Running Out of Time
Penny took deep, almost desperate gulps of air as she watched the people they had been fighting alongside disappear. No...not disappear. Disintegrate. Turn into ash and dust and...drift away. Her heart raced, stomach clenching up in knots while the ones whose names she didn't know, and then, finally, Starlord, fell apart. She had never seen anyone turn to ash like that...had never seen anything close to what she was seeing now...not in her three years of patrolling. A noise escaped her as she saw Mr. Stark's back, her mask skittering back away from her face. The alien...Thanos...was gone. Thanos had left and they were on this planet and...and the wizard was gone and the other aliens were gone and the guy from Earth and...her breathing was coming too fast. She couldn't control it...couldn't calm down. Because if Mr. Stark disappeared too…
Mr. Stark whirled around, eyes seeking her out as soon as Starlord was completely gone, and she didn't know if it was because he was worried that she might disappear too or because of her wheezy, terrified gasps for air. "Mr. Stark?" She asked, not sure what exactly she was asking.
"You're alright." His response was soft. Even. Sure. Like Ben when she'd been little and had fallen while learning to ride a bike, knee scraping against the concrete. At 8 years old, she'd looked down at her bloody knee and had inhaled sharply lip wobbling, but he'd been right there.
'You're alright.' He'd told her, not sounding ruffled at all, although, looking back, she thought that he must have been worried about her. 'You're okay, Pen. Here. Take my hand.' He'd pulled her to her feet, leaning down and oh so gently touching her leg. 'Okay?' He'd asked, and she'd given a shaky nod. 'That's my brave girl.'
Her eyes were glued to the man who stumbled a little as he approached her, waiting for the edges to blur. Waiting for him to start to fall apart. Because then she'd be alone...well...alone with that blue lady. But...alone. "Mr...Mr. Stark…" She asked again, stepping forward. Everything hurt, now that she thought about it. Her ribs ached and her head throbbed and her chest felt too tight. It was like now that she was finally standing still, she could feel all of her injuries from the fight.
"You're alright." He said again, reaching out and meeting her halfway, and this time his voice was like a confirmation of something he'd been praying for. She practically fell into his arms, gripping him with desperate fingers.
"Don't go." She pleaded, and had it been any other day, she would never have let herself sound so young...so needy. But it wasn't any other day. They'd just fought (and lost to) a giant purple monster in space. They had just watched several people turn into actual dust. So no, it wasn't any other day, and Penny was afraid and she didn't want to be alone, and Mr. Stark wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her close and taking long, deep breaths. She tried to breathe normally...tried to stop wheezing and shaking and tried to stop the tears that filled her eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere, kiddo." He was quiet for a moment, then pulled away, a hand remaining on her shoulder, the other touching her cheek. "Pen? You've got to breathe, okay?"
"I can't…" She whimpered, the tears finally overflowing as her eyes darted over to where the others had been standing. "I…"
"Hey." He murmured, squeezing her shoulder and moving a little closer so that the two of them were barely a foot away from one another. "Focus up, Spiderling. Look at me." She did, lips trembling. "I know you're scared. But you're okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
"They...what did he do to them?"
"I...I don't know." He admitted. "But we...we're going to..." He trailed off, glancing over at the blue woman who approached, her face solemn. "We're going to try to get home, okay?" Penny couldn't help but notice the use of the word 'try'...but Mr. Stark could do anything. Right? He could get them home.
Penny didn't start to doubt that for a few days. Not until after Nebula (or, Blue Meanie, as Mr. Stark dubbed her) fixed Mr. Stark's side, and after the three of them worked together to fix the engine as best they could with very little results, and after they divided up the food, then slowly began to run out, did she finally start to believe that they might die in space, even after surviving Thanos and his snap. After all that, she thought as she stared at the stars a couple of days after the food ran out, she was going to die of dehydration...or suffocation. It was a toss-up for which would run out first, the water or oxygen.
The three of them tried not to think about it. Instead, they sat around the table and played games. Paper football. ISpy. Charades. (Nebula was terrible at charades, but her attempt at miming just about anything usually had Penny giggling so hard she cried. It was nice to cry from laughter.) Sometimes, Nebula would tell them stories. Other times, Mr. Stark would take over, telling stories from his college days with Rhodey. Penny would listen to both of them curled up in a chair or hanging from the ceiling, eyes shut, letting the words wash over her and put her to sleep as the air grew thinner and thinner.
"Your daughter is a good child." Nebula told Mr. Stark one day while Penny was dozing, her barely able to hold onto the words. But they surprised her...nearly woke her all the way up. But lately, she was just so tired. She knew it was her metabolism, always demanding more than she could give it. Still, Penny waited for Mr. Stark to set her straight.
Instead, she felt him touch her hair, slipping some of it out of her face. "Yeah...she's the best." He whispered, sounding as if he were on the verge of tears. That woke her, and she opened her eyes, unreasonably shocked to see his gaunt, tired face. He was Iron Man. Tony Stark. But here, on this ship, she had come to realize that he was undeniably human. Just a man. A brilliant, kind, heroic man. But still...just a man. His cheeks were hollow, eyes dull, but he smiled a little at her when she opened her eyes. "Hey, kiddo. You okay?"
