Prompt: On an Avengers mission, Penny falls into a trap and the Avengers have to get her out before it's too late
"Alright, team. Are we all clear on the plan?" Captain Rogers' voice came through her intercom and Penny crouched behind the tree, her heater going full blast, heart racing as she glanced over at Mr. Stark in his Iron Man suit. The man glanced over at her and nodded, lifting his hand and giving her a thumbs up.
"We've got it, Cap." Mr. Stark said dryly, but Captain Rogers went on anyway.
"Banner, you wait in the jet and we'll call you if we need you. Natasha, you, Spidey, and Tony head in through the back. Clint and I will keep an eye on the front door."
It was Penny's first mission with the Avengers out of state, and her fifth overall. She might have kept a special journal of them at home. With doodles. "Kid, you ready?" Mr. Stark asked. She nodded, stepping forward from her hiding spot and shooting a web at the building, pulling herself toward the wall and sticking while the other two stood back just in case, then joined her. "Hear anything?" She pressed her ear to the wall.
"Karen? Enhanced reconnaissance mode." Immediately her suit stopped filtering out all of the outside noise and she listened. "Nothing on this level." Mr. Stark nodded, and she crawled down the wall and, waiting for Mr. Stark to open the door, she crawled in after him.
It was nearly silent in the large room. She could hear Mr. Stark's heartbeat and Natasha's too...the creaking of a metal building settling into the ground, the cold wind hitting the walls...the give and take of a slightly swaying tree outside, mostly sheltered from the wind by the building. They were in the middle of Colorado, nestled against the mountains with a threat of snow hanging in the air. They were all cold...she switched off her heater, though. They'd all be moving soon enough.
Soundlessly she dropped to the floor, moving behind Iron Man and Nat, ears open, spider-senses on alert. The building was supposed to be abandoned. The mission: move through the building gathering intel on HYDRA. Look out for anyone still around guarding the base. She suspected Steve was only there because she was in training and he wanted to keep an eye on her.
Captain Rogers hadn't been so sure about having her on the team at first. He'd been put off by her age, which, okay. So she was only sixteen. Still. Mr. Stark trusted her and Captain America was working on it. He let her come on missions, giving her explicit instructions and small roles that she did her best to execute perfectly, fighting the urge to help more or follow her own instincts. He was the Captain.
Mr. Stark had made it a condition to her training with the team that she took orders. When she'd brought up the fact that Mr. Stark never took orders and did whatever he wanted, he had thrown a pillow at her head from the other side of the couch and told her to respect her elders. So she did her best. She wanted to be on the team, even in a small way.
Dr. Banner was there because there was always the chance that someone could get hurt. Plus he wanted to examine some of this HYDRA stuff if they could find anything. And Nat and Clint, as they'd insisted on being called...well she wasn't 100% sure what they were doing. Surely she and Mr. Stark could handle an empty base.
They moved forward room by room, Penny turning on night vision as all the windows were painted black and Mr. Stark holding out a hand with a light to let Nat see a little better. They walked almost silently, except for Mr. Stark whose heavy metal armor clanked so softly that Penny doubted anyone in another room could hear.
There was a soft sound...a ping or something, and fear went up and down her back like a cold finger on her spine. "Down." She choked out the word, half whispering as she dropped, but immediate both Natasha and Iron Man dropped with her, Mr. Stark crouching and Natasha landing on her stomach beside Penny on the dusty, filthy ground as, right above their head, darts shot through the air, thudding uselessly against Mr. Stark's suit.
It lasted for about ten seconds and then stopped, and Mr. Stark reached out, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Good job, kid." He murmured as Natasha plucked one of the darts from the ground and dropped it into a bag hanging from her hip.
"Tony?"
"Spidey just saved our asses." Mr. Stark told Cap through the comms, and Natasha gave her a quick smile. "This place is booby trapped. Think Indiana Jones and darts in the walls."
"Alright. Just keep an eye out. Spidergirl, do you know what triggered it?"
"I heard something but I'm not sure what." She told him haltingly.
"Okay. Be on the lookout."
