Steve had just finished piling the last of the suitcases that had been thrown on the floor in a mess when he heard huffing from behind. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand he saw a struggling Penny, she had a large suitcase which was being pulled behind her, a duffle bag slung over one arm and a backpack that looked as if it was about to burst on her back.
Steve rushed forward and grabbed the suitcase and the duffle bag from her grip and placed them with the rest of the luggage. She soon appeared at his side and placed the blue and green backpack down.
She was wearing what he had been told to be 'Skinny Jeans' in a light blue denim colour, paired with a worn looking grey tee shirt that read 'I need a hero!' on in large blue letters; around the letters seemed to be various comic book heroes. She had simple white converse on her feet and a silver charm bracelet.
Steve grabbed the backpack and strapped it securely into place, "It's not very often you see a lady wearing tasteful jewellery nowadays." He commented, inclining his head towards her wrist. Penny smiled and pulled it up to eye level to look at it, "Thank you," She smiled shyly "I'm almost never without it. Reminds me of the people that I miss I guess…" She trailed off as she got lost in a memory.
She quickly brightened and flashed Steve a toothy grin, "Wanna know the story?" She asked, they turned to walk back to where the rest of the team had gathered while they waited to land. "Uh, story of what, exactly?" He asked cautiously, eyeing the bouncing girl.
"The charms of course silly, they each have their own different stories." She giggled, shaking her wrist as she did so. The charms hit off each other and made a jangling sound. "Why not?" He smiled down at her.
She lifted her wrist and showed him a little silver '18' that had a tiny four leaf clover attached. "This one I got for my eighteenth birthday along with the bracelet. And this one," She picked up another charm in the shape of a lemon that had been coloured yellow, "this one is from my Gran, God rest her soul, 'cause we always use to bake lemon cakes when I was little. She used to say, 'Penelope!" She put on a funny old lady like voice, Steve couldn't help but laugh a little, "your lemon cakes are gorgeous my dear!' And then she'd scold me for leaving the kitchen a mess."
"Oh! And this one, this one is from my Mom." She smiled slightly and showed him a circular charm that had a stick figure of a mom holding a little girls hand. Around the edge it said 'My darling daughter'. Steve smiled, "It's a really pretty bracelet, what's that one?"
Penny happily chatted away and showed Steve the meaning behind all her charms, who brought her which, how old she was; she had a fairly decent collection.
Steve held the door open to the lounge room everyone had gathered in and waited for Penny to walk through, before heading through himself. Penny plonked herself down on the sofa next to Tony and Bruce while Steve sat on a chair by Thor; she went to fish her glasses out of her jacket pocket.
"Damn…" She whispered, not finding them there. She remembered having them yesterday and then…Then they fell from her top, they fell when they were hiding from the Hulk.
"What's up?" Bruce whispered, Natasha was sleeping with her head on Clint's lap opposite and no one wanted to wake her; they probably wouldn't survive if they did.
Penny looked up to see Bruce looking at her with inquisitive eyes, "My glasses, I lost them when me and Natasha were..Uh-"
"Hiding from the Hulk." He finished for her; she looked up to him quickly to make sure she hadn't offended him. Her expression made him chuckle lightly, "I watched the CCTV tape," Her expression turned questioning.
She opened her mouth to speak but Bruce beat her to it, "Why did I watch the tape?" He asked, Penny nodded, "Because I, uh-I…" Looking for the right words he found himself stammering and stumbling over his explanation.
"Because he wanted to make sure that he really wasn't the one to hurt you; for some unexplainable reason he didn't believe me." Tony whispered quickly, smiling at Bruce before turning to a shocked Penny.
"By the way, how did you manage to knock yourself out?" He smirked as he watched her face turn pink, "I think I might have to make you an award." Penny scrunched up her nose in thought.
Bruce and Tony chuckled at the sight, "An award for what?" Bruce stood up to get a cup of water from the corner of the room.
"For discovering new levels of clumsiness!" He chuckled and Penny began to laugh humourlessly, they stopped suddenly when the carrier began to shake. Penny was immediately set on edge; surely they wouldn't attack them, not now. But it hasn't been a week yet! Everyone shot up out of their seat, but Penny remained glued in fear.
"B-Bruce?" She bit out shakily, Bruce hurried over to Penny who jumped up and wrapped her arms around one of his forearms, squeezing her eyes shut as she did so. Bruce tensed and looked to the others as he placed a hand on her arm, they waiting for the shaking to die down before they moved.
