The Unknown Variable
Hey all, I was extremely happy with the traffic this story has been getting, I guess changing the X over was a great idea. I am glad you all are enjoying this, and thanks to all of you who favorited/followed/reviewed. :)
I am also surprised that none of you figured out the dream... or at least the last part. But oh well, makes the plot more surprising! Which is fun for me. XD
I would just like to point out that while some of the things Penny is doing is not realistic for our world, this is AU, and this is for fun; and when you have fun or in a alternant reality anything is possible. Penny isn't a Mary Sue, she does have her own problems and faults; but this is just the 4th chapter so they haven't played a big part yet. (Though they are rearing their ugly head in this chapter)
Also, this isn't going to be a perfect story, for me, this is fun; and while I take my writing very seriously and put a lot of effort into it, this story is more of a hobby then a novel I'm trying to publish or something of that sort. Personally I am not going to fine tune it as much as I will/would my other novels/stories that I am writing for real and not on FF.
Sorry for the long AN... I do not own anything besides Penny, Marvel, Disney, and JK own everything.
On with the show!
"So how's the presentation going? Please tell me he's at least slightly sober?" Pepper asked over the phone.
I was standing in the sand, behind the crowd of military personnel that was watching Tony's presentation.
"Yeah, he is. I had to dump his bottle of whiskey on the way here to keep him that way though." I said, raising a hand to block the sun from my eyes. Why hadn't I brought sun glasses?
"You did what?!" Pepper shrieked from the other end of the phone, causing me to pull it away from my ear. "Penny! You can't do that!"
"Um... why not?" I asked the older woman. She wasn't my boss.
"Penny, whether he acts like it or not, Tony is our boss. We can't just do whatever we want, he could fire us." I turned away from Tony and Pepper's voice became fuzzy as the large shockwave hit me.
Squinting my eyes to keep the sand out I replied, "Seriously, I doubt Tony is going to fire me."
"Penny, this is not about whether or not Tony would be willing or not to fire you. You can't just go around doing whatever you want. There are moral lines, and some lines you just don't cross."
"Pepper," I sighed, hadn't we covered this last time? "I know what I am doing."
"I'm not so sure you do. You are acting like a child, Penny." Pepper snapped over the line. "And as long as you act this way, I am going to treat you like one."
My eyes narrowed at her words, and I snarled back in return. "Last time I checked, Pepper, you aren't my mother."
I could practically see Pepper wince; the echoes of our last argument obviously still fresh on her mind.
"Penny... just be careful. You don't know everything." Pepper sighed tiredly as she hung up.
I placed the sleek phone back into my pocket as I shook my head, no matter what she thought, I knew what I was doing.
a few weeks ago
I was sitting on a rotating chair down in Tony's lab, Tony was in a board meeting, much to his despair, and I was tinkering with a few random things that had been just lying around.
Pepper was also at a meeting, though not the same one as Tony, so I had the house to myself, or more importantly, the lab and Jarvis.
"Now, I want all of these files to remain hidden and encrypted, do you understand? I don't want Tony to get even a hint that they exist and you may not tell him, is that clear?" I asked, twirling a pen in between my fingers.
"Of-course Miss Penny… but may I ask why you wish to hide this information from Mr. Stark?" Jarvis' voice echoed though the garage.
Rolling my eyes I replied, "You know why."
"Yes," Jarvis agreed, "But wouldn't it be more productive to inform your…"
I interrupted, glaring at the ceiling, "Jarvis do not bring it up again or I will hack you."
"That shall not be necessary." Jarvis replied, and you could practically hear the quiver in his voice.
"Now I want all files on Howard and Tony Stark in Howard's later years." I quipped, drifting off into thought.
"Now, let's see if there is anything in here I didn't already know..."
A few moments later I found myself surrounded by holographic and physical files, news articles, computer logs, company contracts, and blue prints; most of them centered around Howard, but a few on Tony as well.
"What," I asked myself softy in surprise "is this?"
Floating in front of my face was the original Ark Reactor blueprints. But that wasn't what surprised me, for I had seen what I thought to be the original before… no, what surprised me is that there was another name besides Howard's on the blueprint.
"Well, it looks like Howard's skeleton closet isn't as empty as I thought…" I mused to myself; I wonder what other little secrets he had that never saw the light. "Besides me of-course."
I was staring at the hologram, wondering what the story was behind Howard's ghost partner when it hit me. My brain froze, my eyes widened, and I gasped. I suddenly saw just what I was looking at, and what I could do.
