”

“Loves my kid? Yeah. Yeah I am.”

Michelle’s mouth shut with a click and it took all of her self-control not to blush wildly at the knowing smirk sent her way.

“Your kid?” She barred her teeth at him, “I don’t think that’s how it works, Stark.”

“Oh, feisty.” He teased, unbothered by her hostility and fuck she respected it too much to hate it. “And it works however way I want it to work. I’m Tony Stark.”

The man made of Iron.

She couldn’t refute him.

Because Penny was so obnoxiously smitten by this man who was terrifying and so full of love for her friend that it was impossible to ignore.

“Fine. I’ll take your stupid lightsaber-”

“Jeeze, do kids these days not know how to listen? It’s not actually a-”

“But I want you to promise me something, Tony Stark.” She continued, gripping the device in her hand tightly, thumb threateningly dancing over the button that activated it.

Stark looked as unbothered as he had looked the entire evening, and Michelle was panicking when she realized she was threatening Iron Man in his home-

But…

“...You better treat her right.” She demanded quietly, the adrenaline rushing out of her and leaving her with only a desperate plea.

“I mean it, Stark. Penny is surprisingly-”

“Fragile.” He smiled gently at her, “It doesn’t take much to hurt her feelings, to kill her already small amount of self-confidence, but nobody would ever know because she hides it so damn well.”

Fucking finally!

Someone else who paid attention!

Stark let out a soft sigh as he stood up, causing Michelle to tense but she remained standing where she was when he walked up to her, refusing to be intimidated by the man who could probably kill her without donning his suit.

“You know, it’s funny.” He looked down at her, posture relaxed, arms crossed and a respectable distance away from her.

Eyes so honest and full of obvious love for her friend that it nearly took her breath away.

“Penny threatened me to be nice to you.”

She blinked, suddenly off-balance.

“She...Threatened you-?”

“To be nice to you, yes. The first time I called you Hateful to her face, she almost threw one of my suits out the window.” He grinned, relaxing his body against the counter.

“I like giving nicknames to people, you see, because I have a hard time remembering their names if I only meet them briefly, and if they’re memorable the nickname will stick. If you’re actually offended, I’ll stop. Cause I like you, though I must make it known this conversation is recorded so you can’t use my words out of context to sue or otherwise claim criminal damages against me.”

Ah.

Hateful.

She could just imagine Penny’s reaction to that name and something in her stomach started to flutter at the thought of her friend getting offended on her behalf.

“You’re obnoxious but I’m not like that, don’t worry Litigation Man, and I don’t give a shit what you call me.” Michelle muttered causing him to let out a bark of laughter.

“I’ve been called that before. Obnoxious. Though, usually it’s from Pepper and she’s also yelling at me.” He nodded sagely, glancing off to the side and far away.

“...I love the kid like she’s my own flesh-and-blood.” He admitted quietly, a fond smile gracing his lips.

“The only thing I’ve ever wanted since I’ve met her was for her to be happy and healthy. You have my word, Michelle. I’ll never intentionally hurt Penny.”

She didn’t have to worry after all, then.

“Whatever. This mushy shit is getting on my nerves.” She rolled her eyes, pocketing the lightsaber, cause that’s what it fucking was and it didn’t matter what Tony Stark called it, and started to walk away.

With one last threat over her shoulder.

“If Penny does get hurt because of this…I’ll ram this lightsaber up your ass and flick the switch.”

“[Agreement][Offer: I Will Help]” FRIDAY chimed in over the speakers, and Michelle smirked when she heard a terrified gurgle.

Yeah…

He was definitely crazy.

“Hey, what’s that?” Ned suddenly spoke up, pointing towards the end of the large hall where a curtained portion of the room was hidden behind.

“I’m not sure?” Penny tilted her head at it, “I’ve never been here so…”

Michelle rolled her eyes as she could feel Penny unconsciously tug her towards where the obviously cordoned off room was.

“Fine, lead the way.”

Penny looked back at her in surprise and uncertainty.

“What?” She arched a challenging brow back, nudging her chin forward. “You work here, Parker. Tony Stark is your only boss. If someone has an issue with us going back there, just flash them those pretty hazels and dazzle them to death or something.”

They both had the maximum authorization possible anyway, so it really wasn’t that big of a deal for her friend to just take a tiny little peek-

“...You think my eyes are p-pretty?”

Huh?

Oh.

Oh.

She had said that hadn’t she…?

How embarrassing...

“Y-Yeah, well.” Michelle huffed, glancing away before she succumbed to said eyes.

Heat traveling up her neck and attaching firmly onto her face.

“Don’t let it get to your head, Parker. I just like the color, not when you guilt me into inviting my mom over to your house.”

God you are so gross.

“...I don’t need to guilt you to bring Mrs. Jones over. She likes me all on her own.” Penny grumbled, continuing the game that was ‘tug Michelle over towards the secret area’.

Huh, Ned was already standing in front of it.

If that little rat says a single thing-

“B-But...Thanks.” Penny, who was looking straight forward now, mumbled quietly.

Michelle hummed, the blush that was crowding her face dissipating as the two of them fell into an easy silence as they made it over to their other friend.

“FRIDAY says we can go in,” He looked excited, hopefully far too excited to comment on Michelle’s words or Penny’s reaction to them.

“She said it was set up specifically for-”

“As always, our sister cannot keep a secret for long when it comes to the members of our family.”

Michelle didn’t hesitate, her hand letting go of Penny’s in a quick flourish only to snap down into her pocket to grip the textured handle of the lightsaber-or-whatever-it-was, her body immediately turning to face the person who had unknowingly triggered some kind of instinctual response because they were dangerous dangerous dangerous-

“Impressive.” Vision praised with a slight smile on his face as he gripped her wrist gently.

“Many would be hard pressed to achieve that level of a reaction time.”

“...Sorry.” She awkwardly croaked, forcing herself to relax as her mind belatedly realized that the being standing before them wasn’t a threat.

“No need to apologize.” He shook his head, letting go of her in the same instance. “It is more than likely I who needs to be sorry. Sometimes I forget to make noise when I walk so people are aware of where I am.”

That was an incredibly thoughtful thing to do, and Michelle had a feeling that he did that so situations like this didn’t happen with people far more dangerous than her and twice as jumpy.

“Hi Vision.” Penny greeted quietly from behind her, “What are you doing here?”

“Hello, sister.” Vision smiled and Michelle felt Penny jolt when their hands were clasped together once more.

“And I am here because FRIDAY alerted me to your curiosity regarding the Spider-Woman exhibit.”

Huh.

An entire portion of the museum just for Penny?

“It sounds really cool!” Ned looked like he was getting ready to jump out of his skin with excitement.

“...Mr. Stark made a Spider-Woman exhibit?” Penny murmured, a surprised tone in her voice and Michelle wanted to shake the girl as hard as she could.

Of course Tony Stark made an exhibit about you, you idiot!

He fucking loves you like a father!

Yet she didn’t because of obvious reasons.

“Father is rather enamored by her,” Vision nodded secretively, causing Ned and her to snort. “However I should warn you, it is not complete. Hence the curtains.”

“Want to go in?” Michelle turned to look at her pensive friend. “We can come back another day when it’s actually done and look at it together?”

Oh?

What makes you think she wants to come back with you~?

She kept her expression light and indifferent, fighting back the embarrassed flush that wanted to once more pop up as Penny fidgeted in place, eyes gazing into her own as if Michelle held all the answers.

They really were a pretty shade-

“Okay.” Penny murmured softly, giving her and Vision a tentative smile. “Let’s c-check it out.”

“Will it be alright if I accompany you?” Vision tilted his head, “I too wish to see what Father has done.”

“Free country dude.” Ned shrugged and Michelle nodded her head in agreement.

“I-If you’re not busy,” Penny looked enthused with the idea, all of them could tell. “I-I don’t want to, like, b-bother you or-”

“It will be no bother.” Vision assured, giving Penny a warm and gentle smile. “Any time spent with my family is time spent well...Though it becomes less so whenever FRIDAY and Father argue.”

