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To Free Them From Their Chains

"Susie…" Penny stared down at the dead men on the floor, her stomach revolting, but Susie was already moving, shoving the gun into Penny's hands and reaching for the other one on the floor. The gun was too heavy in her arms, and Penny lost her battle with her stomach, turning and losing the breakfast shake she must have had on the floor in a painful, convulsing splash of vomit. Susie didn't even look up, grabbing the gun and glancing back at the White Room where Penny knew other scientists waited. Penny panted, eyes shut tight as if the dead men might just be a dream.

"Let's go," Susie snapped, grabbing her arm and shaking her. "If we're going to get out we have to do it now."

"Susie…"

"I dare you!" The words jolted Penny out of her panic and she looked up at her friend. The girl was smiling at her, just a little, with tears filling her eyes, and Penny realized that Susie didn't want to be here either. Didn't want to have just killed two men, no matter who they were. Didn't want this life that had been forced on her. Susie had seen the outside world too. She knew that there was a whole world out there. And then she'd been dragged back into this place. But she would do what it took to survive.

And so would Penny. It's what Tony would want. He would want her to fight for her own survival. And she'd do anything for Tony.

"Okay," she whispered, and Susie gave her a tear filled smile, leaning her head forward until their foreheads touched, eyes close together. For just a second, they were close again like they'd been before, back when they'd hidden in the back room, shoulders touching, a blanket thrown over them, the closest thing to comfort and love Penny had ever known.

But she knew they couldn't stay there. Already she could hear footsteps. "Which way?" she asked her friend.

"The vents."

Penny nodded. The vents. Of course they would go into the vents...the only relatively safe place. Their only chance of escape. Susie looked up at the vent cover in the corner by the White Room, then back down the hallway as if afraid to be caught. Penny understood. They weren't supposed to use their powers. Had never been allowed to use their powers. But Penny could now. Tony had let her. Hadn't minded if she'd climbed the side of the tower. Hadn't been bothered when she'd sparred with Captain America, using her full strength.

"It's okay," she whispered, smiling encouragingly. "We've already broken the rules, right?"

Susie smiled, then narrowed her eyes at the vent cover that lifted off of the wall, and Penny put the gun down, gesturing for Susie to hurry. The other girl climbed onto her back, and she noticed that Susie kept her gun, but Penny didn't have a free hand...nor did she want to carry a gun.

She hated guns. Had hated them for as long as she could remember. From the moment she'd seen what they could do...what the soldiers would do to them, she had wanted nothing to do with them.

Climbing as quickly as she could, Penny hesitated right under the vent cover which wasn't big enough for both of them, and without being asked, Susie got off of her back, climbing inside ahead of her. Penny followed, and then the vent cover floated back up to her. She replaced it, even though she doubted Osborn didn't know where they were. He had to know. They had cameras, and the soldiers had found her before. Already she heard footsteps in the hallway. "Let's go!" Susie hissed, already crawling, and Penny followed.

They couldn't call someone. They couldn't wait anymore. They had to get out. But Penny resisted the urge to say it. Susie already knew that. So they crawled in silence, Penny's knee throbbing. When she glanced down at it, she flinched at the trail of blood she was leaving...was it infected? It felt swollen, and she knew that she needed to be resting. But there was no time to rest. Not yet. As much as she wanted to wait for Mr. Stark...as much as she hoped he'd been able to track the signal, she knew they couldn't wait anymore.

Susie crawled in a straight line, the two of them looking into every room they passed for windows. It wasn't long before the alarm started to blare, and for a moment, the two girls looked at each other, faces pale and drawn. "I won't let them take me again," Susie whispered, her voice barely audible, but Penny could hear her. They could always hear each other.

"They won't." Penny wouldn't let them. She wouldn't let them take either of them. Wouldn't let them use those drugs on them ever again.

Reaching back to touch the gun, Susie nodded, then began to crawl again.

Penny couldn't help the scream when the gunshots started, and Susie gasped, pressing a hand to her arm as she collapsed, the gun on her back starting to slide to the side. Grabbing it, Penny placed it back on her back and tried to get a look at the wound on her shoulder that dripped blood, but it was hard to see in the dark. "We have to go!" she cried, shoving Susie forward as the bullets continued until one of the men screamed for the others to hold their fire.