And even though she wasn't, not really, she nodded. Because they were both lying to themselves.
She gave up hope the day after they ran out of water. They'd been out of food for days...almost a week, and she found herself in the copilot's seat of the ship, staring up at the stars. Body draped across the chair, head leaning on the glass, she watched the stars pass slowly, a tear dripping down her cheek. She had no idea how she was crying...it felt like her body was wrung out, every cell crying out for water.
Footsteps caught her attention, but she couldn't lift her head. Couldn't move to watch the person approaching. Mr. Stark, gripping the lifeless control panel and the chairs as best he could to get himself to the pilot's chair beside her. Still, he stumbled, legs giving out, and she heard him crash to the floor.
And somehow, that got her moving. Forcing herself out of the chair, she managed to get to his side, starting to lean down, then letting her legs fold instead. She'd never felt so weak. Had never felt so close to death. Because that's what she was, and that's what he was, and she didn't want to die! Gripping his shoulders, she pulled him upright, then helped him lean against the pilot's chair. She wanted to help him into it, but she'd used every last bit of her energy and didn't think she could manage it. Opening his eyes, he seemed to sway, then focus, zeroing in on her. She was kneeling across from him, but that wasn't enough. If she was going to die, she couldn't do it alone. So, with the very last of her strength, she turned, leaning on the chair right beside him and pressing herself against his side.
It took him a moment, but he was finally able to get his arm around her, and she placed her head on his chest, listening to the heartbeat of a dying man. "I'm so sorry, Penny." He rasped, sniffing and leaning his head against hers. "I'm...oh, god kid. I'm so sorry." She shook her head. She didn't have the energy to tell him that it wasn't his fault…that none of this was his fault.
"Mr. Stark?" She whispered. It was worth it, using his title like that. Worth the extra breath. Because that was his name, to her, and it was the one thing that still felt normal. "You were always my favorite Avenger. And...and if…" her breath caught on a sob, and she hid her face in his shoulder for a second, his arm tightening just a bit around her. "And if I have to die...I'm so...I'm so grateful that I got to meet you." She sobbed, trembling with the force of the pain that squeezed her heart. It hurt, this grief for her own life that was about to be over. The questions she would never get the answers to. The people she would never see again. "And I'm glad that you're with me."
His face was buried in her hair, and she could feel pinpricks of moisture on her scalp as he cried. She had never seen him cry...and she never wanted to. Instead, she closed her eyes and listened to his heart while she still could, letting the sound lull her to sleep.
There were footsteps again, after a moment, or an hour. She had no way to mark the passing of time. "Don't." Mr. Stark whispered as he shifted beside her, and she gripped his shirt with every ounce of strength she had left.
"You would be more comfortable in the chair. Both of you would."
"No." Mr. Stark sounded like he was crying, but she couldn't make herself open her eyes. Her body was weighed down by lead, and her lungs burned when she tried to take a breath. "No...I...I want to hold her. I...I have to."
"Misssr…" She whispered, voice so faint that she wondered if he would hear her. He did. Of course he did. He always heard her. Was always there for her.
"I'm right here, sweetheart. Don't be afraid. I'm here. I won't let you go."
"Love…" She managed to breathe the word, but that was all she could do, and for a second, she worried that he wouldn't understand.
He did.
"I love you too, Penny." He choked out, his arm dropping from where it had been wrapped around her, and she felt him start to list sideways...but she couldn't help anymore.
Penny was floating somewhere in space, separate from her body that no longer hurt...from lungs that were almost ready to give up. From eyes that could no longer open. In the arms of a man that had become like a father to her...if only they weren't running out of time. Running out of time. Are you running out of time? The words were familiar, slipping through her brain with just the barest hint of a melody. '...you fight...like you're running out of time…like you're running out of time…are you running out of time?' Yes...running out of time, she thought. She was running out of time...fight. She had to fight...why do you fight like...history has its eyes on you!'
The light jolted her out of the darkness, and she gasped for air that almost refused to come. Still, her lungs heaved as she took in her surroundings, trying to find the source. Behind her, an arm just barely wrapped around her, Mr. Stark leaned his chin against her, blinking at the same light that was blinding her with bleary, awestruck eyes. And she turned, forcing herself to face the brightness that burned her eyes.
The woman in a halo of golden light floated outside of the glass, the stars her backdrop. Mr. Stark's arm tightened around her once more, like a last-ditch effort to protect her, but instead of attacking, the woman lifted her hand, lips curling into a smile. Behind her, Mr. Stark gave an incredulous bark of laughter, and Penny dropped her head against him, the sobs overtaking her.
"You Tony Stark?" The woman asked, and somehow, despite the vacuum of space, they heard her. Mr. Stark nodded, the movement jostling her a little.
"And...Penny Parker?"
"Yeah…" Penny whispered, nodding and wiping her eyes with a weak, shaky hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Carol. I'm here to take you home."
Thank you for reading!