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The Freed

Ten children.

Osborn had been keeping ten children in that place.

Four of the children were around Penny's age, including Penny and Susie, along with two boys, both of whom had refused to speak to Sam and Steve who had coaxed them into the jet. The boys were sitting huddled together on a bed across from where Tony saw with Penny, their shoulders not quite touching, Sam sitting on one side of them as he knelt forward, speaking softly. Neither boy would look at him...at any of them, although one of them shot looks at the girl in Tony's arms. Did she know him, Tony wondered. He hadn't seen the kid before...how many children did Osborn have hidden away?

The other children had been found by Natasha and Clint in what they had described as a nursery on the other side of the building. The oldest was six years old, according to the records Natasha had been able to find. The youngest had just turned two...just about the same age Penny had been when they'd taken her. Clint held that little boy in his arms, while Natasha held two girls on her lap, both of their heads resting on her chest as they slept. Thor held another little girl, her tiny fist clutching his shirt as she slept, and on Steve's lap was a small boy who kept staring around the room with wide, stunned eyes. The last child, the oldest, was curled up in Wanda's arms, a steady stream of tears running down her cheeks.

They were tiny, small even for their young ages, and they all looked days away from starvation. Had Osborn done experiments on them yet? Had they been forced to fight? He'd never found out how old Penny had been when they'd forced her to fight. Did these children have families? Were there people waiting for them? Tony desperately hoped so.

And in Tony's lap, her hands still stuck to his suit which he hadn't been able to take off yet, was Penny. Penny who had passed out in his arms seconds after he'd lifted her out of the water, her lips nearly blue, her face so pale it didn't seem possible that blood still flowed in her veins. She was shaking in her sleep as Bruce cleaned and rewrapped the wound right above her knee. He'd cut the leg off of the jumpsuit, and Tony couldn't wait to burn the thing and get her into normal clothes again.

The suit reminded him of that first day...the day she'd crawled down the wall with her back to him, hopping down and turning to face him. And he owed a lot to that day...he'd gotten a daughter out of that terrible trip. But he didn't want to think about how she'd been when he'd first rescued her...afraid to even come out of her room on her own, terrified and fascinated by the world outside their tower...and even in it. Forced to slowly add new foods to her meals lest she get sick. In the weeks and months since she'd become his daughter, Penny had started to live a normal life.

And Osborn had almost taken it all away.

Tony rubbed her back as Bruce finished rewrapping her knee, wishing he could get out of the suit. But he didn't want to wake her and her fingers were superglued to the back of his suit, so he just waited, content to hold his daughter. Content to know that she was safe. That she'd escaped and then he'd saved her.

A few feet away, Rhodey sat in a similar position, although he had managed to get out of his suit, and Susie was laying on the bed, her shoulder already bandaged, a thick blanket wrapped around her. But Rhodey's hand was wrapped around hers, and she showed no signs of letting go. Tony met his friend's eyes, one eyebrow lifted, and Rhodey smiled a little, nodding toward Penny questioningly.

"She'll be okay," he murmured, willing it to be true. Willing his daughter to be okay. Willing it into existence that she could get back to the happy teenger she'd been before. Pepper had been beside herself with worry...he needed to call her. To tell her that their daughter was okay. That he was bringing her home. But he couldn't let her go. Couldn't bring himself to wake her when she'd clung to him so desperately, sobbing and telling him that she knew she'd come...but he'd seen the truth in her eyes.

She'd worried that he wouldn't. She'd been afraid. And just for that he wanted to kill Osborn. But Osborn was in a holding cell along with the few guards that they'd been able to find, and the five scientists. This operation had been much smaller...but...ten children. There had been ten children in that place. Natasha planned on interrogating him once they were back at the tower...once they had found the families of the children spread through the jet sitting on beds or in the laps of various Avengers.

A few feet away, Susie groaned, turning her head and shaking under the blanket, and Bruce injected her with something that made her settle, her hand going lax once more in Rhodey's. The Avengers were all silent. Solemn. The ones that held children rubbed their backs or rocked them gently. Sam clasped his hands together in his lap, apparently giving up on talking to the boys, and Tony had never been so glad that Friday could pilot the quinjet on her own.

"Friday?" Tony murmured, his soft voice breaking the silence. "Call Pepper. Let her know we're on our way with the kids. And call Helen. Let her know what we're looking at, and start looking for families." None of the kids looked at him, but the girl on Thor's lap stirred, sniffling as she blinked awake and looked around. Thor leaned down, murmuring something Tony didn't catch, and the child moved closer, clutching him almost desperately.