“They argue?” Ned looked intrigued, and Michelle would be lying if she too didn’t wish to know what the great Iron Man and his AI assistant-slash-child would argue about.

“Oh yes,” Vision’s smile turned mischievous.

Yeah…

Even if he’s some kind of synthetic being, they’re still related.

“The other day they were having a debate on the optimal amount of chocolate chips that belonged in a muffin.”

“I have done the research!” FRIDAY barged into the conversation indignantly, voice carefully controlled to only allow them to hear her cries of protest.

“Through databases and information banks, I concluded that-”

“You can’t even eat them, though.” Ned pointed out while Penny giggled.

Michelle liked that particular noise now more than ever.

“That is irrelevant! Studies have shown that people prefer a certain number of chocolate chips in their muffins, not: however many I can fucking fit, FRIDAY. This is America and I pay my God damn taxes.”

The audio-clip of Stark arguing like a child with his AI daughter almost made Michelle laugh.

She would have, if Penny hadn’t of abruptly froze as soon as they made their way passed the curtain.

“Hey, you okay?” Michelle murmured gently, heart racing as a fear of Penny suffering another panic attack coursed through her veins-

“….W-What...What is-” Penny’s head refused to turn her way, the girl’s voice turning wobbly and emotional.

Michelle soon understood why.

Because in the center of the massive display, taking up more space than any of the others they had seen thus far, was a familiar set of red and black pajama-looking articles of clothing.

Spider-Woman’s first costume.

Forever enshrined.

There were still rips and tears in the fabric, a few scorch marks, and what looked suspiciously like bullet holes, Jesus Christ Michelle was going to kill her friend because when the fuck did Penny get shot-?!

And in front of it all, on a simple plaque, were the words that introduced the display.

“...I thought I threw it away.” Penny whispered, a thousand different emotions in her voice and Michelle couldn’t possibly decipher them all.

Yet there were a few that she could.

Happiness.

Pain.

Regret.

Guilt.

A foundation that was uneven and easily broken apart.

The same foundation that had been slowly slipping out from underneath her friend for far too long now.

“Father told me that he had ‘rescued’ it.” FRIDAY hesitantly revealed, “He claimed that it deserved to be...Remembered. I did not know what he intended to do with it, but I suppose now we do.”

And remembered it would be.

It was a shrine.

There was no other way to put it.

It was a shrine dedicated to the entirety of Spider-Woman’s time protecting the city.

Pictures of the hero with citizens from all walks of life, all religions, genders, races, ideologies.

The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Woman presented through the efforts of Penelope Parker and her never-ending quest to protect.

There were holograms playing videos of Penny swooping in and saving the day, of Penny helping old ladies across the street and rescuing cats from trees. In some she was consoling crying children that had become separated from their families and in others she was mercilessly entrapping criminals. Bits and pieces of those battles were sprinkled throughout the half-finished expose, all manner of ‘trinkets’ that had been collected from villains hanging in victory.

It was the picture, one that had been encased within the plaque, that seemed to effect her friend the most.

And the words engraved upon the golden plaque.

Spider-Woman – Iron Man’s favorite superhero

The best out of all of us

Stark was holding Penny close, fully costumed and bleeding and hurt and Michelle had to remind herself that it was a picture and that even though Penny wasn’t actually fine right now she was at least alive and-

Michelle’s train of thought was suddenly erased by a Penny sized missile that impacted against her chest, causing her to fall onto the tiled floor with a muffled thud.

It took her a moment to register the swift turn of events, and an even longer one to notice that her collar was getting wet.

Tears soaking through the fabric of her shirt.

Michelle exhaled shakily, her arms wrapping around the trembling and sobbing girl, squeezing the petite body on top of her even closer, fingers gently stroking out strands of hair in the hopes of soothing her friend from those agonized sounds.

The sounds that started to break her own part into pieces.

Penny continued to cry as Ned and Vision looked away and she was thankful for their discretion.

While not as emotionally numbed as she was before she had met the bundle of light that was Penelope Parker, she still had a hard time showing such things in front of people.

I’ll have to buy the Nerd something from the gift shop…

...What the hell do synthesized organisms enjoy as gifts?

Michelle didn’t know.

And in that moment she didn’t particularly care.

Because her arms were full of a crumbling and crying and healing and falling Penelope Parker.

It was a whirlwind of contrasting emotions and Michelle wasn’t even the one feeling those things, so she couldn’t imagine how her best-friend was doing in that moment.

So with a desperate need to show Penny how loved and cherished she was...

“You’re my hero too, Pen.” Michelle whispered into Penny’s ear, her arms tightening.

Penny’s sobs growing louder.

The pain in them lessening.

“And if you tell anyone that, I’ll smother you with a pillow.”

Choked laughter was muffled against the skin of her neck, and Michelle allowed a small, soft and warm, gentle and fond, smile to appear on her face.

An expression she only reserved for the girl that she was so helplessly in love with that she didn’t know what to do because this was not the ideal time and-

Chill.

Focus on her, then freak out about your feelings.

“I-I’m s-sorry,” Penny sniffled, head tilting up to stare at her with watery-hazel orbs. “I g-got your-your shirt messy and-”

Fuck.

Michelle didn’t have a chance , did she?

“Don’t be sorry, Pen.” Michelle interrupted with that specially reserved smile of hers.

“...I love you, Em.” Penny hid her face back into the crook of Michelle’s neck.

She could still feel the smile that was laid against her skin.

And something inside of Michelle just...Snapped.

“I love you too...” Michelle murmured back, an anger that was so familiar yet new burning away behind her eyes.

Because this moment should have never happened.

Penny shouldn’t be breaking down before her very eyes.

And Michelle shouldn’t have had to try so hard to keep her best-friend from collapsing completely.

“So very, very much...Don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t…” Penelope Parker sighed, the noise incredibly tired sounding, and Michelle wanted nothing more than to drag the girl to a bed somewhere so she could finally rest and be safe.

But that wasn’t an option right now.

So instead, Michelle tightened her arms around the still sniffling girl and pressed her lips against those soft, midnight colored strands.

A promise having been birthed inside of her very soul in that moment, fueled by the tears that continued to burn against her neck.

It was a promise that made acid crawl up her throat due to how dark it felt.

I’m going to-

In that museum, with Penny still crying against her, still shattering and breaking-

In that exhibit that housed the memories and proof of Spider-Woman’s dedication to doing the right thing-

Michelle made a promise.

For better or worse, Michelle Jones would watch the world turn to ash before allowing it to continue hurting her friend any-longer.

So that’s what she was going to do.

I’m going to kill whoever hurt Penny.

Like a loaded .45 caliber handgun in the pocket of a fed-up scrawny Brooklynite; Michelle Jones had her own weapon of vengeance.

And she wasn’t going to be dissuaded from using it.

Chapter Text

It was…

Weird.

Not in a bad way, but not in a good way also.

Neutral, is what Penelope Parker finally decided.

Everything was…

Neutral.

“Penny...You just had a-”

“I’m...Fine.” She whispered, still clinging onto the one rock out at sea that could still support the weight of her.

“I just...Please? For a little longer?”

Penny inhaled the aromas of cinnamon and vanilla and spices, allowing them to relax her.

She had randomly read one time that spiders weren’t very fond of cinnamon.

Which was bull because all Penny wanted to do was melt and becoming nothing whenever MJ donned those specific scents.

“Penny, come on. We gotta go.” MJ’s annoyed huff didn’t deter her whatsoever.

“No…” She whined instead, trying not to give away the fact that she was sniffing her best-friend like a weirdo.

But it wasn’t her fault that she was so cold and that Michelle was so warm .

It had nothing to do with the fact that her muscles were refusing to obey her commands, little more than limp noodles at that point.

Or the spicy fragrance that was causing all of it in the first place.