They moved forward again, more cautious now. Penny kept her ears open, but as they moved from a large open room into a hallway, there were still no noises. No heartbeats. No giant rocks rolling down the hall to crush them. Mr. Stark led the way, Penny switching between walking behind him and crawling along the walls. Natasha peered into the empty rooms, some holding old metal bed frames or broken glass. Most had blood on the floor, old, dry, rusty puddles of it staining the floors and walls. The sight of it made Penny shudder.
The hallway led to another, and at the end of this one was a door. Only one. Mr. Stark looked back at Natasha, then at Penny, his mask giving nothing away. "Cap, we've only got one door left."
"That has to lead to the lower levels." Penny climbed onto the wall and crawled behind the others. Something wasn't right. It wasn't icy terror...it was dread. Part of the floor looked different. Natasha took a step and Penny saw it all happen in slow motion, moving before she was really aware.
The dart shot out from the wall, catching Penny in the side, and she managed to land and shove Natasha right before the ground opened up and, head spinning, she was falling. Falling. Blackness and she was screaming and Mr. Stark was screaming her name, and then, after what felt like so long...she hit the ground, head cracking against what felt like concrete. Then, silence.
It hurt before she opened her eyes. Before she woke up. In the nothingness, it hurt. Moaning, she tried to move, but her limbs were like jello and she could barely work them. Fingers twitching, she tried to figure out where she was. She could hear screaming...screaming that sounded like her name. "Penny! Penny!" Pounding. Beating on what sounded like glass. A high pitched whine and then a noise but not...not quite close to her. Distant. Or maybe not distant. Just...soft.
No. It was her. Everything was muffled. Her ears rang and she pressed her palms to the floor and tried to push herself up...but her body was so, so heavy. "Penny, do you copy?" Mr. Stark was screaming, and she managed to get her eyes to open. Turning just a little, she found Mr. Stark with his metal-covered hands pressed against what must have been glass. "Penny?" He never called her that on missions. He was supposed to use her superhero name!
"Msr. Srk...name…" She muttered. Her body was limp against the ground and she blinked at him, exhaustion filling every part of her.
"Penny! Kid? You with me?" He and Natasha were standing on the other side of the glass, both staring anxiously at her, but she couldn't get up. Couldn't move.
"Glass?" She asked.
"Yeah, kiddo...but you can break it. Can you get up?"
"She hit her head. Hard." Natasha told him...or maybe not him. The woman's words were in her ear. The comms! She was speaking into the comms! They had comms! Pieces of reality came back to her and she brought a heavy hand up to her head. "She's bleeding...Steve get down here. We've got to get her out."
"Penny, the dart was probably poisoned." Mr. Stark was speaking to her again. "Kid?"
"Huh?"
He spoke as if fighting for patience...as if he couldn't wait another second for her to obey. She was doing her best to focus on him...she always tried to obey him. Him and Cap...they were in charge and she wanted to be an Avenger! "Can you pull it out?" She tried to nod...moving so slowly it almost didn't feel like moving, she found the thing with her fingers and tugged, finally managing to yank it out. It landed beside her with a soft plop and she let her hand drop once more.
"Mr. Stark?"
"Yeah, kiddo?" He sounded stressed...she felt bad about worrying him but she wanted him closer.
"I'm scared." There was silence for a moment, and then she opened her eyes again, remembering at the last second that she could do that. Mr. Stark was kneeling beside her, hands on the glass, mask retracted.
"Don't be scared, kid. You're okay. We're going to get you out. You're okay."
"I can't...move." She whimpered, lips trembling, tears dripping from her eyes under her mask. Reaching up with a heavy hand, she tugged it, managing to pull it off her head and gasping for air. It was so hard to breathe all of a sudden. "I can't...can't breathe, Mr. Sark."
"You're okay, kid. Just hang on a sec. Cap's on his way. I can't break this glass. He's going to try."
She tried to look around, head barely cooperating. She was in a box...concrete on three sides, glass on the front. Concrete on top? And...concrete underneath her. There were holes in the concrete walls near the top and she stared at them, confused. "I'm on my way." Captain America's voice was in her ear. "How many floors down?"
"Seven." Nat bit out. "Come all the way down." And then there was water pouring from the hole, and everything clicked.
It was a trap.
"Steve, now!" Mr. Stark screamed, slamming his fists against the glass. They didn't even crack it. Water pooled around her head and she tried to sit up but she couldn't. Couldn't move.