They weren't allowed to touch, Tony remembered. Penny had told him that much. They weren't allowed to be friends. And he doubted that any of the scientists or armed guards had bothered picking them up and holding them. Treating them the way children deserved to be treated. Tony pulled Penny a little closer, pressing his lips to her hair. His daughter. She was safe. For the first time since he'd realized she wasn't home on time, his heart beat normally and his whole body unclenched. Home. He was going to take her home.

It took 3 and a half hours to get from the base off the coast of Seattle to the tower, and as soon as they landed, the Avengers with children on their laps lifted them and carried them straight to the medbay. The two boys stood when the others did, giving Tony long looks as they let Sam lead them off the jet. Rhodey scooped Susie up, and Tony stood as well. He didn't want to take her to the medbay. He wanted to take her straight to her bedroom so that she could wake up at home. So that she could know that she was safe now. But he had to get her checked over. Just like all the other kids. And so he followed Rhodey down to the elevator where, once more, he found himself unable to get her to let go...not that he tried too hard.

The whole med team was working, with Helen going straight to Susie who, apart from Penny, had the worst injuries, although all of the kids had visible bruises. Tony sat on the bed in her room, leaning against the headboard and rocked her gently, rubbing his metal-covered hand up and down her back. And then Pepper was bursting into the room, leaving the door open behind her as she dropped onto the bed where Penny should be laying, placing a shaky hand on the girl's cheek. "Tony...is she…"

"She'll be fine," Tony assured her.

Pepper had sobbed when he'd come home from that alley...when he'd stepped, defeated into the room while Friday had run in the background, trying and trying and trying to find his kid. She had dropped into a chair, hands covering her face, and cried like he'd never seen her cry before. And no amount of holding her and apologizing and promising that she would be okay had made either of them feel any better. "He took her...Osborn took her, and he's going to put her back into that...that place!" Pepper had sobbed, turning to hide her face in his chest as he'd held her.

The Avengers had come into the room at some point. Rhodey first, dropping on to the sofa beside them, a hand on Tony's shoulders, then the others. All of them worried. All of them anxious to help. But Tony's brain had been at a standstill, his arms wrapped around the most important woman in his life already mourning their daughter.

Now Pepper stroked her thumb over Penny's face, lingering on the bruises there. The girl had a fading black eye, and her lip had been split recently. They'd wrapped a blanket around her, but she'd refused to let go of Tony so that the doctors could change her out of her wet clothes, and even though they were almost dry, he could still see the worry in Pepper's eyes. "She's so cold…"

"We just have to get her into some warm clothes. She and Susie were getting out...they escaped. We found them in the water. They were swimming for shore."

Pepper smiled, pushing some of the girl's wet hair out of her face. "That's my brave girl." She hesitated, then scooted closer. "We need to get her out of those clothes."

"Helen is going to stop by soon. She'll look her over. Make sure she's okay."

She shook her head. "We need to get her into dry clothes...and she'll have to let go of you to be examined. Plus, you need to get out of that suit."

Tony shrugged. "I'm fine."

She pursed her lips, tapping a gentle finger over Penny's cheek. "Sweetheart," she coaxed, voice soft and persuasive. "Penny? Honey, can you hear me?"

Tony felt the girl's grip tighten a little, and she shifted in his arms. Part of him wanted to stop her...to tell Pepper that Penny was fine. That she didn't want to let him go...that he didn't want to let go either. She was his kid and he'd failed her and all he wanted now was to hold her for as long as he could because she was safe in his arms. It was the only place she was safe! She wasn't safe at school and she wasn't safe on the streets of New York. She was only safe with him.

But Pepper knew better. Pepper always knew better. She coaxed the girl out of her unconscious, and Penny blinked up at him first, then turned her head to look at Pepper, the confusion and worry melting away into a smile as her hands unstuck themselves from Tony's suit, and she practically jumped into Pepper's arms, paying her knee no mind. Pepper wrapped her in her arms and rocked her back and forth, pressing her lips to Penny's hair. "Baby...you're okay," she murmured as the girl cried once more, her shoulders shaking with the force of it. "You're home now, baby. You're home."

Tony let the suit disengage, stepping out of it and placing his hand on the back of Penny's head. The crying girl reached up and gripped his sleeve, obviously not wanting him to leave either. So he sat on the bed and held them both, feeling whole again. His family was safe. They were both safe. And as long as they were safe, he was happy. Truly happy, in a way he hadn't been in so, so long.

It took Penny a moment to catch her breath and calm down, but once she did, still shivering and damp, Pepper gave Tony a meaningful look before smiling at the girl. "Alright, sweetheart. I'm going to run to your room and get you a change of clothes, okay? You must be freezing."