"If I decrease the level… and double the rotation… it'll increase the stability, and double the power!" I smiled widely to myself as I turned my attention to the Stark A.I.
"Jarvis, order the materials." I told him as I typed in the correct amounts of what I needed.
"How shall this be delivered, Miss Penny?" Jarvis asked.
"Just randomly mix it in with the supplies Tony ordered to be delivered within the week. Lock that information down as well, I don't want even the slightest hint about what is going on to get back to Tony." I said, and started clearing away the Holograms.
"And just what is going on that you don't what Tony to know about?" I twirled around at the sound of Pepper's voice, to see her standing a few feet behind me… and not looking too pleased with me.
"Pepper…ah…how long have you been standing there?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck, while covering the files on the desk with some random documents and dispersing the remaining holograms.
"Not long. Now answer my question. What did you do?" She snapped at me, obviously the meeting had been less than pleasant and my suspicious actions pushed her a bit too far.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I am just working." I said smiling lightly, knowing that all the files were safely tucked away… well, the digital more so than the physical ones.
"Don't lie to me. Now tell me what you were doing!" Pepper hissed at me, her hands on her hips and her lips set in a line.
"I was working!" I snarled back at her, "Who does she think she is?" I thought to myself.
"I don't believe you!" Pepper stated angrily.
"Well I don't care!" I yelled at her, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "I can do whatever I want."
"No, no you can't, Penny, and that's something you just don't understand! You're a child! You can't go around doing whatever you want whenever you want to! You shouldn't even be working here. You're acting like a wild child!" my eyes narrowed as Pepper finished her rant.
"How dare she!" I fumed silently.
"I'm acting like a wild child?" I hissed. "I've behaved properly and have done everything Tony has said since I've arrived here!"
"You should never have arrived here! This isn't a job for a child! You aren't doing this for money or whatever reason you gave Tony! What kind of teenager wants to work here? Or wants to work anywhere for that matter!" Pepper yelled. I didn't know what her problem was, but something was bugging her.
"So what! So what if I want to work here! I'm not normal! I thought you would've noticed that by now! I'm happy here! I get to spend time with someone who understands and thinks like I do! And I AM NOT A CHILD!" I finished yelling. I came here to get to know Tony, and she was NOT going to ruin it for me.
"Yes, yes you are! I don't care what the legal papers say! You are a child! Someone has to take care of you…" I interrupted Pepper with a growl, she was entering my dare not mention zone of topics.
"I can take care of myself! YOU AREN'T MY MOTHER!" I screamed, my hands clenched at my sides, small blue sparks dancing around my fingers.
"Well, someone has to be, for obviously you need one." Pepper insisted.
I narrowed my eyes at her and hissed, "My mother is dead Miss Potts, and she was nothing like you."
I turned on my heel and marched out of the room, not noticing the flickering lights, or Peppers hurt face.
The memory of that fight still made me angry. Pepper and I had barely spoken since, not that we spoke a lot before, and when we have to talk to each other, we pretend nothing ever happened.
I followed Tony as he grabbed another drink out of the tricked out icebox. "I'll be throwing one of these in with ever purchase of 500 million or more." He said as he walked off, drink in hand.
I rolled my eyes as he toasted to peace, Tony just didn't understand the impact he really had on the world. There was just so much he could do for the world that didn't involve explosions and death. I glared at the phone in Tony's hand, or more so the person on the phone.
I never did like Stane, he gave me the creeps and something about him just put me off. I shivered as Tony mentioned pajamas to Stane, and I noticed that Stane was in bed… and his top was bare. I shivered again. That did not bring up pleasant images to my teenage mind.
I was glad when the call ended and Tony got into the van. I moved to get in with him but stopped as he shut the door and Rhodes appeared.
"Hey, Tony…" Rhodey started but Tony interrupted him… again.
"I'm sorry, this is the 'Fun Vee', the 'Hum Drum Vee is back there." Tony said, looking at me and Rhodes. Obviously he still wasn't happy with me dumping his drink on the plane.
I watched as Rhodes shook his head, "Take Penny with you then." He insisted.
I rolled my eyes again, wondering if it was for my benefit or Tony's. Tony shot me a look and I let a small frown appear on my face, making him sigh dramatically and say,
"Fine, get in." He opened the door and stepped out, letting me sit in the middle between Tony and the soldier.
"Nice job," Rhodey said, shooting me a small smile, "See you back at the base."
The silence was awkward as we drove down the sandy road, ACDC playing in the background at Tony's insistence. I swear that he has some strange obsession with that band.
The soldier next to me kept shooting Tony glances every few seconds, and it was taking all my will power to keep from snapping at him.