"Mr. Stark?" She whimpered.
"He's coming. Hang on...just a second, Penny." She reached out toward the closest concrete wall, pressing her sticky hand against it and trying to pull herself up. It didn't work. Her hands shook and she pulled but her body barely moved. "Steve, hurry!"
Water poured in, and it pooled around her legs, soaking her in what felt like seconds. "Mr. Stark!"
"Hang on! I'm coming...just hang on!" Another blast hit the glass...he was hitting the glass with his repulsors. She leaned her head against the wall, tears falling behind her mask. She couldn't move. Could barely sit up. And the water was filling the small room, reaching her hips. Pulling hard, she managed to lift herself just enough to get her hips out of the water, but not for long. The water was rising impossibly fast, droplets splashing onto her mask-covered face.
The room wasn't much taller than her...but there had to have been an opening on top for her to fall in...right? "Penny, get up. Honey, you have to get up!" Mr. Stark cried. "Steve!"
"I'm coming...I'm almost there...damn it!" Everyone froze.
"Cap?" Static. Then...nothing. "Steve!"
"Penny, get up now!" Mr. Stark demanded, and she felt herself sob.
"I'm trying." She whimpered, fingers clutching the wall.
"Penny!" She froze, looking over at Natasha who was crouching on the other side of the glass. "Hey. You're going to be okay."
"I can't move…"
"You were drugged. There are a lot of drugs in your system right now. You're going to be okay. We'll get you out. Just stay calm. Can you try to pull yourself up a little more?" Behind Natasha, Mr. Stark was pacing, and Penny wondered if his arm was shaking in his armor. His arm shook when he was nervous, even if he tried to hide it. He was scared. She could hear it in his voice.
"Okay." She murmured, gripping the wall with every bit of strength she had and tried to do it...she made it to her knees, her enhanced metabolism trying its best to burn through whatever had been in that dart. Even on her knees, though, the water was filling the tiny room and had reached her stomach.
"Try to stand up," Natasha ordered, voice gentle but urgent. Penny tried, all while Mr. Stark called into the comms for Steve.
Standing, her head nearly touched the roof of the tiny room, and if she stretched her arms out, she could almost reach the concrete walls. "Fuck!" Mr. Stark screamed, then aimed his hand oat the glass as far away from Penny as he could, then shot a series of three blasts...the glass barely shook, and Penny felt her heart stutter. "Steve, where are you!?"
"Tony...HYDRA...we've got…" Steve's words were lost in static, and Penny reached up with a clumsy hand as she leaned against the concrete wall, water up to her chest, yanking her mask off and meeting Natasha's eyes. The woman was afraid. She'd never seen Natasha afraid before.
The water was up to her neck, and she moved one hand from the concrete wall to the glass, trying to slam her fist into it. But her knees wanted to crumble and her body refused to cooperate. She should be able to break this...but it wasn't normal glass...almost like everything in this base was designed to contain people like her. "Mr. Stark." She gasped, and he brought a fist back, his metal covered hand barely shaking the glass. He screamed a curse and Natasha turned just as Captain Steve Rogers raced into the room, blood running from a gash on his cheek. Shield in hand, he raced toward the glass, flicking it at the wall like a frisbee.
The glass shuddered but didn't break. Didn't even crack.
The water was up to her chin. "Mr. Stark…"
"No...shit, fuck...get her out! Steve!"
"Mr. Stark, I'm sorry." She slurred. She was out of time...they couldn't break the glass.
"No! Penny, don't…" He half-begged.
"I'm so sorry. I love you. You're like…" Even now it felt too strange to say, but she hoped he could see in her face what she meant as the water covered her chin, taking some of her weight and making her float. At least she didn't have to stand up anymore. "I love you."
Mr. Stark put a shaking metal covered hand over his mouth, eyes closing, a sob ripped from his throat. "No...no." He punched the glass again and again, screaming. "No!"
"It's okay. Mr. Stark...I love you." She whispered again, and he pressed his forehead to the glass.
"I'm going to get you out, I promise...Penny, I promise...I…" His words were cut off when the water reached her ears and she turned her face up, nose nearly touching the concrete ceiling, mouth open as she gasped one last breath of air before the water covered her face.