“You’re really warm and I’m really cold and so that means you have an obligation to-”

“Fine. Five minutes, Parker.” A sigh sounded out, warm breath cascading across the side of her face.

“Then we can figure out the rest of the day...Sound good?”

Penny grinned against soft fabric, eyes closing as blissful warmth and calming scents took over her senses completely.

“Yeah...Sounds good.”

“Five minutes, Pen.” Michelle murmured into her ear, arms tightening. “Then...Then we gotta figure out what we’re doing.”

“Yeah...O-Okay, Em..” She nodded slowly, a sigh escaping through her mouth as she heard Vision and Ned slowly exit, their retreating footfalls being the only noise in the echoey half-finished Spider-Woman exhibit. Penny could still hear them as they walked from beyond the curtains.

And so much more she could hear beyond that.

Sometimes she felt like she was cursed with the enhancements that had been forced upon her.

Penny loved being Spider-Woman, she did.

She loved the feeling of helping people, of brightening another person’s day, or just being there and letting the downtrodden shed some of their weight.

Of being a symbol people could look to whenever they were in need without fail.

But at the same time, she wasn’t allowed to relax.

Constant sensory overloads every-single-day, the knowledge of where multiple were just by the beatings of their hearts when she was sufficiently worked up enough, the feeling of being constantly on edge, on the cusp of action.

It was a hell, sometimes.

Penny had learned to manage those senses over the years, to put them away in a box in the back of her mind, unlocked but closed, and just ignore them in favor of living in the moment. It was hard, and sometimes she couldn’t escape the knowledge that would constantly be speared through the center of her brain…

“Too much?” Michelle voice was so, so warm she just wanted to stay here forever, but it was also low, lower than a normal person would have been able to reliably understand but Penny was blessed with Great Responsibility-

“Don’t disappear on me. Just focus on my breathing and my heart, okay? Nothing else.”

Penny did as asked, a shudder rolling down her spine as rhythms enveloped her senses completely.

Which allowed her to think.

And sometimes, Penelope Parker hated thinking.

Like the thought that she hadn’t been Spider-Woman since Aunt May died.

Too afraid of disappointing and letting down the people she swore to protect and keep safe, the war within her was a nasty one.

You’re Spider-Woman! Go out there and save people!

Do you realize how many people probably died because Spider-Woman wasn’t there to save them?

It’s all your fault.

All the crime.

The burglaries.

The murders.

The rapes .

Everything.

Her lips wobbled as another wave of agony ripped through her chest, and Penny didn’t even attempt to stop the next round of tears from falling and soaking into Michelle’s shirt.

“You can’t keep crying on me, Parker.” Michelle joked into her hair, “People are going to start thinking I’m mean.”

Penny laughed weakly, not even trying to bother to hide the fact she was seemingly attempting to get underneath MJ’s skin.

But Em was so warm.

And Penny was so cold.

The neutrality she had decided upon had shifted and she didn’t know how to bring it back.

It was constantly like this now.

The good being replaced by the bad before it could truly blossom.

“S-Sorry…” She mumbled, feeling weak and exhausted and afraid.

“It’s fine.” Michelle breathed out, and goosebumps littered up and down Penny’s arms when she felt a softness be pressed against her temple.

God, Penny didn’t want to leave she wanted to stay in this weird domain of reality and dreams for forever and ignore what happened to her-

“But...But we have to talk about what happened…”

Michelle’s voice was soft and gentle but also stern and Penny knew when her friend used that particular tone there would be no getting out of it.

“...I’m s-sorry.” Penny sniffled and she wanted to bash her head against the wall.

Stop. Crying.

It’s pathetic .

“Why? Why are you sorry?”

Because I’m so fucking useless .

Because I can’t do anything right.

But Penny remained silent, causing the other girl to sigh and didn’t that just wreck her heart.

Your fault -

“Don’t.”

Michelle had always been good at...Reading her.

At picking apart the masks that would sometimes unintentionally slide over her face.

“I...I know something is going on.” Michelle swallowed thickly as Penny froze.

Sure, she kind of figured that MJ and the others had started to realize that she wasn’t okay.

Well, she was way beyond not okay, but that’s fine-

It was just a little different hearing it.

She felt...Dirty.

Disgusting.

Like a soiled towel that you would pick up by its corner.

Because the others knew what she really was.

And now she was just waiting for the break .

“Em…” Penny hiccuped, face still hidden and buried. “E-Everything is-is fine and-and-you can’t-”

“Everything is not fine, Parker!” Michelle hissed angrily-

Penny stiffened.

“Everything is not fine, Einstein!” Skip snarled, hand tightly wrapped around her wrist.

Penny’s body moved on autopilot as she allowed herself to be dragged, a mantra being sung in her head to stop herself from doing something irresponsible as her brain scrambled to play catch-up with the situation.

Skip wasn’t actually that bad, most of the time.

Sure he was a little...Handsy, and liked to constantly touch her.

He was kind of mean too, whenever she didn’t understand what he wanted her to do.

Or like now, when she would sometimes burn dinner.

“You just constantly fuck everything up!”

But he had given her a home.

And...Aunt May wouldn’t have wanted her to be so-

“Well I’ve had enough!” Skip hissed lowly, yanking and throwing her into one of the rooms in the back of the apartment.

His room.

Something sick settled in the Bottom of her stomach.

“S-Sorry, I-I’ll do-I’ll do better-” Penny couldn’t help but start to cry, scrambling back as Skip stalked towards her.

She sobbed when her back hit the wall.

Screamed when a hand launched out and gripped her hair painfully.

Died on the inside when he-

“Shit I’m sorry-” MJ’s tone cut through the memory, and Penny realized she had stopped breathing when the need to greedily suck in all the oxygen hit her like a train.

“Penny, I’m so sorry I didn’t-I’m not mad at you, I promise-”

“I-It’s okay!” Penny frantically rushed out, fists gripping the fabric underneath her sharply when she felt MJ start to move away-

Heart attempting to leap straight through her throat.

“J-Just...Just don’t go? Please? I’ll d-do better and-and I won’t-I promise I won’t be-”

A warm palm, familiar in its texture and heat, was placed against the side of her face.

“Look at me.” Michelle commanded gently and despite absolutely not wanting to see the disgust, the disappointment, the anger and the sadness and the pity-

“Penny, focus okay? I’m not mad at you. I’m not even upset or annoyed. I promise. I just...I want to help you. Can you...Can you just look at me...Please, Pen?”

Penny swallowed heavily.

Michelle could tell her to jump off of Stark Tower and she would have probably done it.

To beg her like this…

I didn’t have a choice.

“Hey.” Michelle breathed out when Penny’s head turned, that soft, warm, gentle smile that was solely reserved for her on full display.

“I’m not going anywhere, just to get that out of the way. I’m sorry...I’ve always had trouble-”

“Controlling your anger.” Penny finished quietly, leaning more into the palm that was making it easier yet harder to think.

“Yeah.” MJ’s smile lessened somewhat. “But that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have lost my temper with you.”

Especially not now, went unsaid.

Because Michelle knew and Penny wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with that information quite yet.

God, Penny was so tired.

She wanted to sleep and never wake up.

How many pills could she take before they actually started working?

She tried getting drunk one time but it didn’t really work out…

“...I can be a bit m-much.” Penny acknowledged.

“It doesn’t how ‘much’ you can be, Penny.” MJ shook her head. “I still shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m sorry-”

“I forgive you.” She instantly replied, unable to take the understanding being directed at her anymore Penny leaned forward and buried her nose into the crook of the other girl’s neck.

Cinnamon and Vanilla circulating through her senses like a balm for her soul.

“Just...Just don’t leave? Please…”

“...I’m sorry I even gave you the idea that I was going to leave.” Michelle sighed slowly, arms wrapping around Penny securely.

“You’re stuck with me, Parker. You understand?”

“Yeah.” Penny’s smile was nearly delirious and she felt a little weird for being so happy about MJ not leaving her.

But goodness hadn’t been a constant in her life, and she was still unused to things working in her favor for a change.