After about 6 minutes of shaking Maria Hill's voice was heard over the speaker. "We've docked, please report to the surface." Penny opened one eye at a time to see everyone visibly relax, she sighed and tried to calm herself.
"What the hell was that about?" She shouted angrily, still clinging to Bruce's side.
Phil Coulson smiled when he saw the group of people walk through the door, Miss Green was approaching him and Maria at an alarming speed. Phil looked to Maria out of the corner of his eye to see her smirk and fold her arms, "What the hell was that?" She shouted when she pulled to a stop.
She glared at Hill who stared her down, she turned her gaze on Phil. "We were simply landing the helicarrier Miss Green I apologize if we caused any discomfort but-"
"Discomfort?" She laughed as the remaining Avengers stood around her, "I thought I was going to be killed!" She squeaked and Coulson smiled.
"My apologies, but your cars are waiting. I'm surprised you haven't ran off here yet," We all said our goodbyes and walked towards the cars; Steve stayed behind and said a proper goodbye to the starstruck man.
"Captain Rogers?" Phil called out as Steve had walked a few paces away. He turned around to face the balding agent, "Yes?"
Phil jogged over to the Captain and held out his trading cards and a pen, "Do you think you could sign my baseball cards? I don't know when I'll be assigned to your case again." He smiled up at his hero, Steve looked shocked but nodded quickly.
"Well, yeah. Sure." He took the marker and the cards and signed each one before parting ways once again.
There was an assortment of transport available once they'd reached the port. Steve had his motorbike waiting for him, and Tony had one of his favourite cars waiting. Penny spotted a slim ginger woman waiting by the car. She was talking to a man in a black suit when she noticed us approaching, immediately stopping she ran as best as she could in her sky high heels and launched herself at Tony. They kissed immediately; Tony wrapped his arms around her small waist and spun her around.
Penny giggled, "I guess that's Pepper." She said as she nudged Bruce with her elbow. Bruce nodded and tried to figure out how they were all going to get to Stark tower with the transport they had.
"How are we-"
"Bruce! Penny!" He looked over to see Tony waving them back over, Pepper was a pretty woman with a slim figure and light freckles across her cheeks. Her hair was a light honey blonde colour that was pulled into a tight bun.
"This," he motioned to Pepper, "is my better half; Miss Pepper Potts." He grinned and she held her hand out to Bruce, "Hi I'm Pepper, you must be Bruce." He nodded and smiled courteously, "And you must be Penny?" Pepper pulled her into a hug and held her at arm's length, "It'll be nice to have a girl around for a change." She laughed and Penny joined in.
"Same here, I'm surprised I haven't grew facial hair and started belching like a pig yet." Pepper laughed and they soon got talking about future shopping trips and spa days.
Tony and Bruce started putting all the luggage in the trunk while Steve showed Thor what a motorbike was.
"How are we going to get to Stark Tower?" Bruce asked as he lifted Penny's luggage into the boot of the car. He looked over to Tony before he grabbed her backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "In case you haven't noticed Brucey boy, there's a vehicle right here." He pushed Steve's duffle into the luggage crammed boot and shut the lid.
"Yeah but there's what? Eight of us? Nine, if you include your driver Happy. We only have a five seated car and a motorbike, that will only get seven of us there." He sighed and looked over to Pepper and Penny who were happily chatting away; Natasha had joined the fray and was complimenting Pepper on her Louboutin heels.
Tony scratched his chin, "Gang!" Everyone filled over, the girls being the last to join. "Here's the deal, we don't have a Mystery Machine." He said sadly, "But! We will have one, that I promise you. For now though, we only have, as Brucey here has pointed out, a five seated car and a motorbike. That will only get seven of nine to Stark tower." He let the information sink in before continuing, "So who wants to be the hero and take a cab?" He smirked.
Clint had been landed with Thor and the cab, while Tony, Pepper, Bruce, Natasha and Happy took the car.
"You sure you can deal with getting your hair messed up?" Steve asked as he revved the engine to his bike, Penny smiled and laughed easily as she slid her arms around his waist tightly, "Just go, Cap! Before I change my mind!" He nodded and sped off, following the expensive black car to Stark Tower.
Just another little filler chapter I wacked out while my boyfriend was watching Rugby, there should be another chap up tonight or tomorrow morning; hope you enjoy! Remember, review! :)
-Readers Assemble!-