"You'll kill them! Osborn wants them alive!"

That was good at least. Susie faltered, then tried to crawl forward, her body jerking unevenly as she did her best to keep her weight off of her right arm. They had to get out of the vents...had to find a window!

And then they did.

The footsteps were still filling the rooms beneath them, and Penny was sure that the soldiers would climb into the vents soon. They'd officially been missing for at least ten minutes. They were short on staff, but she knew that Osborn would send every single soldier after them. But just when Penny was going to suggest they climb out of the vents and just fight, despite the twin blood trails they were leaving, she spotted the windows looking out on what looked to be water…a lot of water.

"Susie!" she hissed, already turning toward the vent cover and pushing it out of the way, then turning it sideways so it would fit in the vent beside them. Her friend was right behind her as Penny jumped down, leg buckling under her and throwing her to the ground. She bit down hard on her lip, pressing a hand to her mouth to fight the scream as Susie climbed down herself, dangling from the vent until she dropped the last few feet and her feet touched the floor. What little food was left in her body threatened to come up, but Penny swallowed over and over, refusing to let it out. She couldn't throw up again. They had to move!

"Get up!" Susie ordered, running to the window, the gun still on her back, and Penny forced her leg under her, standing and listening to the pounding footsteps as they approached. Susie yanked the window open despite the growing red stain on her shoulder, turning back to her as Penny limped over to join her, the two of them looking down at the ground that seemed so far away. But Penny didn't have time to contemplate the drop. The door was opening and she grabbed Susie, throwing herself out the window and maneuvering Susie so that the girl was on her back. At the last second, Susie sent a spray of bullets at the window, and Penny just caught a glimpse of soldiers falling before she was crawling backwards down the wall, the sound of the gun nearly deafening her.

They were on what must have been the third or fourth floor of the building, but Penny moved as fast as she could, her leg threatening to give every moment as she crawled backwards down the wall. Susie gripped her tight and the constant drone of the alarm made her head clench in pain and it was too much...but she couldn't panic. Couldn't let herself feel any of it. Not yet.

They had to keep going.

They couldn't afford to stop.

The gunshots exploded through the air and bullets rained down on them but miraculously, Penny kept moving and Susie clutched her and she didn't dare ask if Susie was okay. Didn't even want to risk speaking. She couldn't stop.

When they reached the ground, Penny had to grip the wall to keep herself upright and Susie jumped off her back, the gun at the ready. A few feet away was a cliff...it was a sheer drop down to the water. But they had no choice. "Can you swim?" Penny asked, voice shaking.

Susie hesitated, then shook her head, and Penny swallowed hard.

"Okay...okay," she whispered, thinking back to the pool in the tower. To Natasha teaching her how to move her arms...how to glide through the water. How to stay afloat. She could do this.

She had to do this.

Doors were being flung open and Penny let go of the wall, racing toward the cliff, holding out a hand that Susie grabbed. Her friend dropped the gun and ran with her, the two of them launching off the cliff and curling up into balls as they fell, hitting the icy water with two splashes that could barely be heard over the blaring alarm in the background. They both sank under the water, and for a moment there was silence. The soft sound of water pressing in on her from all sides. It was dark out, and Penny wondered what time it was...either way, the dark would work in her favor, she knew. Maybe the soldiers wouldn't be able to see them.

Not soldiers. Assholes. And she never wanted to see them again.

What she wouldn't have given to see Rhodey right then.

Penny kicked her legs, trying to focus, and even though one of her legs almost refused to move, she managed to get herself and Susie back to the surface, the two of them breaking the surface with twin gasps. Susie gulped down air, looking around wildly, and Penny grabbed the other girl's arm and threw it over her shoulders. "Hold on to me," she whispered, still afraid to speak too loudly, and Susie did.

And she started to swim toward the city skyline.

Penny moved her hands through the icy water, trying not to think about how cold she was as she glanced over at Susie, the other girl's arm slung over her back as Penny dragged the both of them away from the white, nondescript building that looked like the buildings she'd passed when Tony had driven them to the Compound. He'd told her that there were usually offices inside. Doctors and businesspeople, lawyers and realtors. She'd never been in one of them, but she was sure that they were different. That they didn't torture children...but she didn't know if she'd ever be able to step into a building like that again.