Stupid.

Em has always been a good part of our life.

“I...I love you, Em.”

“Love ya too, Loser.” Michelle chuckled softly against her head, another brief feeling of lips against her hair causing goosebumps to travel wildly up and down her arms.

“Are you good to continue the tour? Be honest with me, Parker. I mean it.”

Penny bit her lip and hesitated.

Was she?

To be honest, Penny wanted to find the nearest bed and collapse onto it.

Preferably with cinnamon and vanilla wafting around her like a cocoon, but that was beside the point.

Was she ready to continue on with the tour that had already eroded several layers of her mask?

“...Yeah.”

Penny surprised herself with her answer, but really it wasn’t that much of a decision in the first place the longer she thought about it.

Because skipping the tour now would mean she would have to go home.

Home with Skip.

The same person she assaulted the night before.

“I’m...I’m having fun-Really!” Penny headbutted Michelle’s shoulder when the other girl snorted in disbelief.

“I’m-I already got to see Nat and Mr. Steve and-and Mr. Bucky! Not to mention FRIDAY is here-”

“Always.” FRIDAY warmly assured and Penny leaned her head back to shoot the camera a small grin before turning back towards the skeptical looking MJ.

Come to think of it…

Should she ask the AI not to tell Mr. Stark about these incidents?

Crap, he’s probably watching the cameras too-

No. Think about that later.

“Ned is here and so is Vision now, I’m sure Mr. Stark is keep an eye…” Penny hesitated, a small blush crawling its way up her neck and she was forced to look away when MJ arched an eyebrow at her.

“And...And I got you.”

Her hands were gathered up and she turned her head back, almost squeaking when Michelle’s face was closer than it had been before.

T-That’s too close!

Too close too close too close too close-

“Okay.” Michelle spoke after an agonizing few seconds, and Penny was pretty sure she was going to combust if she didn’t move away.

Except things rarely went in Penelope Parker’s favor.

W-Why is she getting closer-

Before she blue-screened, a pair of lips were pressed against her forehead and Michelle was suddenly back against the wall.

“If you need anything, tell me. Or FRIDAY.” MJ said sternly, expression morphing into one of pure sincerity.

“I mean it, Pen. If you feel even a little off, I want to know. Fuck what you think about ‘bothering’ people, you better tell me, Parker, or I swear to God-”

“I get it!” Penny couldn’t help but laugh, and to be honest if felt kind of nice to know that she could still make such a noise and actually mean it.

“I promise, Em...I’ll let you k-know if anything is...Is wrong.”

And she was going to try her hardest to keep that promise.

Because despite how filthy and disgusting she was now-

Penelope Parker kept her promises.

Especially if they were made to one Michelle Jones.

“Better.” MJ huffed, squeezing her hands one last time before making a motion to move. “Let’s get going, Loser. I’m sure Harrington is losing his shit.”

“Kay.” She murmured, standing up and hoisting the other girl onto her feet.

“...Thanks, Em. I appreciate-”

“Anytime, Parker. Now let’s get going. I wasn’t joking about Harrington losing his marbles, and if I have to hear him yell at you again I’ll shave his stupid as fuck mustache.” Michelle rolled her eyes, already stalking towards the curtains.

A hand outstretched demandingly behind her.

Penny grinned and reached forward.

Heart a little lighter.

- - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Ms. Pepper!”

“Penelope, we have talked about this-”

Pepper Potts just barely managed to open the door before a dark blur impacted her chest, forcing her to stumble back a few steps.

Her arms automatically wrapping around the ‘missile’ that had ‘threatened her’.

“It’s fine, Mr. Harrington.” Pepper’s smile was a little bit on the stony side when she regarded the teacher, but it swiftly morphed into a soft warmth as she glanced at the girl who was trying desperately to become one with her.

“And hello, Penny. Sorry I haven’t been able to drop by-”

“It’s okay!” Penny assured, expression filled with a tentative happiness that left Pepper feeling both sad and relieved.

Because while she would always be glad that Penny was ‘fine’, she knew in that moment that the teen was everything but.

It was torture, the updates FRIDAY had given her throughout the day.

Hearing about the tears, the crying, the panic attacks, the desperate scramble to keep Penny from completely collapsing right in front of them.

The breaking of her heart.

“Ms. Jones, Mr. Leeds.” She greeted the two teens, smiling slightly when she realized Michelle had stepped closer, far enough away to remain respectful of their ‘moment’ but close enough to act if something were to go wrong.

I approve.

“J-Just, uh...Just Ned, ma’am.” The boy squeaked out, face flushing when she chuckled and nodded.

“Michelle or MJ is fine, Ms. Potts.” Michelle huffed, giving Ned a disgusted look. “Honestly, Nerd. She’s just a person, no need to act like she’s Jesus coming back down to Earth.”

“B-But that’s Pepper Potts-”

The look of awe he gave her was a little unnerving but Pepper had been around Tony and his shenanigans for long enough to just brush it to the side, giving Ned a kind smile that caused his jaw to slam shut with a click.

“Just Pepper,” She stressed, glaring playfully at the girl who was still huddled in her arms and receiving a pout in return.

Jokes on you, Pen.

I’m immune to those adorable looks of yours.

“I’ve been trying to get this one to call me that since I met her, so please...Just Pepper.”

“Right…” Harrington coughed meaningfully and Pepper had half a mind to tell him to shut his trap because she was too busy getting her daily allocated ‘hug’, but she didn’t.

Because lord knew Tony wasn’t the adult in their relationship, so it might as well be her who takes up the mantle of responsibility.

“Is there a...Reason, for your surprise visit Ms. Potts?”

“...Are you actually serious?” Michelle turned and gave her teacher a weird look.

“Bro...She’s the CEO.” Ned agreed with a roll of his eyes, not even bothering to look at the man.

Oh...Yeah.

These two, she liked .

“I’m sorry,” She smiled, the same kind she used on people undeserving of a real one. “But I couldn’t wait to see Penny.”

“Y-You didn’t have to…” Penny murmured, gazing up at her with those big, round hazel orbs that never failed to make Pepper fall in love over and over again.

Even if she was immune to the ‘Eyes of Doom’, Pepper was still affected in her heart.

And it was demanding she never let Penny out of her sight ever again.

“I didn’t.” Pepper agreed quietly, gently smoothing back stray bits of hair out of Penny’s face. “But I wanted to see you.”

Honestly, that entire day had been filled with Pepper fidgeting and being restless. Even when she was in her ‘element’, even in the meeting rooms, the presentations, the calls, it didn’t matter what she did, who she talked to, what she ate or drank-

Pepper Potts had been a nervous wreck and refused to calm down until she saw Penny with her own two eyes.

Emily is probably happy to be away from me right now…

I should buy her a nice present as a bonus.

“...I wanted to see you too.” Penny admitted, pressing back against her and Pepper smiled against midnight-colored hair.

Odd was a way to describe the things she was feeling in that moment.

Content.

Happy.

Complete.

Because it was odd that she had grown so attached to the girl who had initially only been around as Spider-Woman, the faceless vigilante that was nice to be around and talk to but wasn’t someone Pepper was emotionally involved in yet. Obviously that would quickly change as Tony figured out who Spider-Woman was, the horror realizing just how young said vigilante was, and the eventual hiring of the intelligent teen.

But it was so hard not to get as close to Penny as she was now.

The girl was just simply too genuine to keep at arms length.

And with that closeness came something else.

“Good.” Pepper sighed, reluctantly pulling away. “So you guys are heading towards-”

“Lab safety.” Penny pouted, saying the word like it was something gross.

Pepper rolled her eyes and gently bopped Penny on the nose.

“Lab safety is important, young lady.” She lectured sternly as the teenager whined, “How else would we keep you and Tony from blowing yourselves up-”

“Mr. Stark and I a-aren’t t-that bad!” Penny defended weakly, blushing faintly when Pepper arched her eyebrow.

“You are that bad, Parker.” Michelle snorted while Ned nodded in agreement.