Penny nodded, huddled next to Tony who wrapped her more tightly in the blanket and his arms, but the girl still shook. Pepper stood, hurrying to fetch the clothes, and Tony pressed his lips to her hair. "How are you feeling?" he asked, and the girl shrugged.

"I'm fine." It was such a normal thing for her to say that he snorted, smiling a little and shaking his head.

"Wanna try that again, kiddo?"

Penny closed her eyes, hiding her face once more and shaking her head. "I'm sorry."

That took him aback, and he stared down at her, frowning in confusion. "Sorry? For what?" he asked, cupping the back of her head.

"I didn't get on the bus." Penny swallowed, clutching his shirt as though he would leave. As though he'd be able to pry himself away from her, his little girl that he'd nearly lost. "I know I was supposed to...that I wasn't supposed to wander off but...but I saw her! I saw Susie and...and I followed her. I just...I had to know."

"Honey," he started, shaking his head and stroking her back. "I'm not mad at you. I couldn't be...not for something like that. You saw your friend. You needed to know if she was okay. I get that."

"I woke up in that room," her voice broke and he held her impossibly tighter. "I...I thought it was a nightmare but then...then you weren't there and I was in that room again and I thought...I thought I'd never have to go back…"

"I'm so sorry, Pen. I…" he swore under his breath, shaking his head. "We got Osborn and all the people working there. We got all the kids out. We're going to find the other schools too, and we're going to shut them down. No one's going to take you again. You're safe, Pen. You don't have to go back. Not ever." The words felt hollow, even to him. He'd said that last time. Had promised her that she'd been safe before. How was he supposed to convince her that it was true now?

It didn't matter. He'd do it. Whatever it took.

"Is Susie okay?" Penny asked after a moment, shifting on his lap and flinching when she must have jostled her knee. He'd almost forgotten about that.

"She's with Rhodey and Helen right now. She's going to be okay."

The girl hesitated. "Where...where will they go? You said there were other kids?"

"We're going to see if we can find their families. Friday is working on that right now."

"What if Osborn killed their families?"

"Then we'll find them new families."

That seemed to placate the girl, and she seemed on the verge of passing out again when Pepper stepped into the room with a bag in hand. He knew that healing made her tired...Helen had explained as much the first time she'd been in the medbay. But he wanted her to stay awake. He wanted to sit with her and talk to her and assure himself over and over that his daughter was okay. Alive. Safe.

Tony was quickly shooed out of the room then so that Penny could get changed, and despite the fact that he just wanted to press himself to the door and wait until he was allowed back in, but instead, he took the opportunity to check on the other kids. Namely, Susie. The girl that he'd barely gotten a glimpse of before Rhodey had lifted her and carried her up to the quinjet, and ever since, he'd been focused solely on Penny.

When he tapped his knuckles on the door, Helen was the one to open it, smiling at him a little. "How's Penny?" she asked first thing.

"She's awake. Pepper's getting her into some dry clothes. How's Susie?"

"Still unconscious. But she's looking much better. She and Penny have a lot in common, including her increased metabolism and her lowered body temperature. I believe she lost consciousness before Penny because she wasn't moving as much in the water. James said Penny was dragging her through the water, and that she was unconscious when he got her out."

Tony nodded. Penny had been awake, but her friend hadn't. And he'd worried...he'd worried that the girl had escaped only to die in the water. That Penny would lose her friend again.

"How is the search for their families going?" Helen wondered as she stepped out of the room, and Tony got a glimpse of Susie in bed, Rhodey still at her side.

He tapped his watch and a holographic list of names appeared in midair. Penny was at the top, the word 'adopted' in green letters beside it, and he smiled at the word. Below her was Susie, little dots beside her name telling Tony that Friday wasn't done yet. And below her were the other children. One or two had the word 'orphaned' next to them. The rest had dots. So Osborn had most likely worked to get as much as the information redacted as possible.

It didn't matter. Friday would find their families if there were families to be found.

"How are the other kids?"

"My team is checking on them. No major injuries so far. We're seeing a lot of similar mutations in the two oldest through...increased strength, faster metabolism," she waved a hand. "He was obviously trying to recreate the super soldier serum used on Rogers, but with limited success."

"So we'll need to find families that are able to handle children with...enhancements."

Helen nodded. "If anyone can do it, it's you," she assured him, still smiling. "I'm going to look Penny over. Did you want to come with me?"

He'd planned on going to see Rhodey...and Susie. He'd planned on talking to her when she woke up, which would hopefully be soon, and giving Pepper some time with their girl. But as soon as the question was out of Helen's mouth, he was nodding. Of course he wanted to see her. Of course he needed to be near his kid. So he aborted the failed mission and followed Helen back into the room he'd left only minutes ago.