The waves kept coming, making it almost impossible to keep swimming, but she kept swimming anyway. Her knee ached and she felt hot along with the cold, but she didn't dare stop. Her whole leg felt too heavy and swollen, and bending it was almost too painful to contemplate, so she kept it as still as she could, using her arms and kicking one leg as best she could. Their progress was slow but she didn't feel like they were in danger. Didn't feel like they were being followed. Glancing back once more, she winced at the blood trail that dispersed behind them, wondering how much was from her knee and how much was from the hold in Susie's shoulder.

Turning back around, she tried to focus on the skyline of what she hoped was New York. Even if it wasn't she reminded herself, she knew what to do. Tony and Pepper had told her what to do if she ever got lost without her phone. Go into a store. Ask to use the phone. Say it was an emergency. Call them. She knew Tony's number. It was branded into her mind along with the White Room and how to spar. She knew what to do. It wasn't like before.

They had made her dangerous. Tony had taught her how to be strong.

Susie's head started to dip under the water and Penny hurried to support her, the two of them floating for a moment as she pressed a hand to the hole in Susie's shoulder. "Susie? Stay awake," she urged, shaking her a little. "We're almost there."

It wasn't true. The shore was still in the distance and Penny had no idea how long it would take to get there, especially considering how cold the water despite the fact that it was supposed to be summer. Were they in New York? Or were they somewhere else now? How many days had it been since she'd called Tony?

No matter how quickly she moved, no matter how much time passed, the city didn't seem to get any closer.

"M'cold," Susie whispered.

"Me too...but we have to keep going!" Behind them, she could see the building and she still didn't see anyone coming out of it but there were still people inside! Still kids inside! Maybe even kids younger than them. Would they kill them? Would the Avengers be able to save them? Should they have tried to save them? To fight the soldiers?

To kill Osborn?

Shaking herself back to the present, Penny moved Susie's arm more securely around her shoulders. They would be fine. They were going to make it to land and they were going to get help and Penny kept telling herself these things as she forced her body forward through the constantly moving water. That was all she could do. Move forward and tell herself that it was going to be okay. That she could do this.

But as the minutes passed and they inched closer and closer to the shore, her arms grew heavier and heavier, her vision going foggy as she shook in the water until her whole body was numb. She thought Susie was still holding on to her but she couldn't be sure and keeping her face out of the water was almost impossible. "Susie?" she whispered, her voice barely audible as she swam and then all she could do was tread water, eyes closing of their own volition.

Her friend didn't answer.

She wasn't going to make it.

They weren't going to make it.

And then there was a roar above them and Penny looked up just in time to see a jet fly overhead. And out of that jet came two suits. Two very familiar suits.

War Machine reached them first, his arms wrapping around Susie as he lifted her out of the water. "Penny!" he called, holding Susie with an arm under her back and one under her legs. She tried to smile at him. Tried to tell him that she was fine. To thank him for helping her friend.

But then Iron Man's cold arms were around her, lifting her out of the freezing water into the freezing air, but she didn't care about how cold she was anymore. Penny clung to him with every last scrap of strength she had. Sobbing, she closed her eyes and hid her face against his chest, and the arms around her squeezed her firmly. She was safe. He was there. He had come for her.

"Tony!" she called out his name even though he was right there, hot tears turning cold as they ran down her cheeks. "Tony!"

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Penny, I'm so sorry. I came as fast as I could. Friday was trying to track you but they were blocking the signal and…" his robotic voice came out just as devastated and exhausted as she felt and Penny clung to him, shaking her head.

He was there. He had come for her. He was really there. Tony was there.

"I knew you'd come," she whispered, pushing back the tiny voice in the back of her mind that protested...that reminded her that she'd been afraid he wouldn't. That reminded her that she'd laid awake in her bed in her cell and felt cold fear grip her heart. Fear that she would never see him again. But the bigger part of her had known. Regardless, the words kept spilling out of her, along with the tears. "I knew it...I knew you'd come for me."

"Of course I did. I'll always come for you. I'm so sorry it took me so long. I'm so sorry, Penny, I love you so much. I'm so sorry."

She wanted to tell him that she understood. That she loved him so much. That she was so happy to see him. But her whole body ached, especially her knee, and she was so, so cold, so she closed her eyes despite his pleading with her to stay awake, knowing that she was safe with her father.

Thank you for reading!