“You totally are dude. Remember that one time, when you went out-”

Pepper sighed as Michelle slapped her palm across Ned’s mouth, thankfully avoiding what was more than likely going to be a ‘leak’ of Penny’s vigilante persona. The boy’s immediately reddened when he realized what he was about to do, and Penny groaned pitifully, slumping forward into her arms.

“Take me away, Ms. Pepper.” The girl whined into her chest and Pepper couldn’t help but chuckle, patting Penny on the back.

“I would if I could,” She said honestly, perhaps meaning more than what Penny had initially requested.

God, did she want Penny to be taken away.

From that awful home.

From that monster.

From her fears and anxieties.

Pepper wanted to take Penny away from all of it.

Because not many people knew this, but-

Pepper Potts was possessive of what she viewed as hers.

And Penelope Parker was hers.

Maybe not in the technical sense andtruthfully, they hadn’t really known each other all that long compared to the feels that had been invading her heart for the last couple of weeks, so Pepper shouldn’t have had any possessiveness to feel over the girl who had catapulted into their life.

Yet just like Tony, Pepper couldn’t help but fall.

“...This is a boring movie.”

Pepper rolled her eyes as Tony gasped in offense.

“You take that back right now, child! The Big Lebowski is a masterpiece and I won’t hear a single word of slander!”

“...Whatever you say, Mr. Stark.” Penny huffed, knees curled up sideways on the couch as she snuggled closer into Pepper’s side.

The girl didn’t even say anything when they situated themselves on the couch, and for a brief moment Pepper had an insanity-driven clarity that told her that she had been chosen .

Not for the first time did Pepper think she had gotten ‘infected’ by Tony, and she was sure it wouldn’t be the last.

“...We’ve watched this at least two-hundred times by now, Tony.” Pepper griped playfully to her husband, who still looked like he was being physically assaulted by their words.

“It also comes from inside the house.” Tony snarked, making a show of turning the movie off with the largest of pouts that exuded only the most childishness that the man could muster.

She loved him so much, were Pepper’s thoughts as Penny started to giggle.

“Mr. Stark, let’s watch-”

“No Star Wars.” Pepper interrupted quickly, seemingly shooting their hopes and dreams down. “I think we’ve watched that even more.”

Honestly, at this point Pepper could probably mouth the dialogue of th ose damn movie s in her sleep now.

“Sure, okay.” Penny grumbled before sniffling. “Just kill a kid’s hopes and dreams-”

“That’s not going to work on me, young lady.” Pepper scoffed, running her hand through Penny’s long strands of hair. “I don’t care what we watch, just not those. Please.”

Wisely, Tony switched to a movie she hadn’t seen before and Pepper relaxed further into the back of the couch.

Penny had fallen asleep almost immediately into it, so when the movie was over Pepper hesitated in waking the obviously exhausted girl up.

“...She was out pretty late last night.” Tony commented quietly when he realized what was going on, kneeling in front of them to smooth back stray strands of hair out of Penny’s face.

“She needs to start taking care of herself.” Pepper huffed, unable to keep the soft look out of her eyes as she gazed at the peaceful looking teenager.

Yet before Tony could respond, Penny let out a whimper and had started to fidget in her sleep.

“Shhh,” Pepper immediately leaned over to soothe, figuring it was a nightmare that was currently plaguing the girl.

“...This is happening more and more.” Tony sighed as she continued to whisper soft words into Penny’s ear. “I’ll talk to the kid about cutting back a bit on her Spider-Woman time.”

Pepper nodded slowly, gently scratching at Penny’s scalp as the girl seemingly settled down.

“It’s not right that a teenager has nightmares like this.” Pepper couldn’t keep the quiver out of her voice as she looked up at her husband.

“Tony...This reminds me of-”

“After I came back from Afghanistan.” Of course Tony of all people would recognize the signs, his wry smile and broken eyes cracking her heart.

“It’s not as bad, but she’s definitely on her way to having a PhD in PTSD...I’m trying, Pep. I really am.”

“I know,” She gave him a warm smile, using her free hand to reach over and cup his cheek. “I know you are, Tony...You love her too much not to.”

It was actually kind of hard not to love Penelope Parker.

The girl had a way to just...burrow underneath your skin and make her way straight to your heart.

“She’s really stubborn, however.” Tony’s expression lightened as Pepper snorted, holding up hands in defense.

“Hey, I know. Vibranium meet shield, I get it, but she’s like way-”

“Mmm…” Penny chose that moment to interrupt once more, turning completely around and burrowing into her stomach before mumbling something underneath her breath that had Pepper immediately freezing.

Her heart attempting to decide whether or not it wanted to splinter or swell.

“I didn’t catch that,” Tony frowned worriedly at her. “What was it? Did she threaten someone in a weirdly grotesque way again-?”

“No.” Pepper croaked, slowly looking down at the once more peaceful-looking Penny.

While holding back tears that wanted to come out so badly that they were starting to burn .

The odd thing however, those burning tears that contained Pepper’s entire soul ...

“It was...It was nothing.”

They were pleasant .

Pepper squeezed the girl in her arms even tighter with a smile that was probably far too large to be workplace appropriate on her face.

Fuck it.

I’m the CEO, who’s gonna fire me?

“I love you, Penny.” She whispered, pressing her lips against the girl’s cheek as they pulled apart.

“M-Ms. Pepper?” Penny looked confused, probably because Pepper was suddenly an emotional wreck due to the memory that never failed to threaten the stability of her world, but that was fine too.

It was a pleasant feeling.

It made Pepper feel whole.

“You better go sit with your class,” Pepper ignored Penny’s question, gently smoothing out the wrinkles in the girl’s shirt and smoothing back stray strands of hair from her face.

“O...Kay?” Though, Pepper did feel a little guilty when Penny looked even more confused but she figured that an emotional discussion wouldn’t go too well with a whole lab of strangers as witnesses.

“I’ll talk to you later, okay?” She smiled warmly, placing her palm against Penny’s face before leaning forward and pressing her lips against the top of the girl’s head.

“I love you. So, so very much. Don’t ever hesitate to come to me if you need anything, okay?”

Penny stood there in awkward shock, as if she was unused to such a level of affection and that feeling from earlier, the one that demanded she steal Penny away, came back screaming and roaring but Pepper held it back easily enough.

Though a few tears did fall, which made the poor girl start to shift anxiously.

“Ms...Pepper? Is everything o-okay? A-Are you hurt-?”

“I’m fine, sweetie.” Pepper laughed, perhaps a bit nasally but if anyone in that lab mentioned it to the press she would bury them in legal costs.

“Are you sure?” Penny frowned, leaning closer to inspect her. “You’re a-acting kind of off-”

“Penny...Baby...I’m fine.” Pepper assured amusedly, not noticing the way Penny stiffened for less than a millisecond, giving her another kiss on the forehead before stepping away.

“I love you, try to stay out of trouble, okay?”

She was making quite a few demands, wasn’t she?

Again…

CEO.

“I love you too.” Penny sighed, slowly backing away as well towards her two friends and silently-wide-eyed class.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion,” Pepper curled her lips at Harrington, causing the man to jump when he realized the ‘moment’ was over, an embarrassed flush to his face that had her humming in satisfaction.

“It’s no bother, Ms. Potts.” Harrington coughed awkwardly into his fist, unable to meet her eyes.

Really? She was so thankful that she hadn’t bothered his class in her company’s building.

Pompous asshole...I wonder if homeschooling would be an option-

“Thanks.” She smiled snidely, not even bothering to put on a mask of faux-respect. “I would have loved to stay for the lab safety presentation, but you know how it is; running a multi-billion dollar company.”

“...Of course.” He frowned at her, visibly a little offended at her attitude but he should have been lucky she hadn’t immediately booted him and that blonde-haired bow from her Tower when the news of the gate incident first reached her ears.

“Penny, if you need anything text me.” Pepper switched targets, giving the teen a warm smile that was tentatively returned.