She let herself sink down, eyes wide open as she watched Steve scream and Mr. Stark rip the shield out of his hands and beat it against the glass. They were both screaming...and her lungs burned. She would have to take a breath soon...and then she would die. Terror filled her chest and, had she not already been under water, she would have sobbed. Instead, she beat her hands against the glass, knowing it wouldn't make a difference, but hoping. Praying. Surely they would save her. This glass couldn't stop the Avengers! Right?
She had to breathe, and the water rushing into her lungs burned like nothing ever had before. Her whole body jerked as her lungs fought for air, and Tony screamed and used both hands clutching the shield to beat the glass. Slowly, the edges of her vision darkened, and she felt apathy and exhaustion replace the terror as her body started to fail. The last thing she saw was Mr. Stark, face crumpling, and the shield slamming into the glass over and over before everything went dark.
Pain. Something pressing on her chest too hard. A snap. Not outside...inside.
Then another.
A hand cupping her cheek, rough, tilting her head back, forcing her jaw open, and then lips on hers.
She'd never kissed anyone before, but this wasn't kissing. This was warm air, pushed into her lungs and forcing them to expand. It hurt...like when she'd been over at MJ's and her friend's obese tabby cat had walked on her chest, paws pressing into her ribs. She couldn't move away from the feeling, though...couldn't push the cat away. Could barely move at all.
More pressing and she wanted to scream. Beg. Please stop it hurts please please please.
"No...kid you are not doing this to me!" That was Mr. Stark, and then lips were on hers again, more air, then more pushing and her body jerked, mouth still open, and her throat burned as bile and water forced its way out of her throat. "You're not leaving me...not now."
Someone rolled her over onto her side, patting her back as she choked and threw it all up, gasping for air in between gags, tears dripping from her eyes at the pain. It hurt so freaking much...but she couldn't stop. "There you go...there you go, baby. It's okay. I'm right here. Let it out. You're safe." He spoke softly, the comforting words murmured as he crouched beside her.
"Mr…"
"Don't talk yet. Just breathe." She did, eyes snapping open as she found herself pulled into someone's lap, shivering hard. Cold...she was so cold. Mr. Stark was still wearing the suit, but he was sitting on the ground, holding her against his chest. He was shaking too, eyes red-rimmed and glued to her.
"Tony?"
"I've got to get her out of here. Where's Bruce?" He asked, glancing away from her face for only a second.
"Natasha's helping him change back." Change back...they'd called in the Hulk to save her. "Get her back to the jet." Captain America bit out.
"Sorry." She rasped, throat burning, lungs protesting her use of them now that she was breathing talking again.
Steve went from frustrated to concerned in less than a second. "Don't be, kiddo. None of this was your fault. We're going to get you to the jet and warmed up in no time. You'll be fine." He promised, that sincere all-American kindness in his eyes.
Slowly, Mr. Stark stood, holding her so still it didn't seem possible that he was walking up stairs. "You're okay, Pen. I've got you." He promised, his voice a murmur in her ear.
"Can't move…" She slurred once more.
"Bruce will need to take some blood and try to identify the toxins. You're going to be fine." He kept saying it, as though he were trying to convince himself as he started up the stairs.
In the jet, with an unkempt, worried-looking Doctor Banner who had Mr. Stark lay her down and immediately strapped an oxygen mask on her face, her mentor refused to move from her side, only turning around when Natasha helped her out of her wet clothes and wrapped her in a warm, thick towel. The woman dried her hair, moving carefully around the oxygen mask, then dressed her in a new pair of soft pajamas that they must have kept somewhere on the jet...did they keep spare clothes for all the Avengers, she wondered as she was laid back down on the bed and wrapped in a soft, comfortable blanket, or just her.
Mr. Stark dropped into a chair beside her, leaning forward and taking her hand. "Don't talk." He urged when she opened her mouth. "Just for a little while, kiddo. You need to get some rest." Tired and sore, she let her eyes drift shut, head sinking into the pillow. "Pen?" She cracked them open again, and he ran a hand through her still-wet hair, the soothing motion nearly putting her to sleep. "I love you too, kiddo."
Thank you for reading!