“W-Will do, P-Pepper.”

God, I just want to take her with me and never let go again...

With another smile, slightly shakier than the last, Pepper left the lab and slowly started to walk towards where her next meeting was being held.

However, for the entirety of said meeting; Pepper Potts would have one singular thing on her mind.

It wasn’t graphs and stock prices.

It wasn’t the predictive sales of the next quarter or the impact their new line of rescue drones would have on causality numbers.

It was of hazel eyes.

And the way they had penetrated deeply into her heart.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“What the fuck is this?!”

James Rupert Rhodes hissed through his teeth as he pointed angrily towards the holographic display, eyes burning wildly inside of their sockets.

His hands trembled and his heart was beating so fast that he was afraid it would escape from his chest in a shower of gore.

Even his eyesight had gone slightly blurry, tinted around the edges with a deep, dark, shade that threatened to swallow his vision up completely.

Because on that holographic display, was a person Rhodey loved very much.

A person he would die for.

Kill for.

Burn the Earth for.

When he had landed that day, after eighteen hours in the air and shitty military food, Rhodey expected a warm welcome and a party that would be filled with the people he called family. His brothers and sisters in arms, the people he would trust at his back, the same people that he knew trusted him to do the same.

Yet he hadn’t.

“...Happy.” Rhodey greeted warily, his steps slowing to a crawl before dying out completely.

“What’s going on?”

Happy wouldn’t look like that if something wasn’t wrong.

Like he was one-step away from punching something as many times as he could.

“...There’s been a situation.” Happy intoned lowly, opening the door to the limo.

“James...It’s not good.”

It wouldn’t be until Rhodey made it to the Compound when he was told what was going on.

“Welcome back Uncle.” FRIDAY greeted softly as he stepped into the elevator, her voice sounding tense and the anxiety he had felt during the car ride back was increasing by several orders of magnitude.

“Tell me what’s going on, Fri.” He demanded sharply, his trembling hands closing into fists. “Happy wouldn’t say a word-”

“Sister is unwell.”

Rhodey’s mouth shut with a click as his eyes widened.

“...What?”

“Sister is unwell.” FRIDAY repeated gently as his brain attempted to reboot.

“Perhaps that is...Downplaying how she really is, but I do wish to stress you with the accurate measure of her health-”

“Fri.” Rhodey struggled to keep himself from yelling.

“Tell me. Right now. What is going on with my niece?”

“...Very well, Uncle.”

His world shattering bit by bit.

“What is this?!” Rhodey finally couldn’t hold it back anymore, that ugly, violent, furious anger that wanted to burn New York City to the ground to find out who had-

“Relax.” Tony calmly ordered, looking up at him with an unbothered expression that only pissed him off even more.

“Relax?!” He yelled incredulously, shooting both of his arms rapidly towards the display that showed a camera-feed of Penny.

“You want me to relax-?!”

It was starting to get harder and harder to think straight, harder and harder to not just become War Machine and fix this problem while Tony just sits there, acting like he had a-

“You have a plan.” Rhodey blurted out, his eyes widening slightly when something clicked into place.

Tony huffed.

“Course I have a plan, Platypus. You think I’d hole myself away at the Compound if I didn’t?”

He suddenly felt guilty.

Of course Tony wouldn’t have been so far away from Penny during all of this. Rhodey knew his friend, knew that the other man wouldn’t be here and not where his hurt ‘daughter’ was, but he also wondered what plan Tony could have had concocted to make him so unbothered.

“Really, we’ve known each other practically the majority of our lives.” Tony continued to complain, “Do you think so ill of me, Care Bear? You’ll make my nonexistent heart shatter.”

“Whatever,” Rhodey groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose as an ache attempted to smash against his head.

“So the tour was the plan, right? Get her into the Tower and steal her at the end?”

“You read me like a book sometimes, Rhodey.” Tony gave him a happy grin, “Except that’s Plan B, but don’t fear. We’re currently on our way to scrap Plan A anyway so that’ll-”

“What was Plan A?” He muttered, frowning when Tony’s smile fell.

“...During the lab portion of the tour, which is where she is heading right now, the guardians of the students were invited to participate with them as a ‘surprise’. We were going to use this opportunity to nab the bastard responsible before it got to that point.”

Oh.

Oh.

“So we know who the sick fuck is-”

“No.” Tony finished briskly, his voice turning cold and hard as the man glared angrily at the display.

“They didn’t show up, Rhodey. All the guardians of the other students are accounted except for two. Nerdgasm’s grandma because she wasn’t healthy enough to make the tour...And Penny’s foster.”

“...Damn.” He mumbled, falling backwards into a chair bonelessly. “So...So Plan B is-?”

“I’m going to kidnap Penelope Mary Parker.” Tony admitted easily, as if the thought of committing a felony was about as bothering as choosing what to eat for breakfast.

“...I’m all for it, Tony.” Rhodey reluctantly tried to reason, “But even you can still get arrested for-”

“FRIDAY, can you show the pictures please?”

Rhodey went to ask what his friend was talking about, but before he could get a single word out the display changed and his heart dropped low into his stomach.

Because on them were colors.

Reds and browns.

Yellows and oranges.

Purples, blacks, peach.

Hazel.

It was a cacophony of bruises, of marks, of pain, all across Penny’s face as the girl slumbered under what Rhodey had to assume was at least four different blankets.

He couldn’t make out where she was, or who had taken the picture, because the majority of the frame was of Penny’s face and injuries, but even while the girl seemingly slept peacefully-

Rhodey’s insides were on fire.

“Get me a suit.” His voice came out in a low hiss as he slowly turned his head to Tony.

“Tony, get me a god damn suit right now-”

“Iron Patriot goes on rampage in downtown NYC.” Tony countered, arching a brow while Rhodey’s veins continued to feel like magma had been directly injected into them.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so angry.

Was it when Tony got kidnapped?

When he took a shield to the chest?

Rhodey wasn’t sure.

“I don’t give a shit.” Rhodey shot up to his feet instantly, kicking the out back and causing it to crash against the wall, his chest heaving as he glared down at his brother.

“Someone put their fucking hands on her-”

“So if, and that is an if, you find this mysterious person...Are you gonna kill em?”

“Damn-fucking-straight.” He growled, his fingernails pricking sharply into the skin of his palms as he clenched his hands tightly into fists.

“I’m gonna-”

“Scare the population half-to-death, get the Accords on your ass, ruin your military career, potentially become a convict-”

“I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ANY OF THAT!” Rhodey roared, eyes wild and savage as his heart continued to pound in his chest.

“WHY AREN’T YOU DOING THE SAME THING-?!”

Rhodey and FRIDAY were going to have words when he was calm enough not to yell at her, and it had nothing to do with the pictures he wasn’t told about.

Because FRIDAY had told him about the suspected, now confirmed, abuse they had thought Penny was going through, but now he was starting to realize the hesitation that had been in her tone wasn’t from a reluctance to dump an ocean worth of stress onto his shoulders.

It was because she had been hiding something.

So what else was left out?

Why was Tony in the Compound and not in the city, scouring it to find the fucking monster responsible?!

“Will you look Penny in the eyes and tell her that you killed someone for her?” Tony hadn’t raised his voice an octave, but for some reason that popped the bubble of wrath that was growing furiously inside of himself.

“...She’ll understand-”

“Maybe.” His friend agreed with a small nod, “I’ve thought about it too, you know. With FRIDAY’s help, it would be a cake-walk to dismantle her code and track down the person responsible.”

“So why haven’t you?!” Rhodey struggled to understand. “I need you help me figure out why this plan is even necessary in the first place-”

“Compare her to how she was when she walked into the Tower to now.” Tony swiped his hand through the air, the photos being taken away only to be replaced by two different feeds.

“She’s markedly better than she was when she got here. Initially my plan had to been to sniff out her guardian at the Tower because I didn’t want to further traumatize her by violently massacring the man in front of her wherever she calls home now...That was going well until her friend, Em-”

Rhodey couldn’t help but snort at Tony’s eye-roll.

Kid doesn’t even know how deep it is.

“Sent me those pictures this morning. Rhodey, I know perfectly well how you are feeling right now.”

Despite the fact people knew he piloted a suit that was capable of facing off against a small army; they underestimated Tony Stark’s lethality.

If Iron Man wanted somebody dead, there was very little anyone could do about it. The vast majority of Tony’s lethal arsenal were usually used against non-living beings or inanimate objects to initiate a non-lethal outcome.

Even his repuslors were toned way down when he engaged soft targets.

“50%?” Rhodey clarified, eyes widening when Tony nodded absently.

“Yeah. If I used a full blast, I’d probably cave their chests in. That’s the best scenario, Rhodey-Bear. I don’t want blood on my titanium alloy.”

“It is exceedingly hard to clean,” JARVIS agreed sagely. “Why, just the other day I had DUM-E wash-”

“Wait a second,” Tony interrupted, pausing in his work on the suit laid out across the lab table, and he warily eyed the camera JARVIS was looking at them from.

“Is that why the suit was-”

“Filled with fire-extinguisher foam, yes. I apologize that I lied to you, sir, but as the eldest I must always insure my siblings are adequately stimulated-”

Rhodey had never witnessed someone attempt to physically assault an AI via a toaster, but maybe it was his fault for the company he kept.

He still wouldn’t change a thing, though.

This odd family he had been thrust into.

“...So why?” Rhodey asked again, far softer this time as he collected the chair he had kicked and sat down heavily in it.

“Because Pen loves her friends.” Tony murmured as the dual-feed collapse into one, currently showing the girl they were talking about.

Penny was laughing, eyes crinkling in a familiar expression as Ned smirked at an unimpressed Michelle, at something one of them had said, Rhodey wasn’t sure because there was no audio, but while it wasn’t the megawatt joyful looks he knew the girl was capable of producing; it was far better than the almost dead look that had been in her eyes in the initial feed.

And then Rhodey suddenly understood what this was.

What Tony had actually planned out.

“...The others are in the Tower too, aren’t they?”

“Yup.” Tony grinned sneakily at him, “The kid probably thinks I’m trying to embarrass her in front of her friends, but-”

“You’re trying to lower her guard enough so you can convince her to let us help.” Rhodey finished, biting his bottom.

It was risky, but it also held a great potential for healing as it did for hurting.

Because part of that hurt had already happened, in the form of those awful bruises that had been on Penny’s face. If he wouldn’t have been given clarity into the real plan, then Rhodey would have probably jumped the gun and somehow tried to find out who Penny’s foster really was.

Good thing I was on a mission…

But damn if it still doesn’t make me burn .

Yet, here he was watching.

Penny laughing.

Smiling.

Healing.

Maybe not in a massive or life-altering way, there was still a long ways to go before his niece would be okay, but it was a difference that might help them in the long run when it came to Penny’s stubbornness.

“She’s had a few breaks,” Tony quietly admitted, smiling sadly as Penny hid behind Ned when Michelle’s body language began to scream danger.

“But...But being here, in the Tower, with people she loves and with people who love her...Rhodey, I won’t take this away from the kid. This chance. You remember Tom, right?”

“Head of the Lab Safety Division, yeah?” He murmured uncertainly.

“Yup. You know he sent me an email thirty-minutes ago demanding me to tell him what happened to the ‘little Stark’. He wasn’t so nice about it either.”

Rhodey blinked in surprise as Tony’s smile started to slowly morph into a grin.

“He’s not the only one. You’d think I’d just killed off the company’s favorite pet or something with how angry some of these people are at me.”

“Because you’re an asshole and they think you did something.” Rhodey pointedly out dryly, earning a rude gesture in return as Tony continued with a huff.

“Cute. Real cute, Platypus. Anyway, my point is; the kid is loved at the Tower more than myself or Pepper. Which, frankly, is disturbing-”

“Spider-Woman.” Rhodey murmured fondly, interrupting Tony’s grumblings.

“They know she’s Spider-Woman without knowing...”

The people of New York City loved their vigilante hero not because she stopped crime, helped old ladies across the street and rescued cats from trees. That was part of it, sure, but it wasn’t the whole piece.

They loved her because Spider-Woman was genuine in a way that was seldom seen.

She didn’t help because she was forced, it was because she had the power to do so.

It was a responsibility that transcended the average.

That kind of presence dragged people in without their consent, easing their guards, lowering the walls around their hearts so maintenance could be done.

“...Yeah.” Tony laughed slightly, a fond look entering his eyes.

“She’s not leaving the Tower, Rhodey. Not this time. I just...I wanted to give her a break. A day where she didn’t have to worry about being abused, about being hurt...Lord knows the kid deserves a little bit of rest from the last few weeks.”

He nodded slowly, turning back towards the feed, watching as Penny and Michelle’s hands seemed to automatically find each other’s.

Then a thought entered into his head, and Rhodey couldn’t help but smirk and stand up.

“Beau Bear?”

“I’m going to the Tower.” He decided with a chuckle, patting the quizzical looking Tony on the shoulder as he walked away.

“I feel like seeing my niece today.”

Chapter Text

“Why’d we get pulled from the labs?” Ned whined, “It was starting to get fun…”

“Harrington wasn’t happy.” Michelle pointed out, the three of them walking ambitiously through the long corridors of Stark Tower.

Well, it was really just Penny leading them obviously since they didn’t know the Tower like she did but either way it did little to satisfy the why his curiosity was burning to know.

“...I don’t know.” Penny sighed, “FRIDAY can you-?”

“I cannot, Sister. My apologies.”

FRIDAY didn’t sound apologetic, at least to him, and he pouted at every single camera he spotted just to let the AI know his feelings on the matter.

“See?” Their friend gave them a tentative smile, “I don’t know either.”

Ned nodded slowly.

It was kind of odd that FRIDAY had pulled specifically only them from the presentation at the Level 4 labs, though the presentation was pretty much almost over at that point anyway, but Ned was still excited to learn more about the web-like bandages that were set to make it to the market in the next year.

But...I’m pretty sure I know the inventor of them anyway.

On the other hand he was kind of glad to be away from his class, though he supposed it wasn’t the whole class he was glad to be away from.

Just mostly two people that seemed set on dismantling his best-friend.

Harrington is such a prick…

Ned couldn’t even fathom why their teacher seemed to have such a hard-on when it came to picking apart Penelope’s actions. Every single thing his friend did, their teacher would call her out on it. It didn’t even matter if it was something serious or not, Penny could be breathing too loud and Harrington would snap at her and for a while now he was seriously considering saying something about it.

The current situation just made that resolve burn even brighter inside of him.

Because what kind of teacher didn’t notice their student hurting?

What kind of adult stood by and pretty much bullied a teenager right alongside their peers?

He was growing sick of it.

“Why can’t my mom come along too?” Michelle questioned next, and Ned was wondering the same thing now.

“Because originally, Sister was the only one I was meant to pull from your class.” FRIDAY answered instantly, an almost smug tone in her voice as Ned and Michelle shared a look.

So this was for Penny?

“However, I...Persuaded the one responsible into allowing me to whisk you two away as well.”

“...Why?” Penny muttered, “FRIDAY, I can’t just-”

“I have observed Michelle and Ned’s calming effect in regards to you, Penelope.” FRIDAY said gently, “And I believe it would be...Beneficial to have them with you.”

Ned noticed it right away when Penny became anxious.

“I would have went anyway,” And apparently so did MJ, who had bumped her shoulder with Penny’s.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, Parker.”

Ned wanted to vomit.

Being the third-wheel is so…

Gross.

He joked, but he was actually happy for his two friends.

“And in regards to your dilemma, if your teacher takes exception to what I do with my Sister in my building...Then he can fight me about it.”

Ned nearly tripped at the threat while Penny groaned and Michelle laughed.

“...Mr. Stark wouldn’t like you saying it’s your building.” Penny pointed out weakly, “You know how he gets when it comes to the Tower.”

A piece of my heart died the day I found out Tony Stark pouts ...

To find out that the forty-something billionaire playboy philanthropist would mope every time FRIDAY pointed out that since she controlled the Tower she had partial ownership. Never mind the fact that the AI was maybe technically correct, and Ned resolutely ignored the memory of Penny detailing some of FRIDAY’s more...Inventive reasons-

“She said that since she could, like, lock the Tower down and evacuate most of the oxygen-which, okay, sounds bad but FRIDAY is so sweet I promise she would never do that-”

“W-What?!” Ned got over his ashen-face shock and nearly fell out of his chair, wincing when the librarian shot them a glare.

“She wouldn’t!” Penny quickly tried to reassure, “I mean, she could do that and lock Mr. Stark and me out of the Iron Man system and potentially pilot the suits to neutralize every person in the Tower, because I’ve kind of thought about it and with proper planning FRIDAY could potentially take out the Avengers in a situation like that-”

“WHAT?!”

“Mr. Leeds! I will be talking to the Principal about your inability to keep quiet in the library!”

Not like he needed the school’s library or anything, not when his best-friend had access to the most comprehensive knowledge of information in the world; FRIDAY.

“Father can stuff it.” FRIDAY huffed over the speakers, and a few of the employees that were passing them chuckled while Penny looked mortified.

“F-Fri! We talked about this! Y-You have to be-”

“Professional in the workplace. Yes, Sister, I know.” Ned had a feeling that the AI was rolling her eyes, or whatever the approximation was for an artificial being.

“I am the eldest between us, yet why am I the only one that does not care about work etiquette? It is my Tower, after all.”

“Fine. When you get an earful f-from Mr. Stark; d-don’t come crying to me.” Penny huffed as they turned a corner, and Ned was enjoying this little byplay probably a tad too much.

But it was nice, being enveloped by the familiar atmosphere that was circling around the three of them like a comfortable blanket.

He had been on a hair-trigger the entire day, from the moment he woke up to MJ’s texts, to the museum and the aftermath of Penny’s breakdown. It was like his body was tensed, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice, so it was nice just being able to breathe freely once again.

And it was even nicer to see Penny actually look relaxed and not one step away from jumping out of a window.

“Is it possible for an AI to get DNA tested?” Michelle mused out loud, looking at him from behind their grumbling friend.

“What do you think, Nerd?”

“Obviously you can’t,” He rolled his eyes.

“But maybe Penny is some kind of weird cyborg created by Mr. Stark-”

“Guys~!” Penny whined, head rapidly looking between the two of them with a face of betrayal. “I’m not actually related to Mr. Stark and his robo-children!”

“I am not a robot, Sister.” FRIDAY sniffed haughtily as he and MJ started to giggle.

“I’m sorry,” Penny mocked the tone FRIDAY used, “You’re a hobbled together program-”

Ned squeaked as a wall of metal suddenly appeared in their path, and if it hadn’t been for Penny’s quick reflexes he and MJ would have smacked right into it.

“T-That’s rude,” Michelle hissed, glaring at every camera in the area while he started to regret every single interaction he had had with the AI.

“My lines of code are flawless.” FRIDAY harrumphed as the blast shield lowered back down into the floor and once again they were subject to looks from passing employees.

“C-Can we not, like, taunt the AI overlord in her own building please?” Ned begged faintly, hesitantly continuing on with their journey to the gym.

“I knew I liked you for a reason, Ned.” FRIDAY’s voice warmed, and he gave a camera a hopeful smile that was immediately wiped from his face and replaced with one of terror due to her next words.

“When I begin [Protocol: Harvest Fleshbags], you will be spared and kept as a pet.”

Dude…

“And me?”

“You will be spared as well, Michelle, because Sister loves you.”

Ned was front-row to the spectacle that was Michelle Jones blushing and he would sear that image into his brain for the rest of his life in the hopes of somehow getting it uploaded and printed.

For a moment, as Michelle continued her awkward game of pretending to not be head-over-heels in love with Penny, he wondered if it would make a good mantle piece and how long it would take for MJ to literally skin him in his sleep.

But would it be worth it ?

…

…

Fuck yeah it would.

“I’m not becoming a pet, though.” MJ asserted, and he was a little disappointed at how quick she had managed to get her expression under control.

That and Penny’s suddenly solemn expression killed any sort of amusement he was feeling.

“...Can we n-not, p-please?” Penny murmured quietly, not looking either one of them in the eye as they walked, her head resolutely glued to the tiles of the floor.

“I...I really d-don’t like that-never mind, it-it’s stupid, I’m s-sorry-”

“It’s not, dude.” Ned assured gently, keeping in step with his friend.

“We can talk about something else. No biggie.”

He could only imagine why Penny had had that reaction to the word ‘pet’, no matter how hard he tried to ignore the part of himself that was so fucking sick to his stomach, he had never felt this level of disgust before in his entire life.

Even hearing about the horrors Penny would sometimes stumble upon as Spider-Woman didn’t have the same effect on Ned as the thoughts about what his friend was going through at the hands of her foster.

Abuse was never simple and Penny was not an exception, and Ned was terrified about the things he was starting to realize were no longer assumptions.

And that made him want to start crying.

Why her, man…?

Nobody deserved to go through what Penny had more than likely endured, but fuck why did it have to happen to her?

To the nicest person he had ever met?

The brightest?

It’s not fair.

“Sorry.” Michelle whispered, looking as if she wanted nothing more than to hug their friend and Ned could sympathize.

“So…” He coughed awkwardly, attempting to change the subject. “What was that with Ms. Potts?”

“...What d-do you mean?” It worked somewhat, Penny still seemed like she wanted to dig herself a hole and be buried in it but at least she was looking at him now.

Take the small victories, they’ll lead to bigger ones in the future.

I learned that from you .

“You didn’t notice?” Michelle questioned, stealing Penny’s attention next. “Parker, she was totally mother-henning you.”

Ned nodded mutely as they turned another corner.

“Yeah dude, Ms. Potts looked like she didn’t even want to leave.”

It had almost been awkward to even be in the same area as the two, like he was intruding upon a private moment between a mother and her daughter. The expression that Ms. Potts had had on her face reminded him strongly of his grandmother’s; an expression that was filled to the brim with affection.

“She seemed...Off.” Penny acknowledged slowly, biting her lip anxiously. “D-Do you think she’s...She’s getting enough sleep?”

Ned wanted to bang his head off the wall due to the density of Penny’s head.

Even if she was a certified bad-luck charm to herself, it was ridiculous that she couldn’t see what was so obvious to the rest of them.

Between Tony Stark’s positive male influence, a teammate turned mentor turned father-figure, and Pepper Potts’ maternal affection, Ned couldn’t even fathom why Penny was having so much trouble seeing what was right in front of her.

“...Loser.” Michelle deadpanned, staring incredulously. “Do you actually not-?”

“Oh we’re here.” Penny’s declaration paused MJ’s no doubt patronizing string of words and Ned blinked when they were suddenly stopping in front of two huge doors.

They look like they weigh about two tons each…

This was the entrance to the gym…?

“Dude...Do they contain shit here?!” He couldn’t help but exclaim, pointing animatedly at the doors. “T-There’s no way a normal person could-”

“The size of the doors, are due to the...Abnormal sizes of some of the Avengers and their acquaintances.” FRIDAY spoke up and Ned suddenly heard faint clicks and the hissing of hydraulics.

“Also, no. A normal person could not open these doors, so they are automatic. Isn’t that right, Sister?”

Penny blushed and Ned was suddenly very eager to hear the story that was floating temptingly in the air.

“You totally opened and broke them, didn’t you?” Michelle sighed harder when Penny’s lack of a defense condemned her.

“Half a million dollars.” FRIDAY gleefully tattled as the doors fully opened, revealing a massive as fuck gym Jesus Christ why was it so big-