I almost sang when Tony broke the silence, "I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial."
I snorted into my hand quietly, only Tony would say something like that.
"This is crazy. What did I do?" He asked looking around. "I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me."
I let out a small giggle at this, causing Tony to shot me a large grin before continuing. You have'ta love Tony.
"What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!" Tony called to the soldier next to me.
"We can talk, sir." The soldier responded to the billionaire.
"Oh, I see," Tony said, looking out the window, he was being a total drama queen; "So it's personal."
"Good God Tony," I thought to myself.
"No, you intimidate them." The driver told Tony and I only raised my eyebrow at her voice. I hadn't noticed the driver was female but then again, I was paying more attention to Tony than the front two soldiers.
"Good God," Wow, we are alike; "you're a woman. I honestly… I couldn't have called that. I mean, I'd apologize but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first…" Tony kept on rambling.
I had to wonder, if his mouth moved that fast, how fast did his brain have to move to keep up? Or was it the other way around?
The female soldier interrupted him though, "I'm an airman."
Tony just kept on going, could nothing faze him, I mean, really.
"You have, actually, excellent bone structure, there." Tony told the airman...woman. "I'm having a hard time not looking at you now."
I inaudibly groaned, "Now is not the time to flirt."
"Is that weird? Come on, it's okay, laugh." Toney said with a devious grin, causing all the weird tension to melt and the soldiers and airman to smile and laugh.
"Sir, I have a question to ask." The soldier in the front seat next to the driving airman asked.
"Yes, please…" Tony answered, and it only occurred to me that he was only doing all this because of how bored he must be.
The only reason that I wasn't bored was because I was paying so much attention to the situation… hmm, I wondered if Tony knew he was saving me from boredom as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if he did, it was Tony after all.
I groaned loudly as I heard the soldier's question "Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's Maxim cover models?"
Tony took off his sunglasses as he answered, "That is an excellent question," and shot me a glance, letting me know that he heard my groan, before continuing. "Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins."
"Anything else," Tony asked as the soldier next to me raised his hand slightly. Man, they must really respect him to be reverting to school boys… or be scared of him, ether one worked.
"You're kidding me with the hand up, right?" Tony asked giving the soldier a look.
"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?" he asked timidly. Ok, Tony did not need that ego boost, but man these guys must really admire him.
"Yes." Tony replied. "It's very cool."
The soldier had a large grin on his face as he pulled out a camera and handed it to his friend.
"All right," Tony said as they both leaned over me so all three of us were in the picture… great, just what I needed. "I don't want to see this one your MySpace page."
"Please, no gang signs." Tony said completely serious as he soldier held up the two finger 'peace' sign.
The peace sign was dropped until Tony said, "No, throw it up. I'm kidding." I didn't think Tony was kidding, I just think he was keeping up the 'millionaire nonsense man' act.
"Yeah, peace. I love peace, I'd be out of a job with peace." I contemplated if I was the only one who heard the sarcasm or if I was imagining it from being around Tony for so long... alright, not that long but still.
"Come on," The soldier pushed, "Hurry up, just click it. Don't change any settings." I couldn't help but agree, I wasn't in the best position being squished between two fully grown men, and I was starting to feel uncomfortable... ok, I was uncomfortable.
Just as he was about to snap picture there was a large explosion, and my eyes widened as the jeep in front of us blew sky high.
Of-course something was going to go wrong, what a great idea to do a presentation in an active war zone…
I looked over at Tony, his eyes were widened slightly and I could tell he was shocked and unsettled, even though he was trying to conceal it.
"What's going on?" Tony asked the obvious, as one of the soldiers yelled, "Contact left!"
"What have we got?" I knew that Tony was talking about weaponry, for that was his specialty. But I had a feeling that Tony wouldn't be very much help in a run fight… and I really didn't want to get involved unless I had to.
The airman opened the door and tried to get out but was shot instantly, "Jimmy, stay with Stark and the girl!" the soldier in the front said.
"Stay down!" the soldier next to me, Jimmy I guess his name was, pushed me and Tony down in our seats.
"Yeah," Tony said as he was pushed down, his eyes flickered to me for an instant before going back at the action outside of the van.
My eyes were wide and I hoped that they didn't know Tony and I were here… though some part of my mind told me that it was pointless to wish that this ambush was because of Tony.
Tony and I watched as the soldier approached the hood of the car and started firing before he was shot, and blood streaked the windshield.
I winced in my seat. While the blood didn't unsettle me, the fact that the two people who not even thirty seconds ago were right in front of us in the car alive where now face down in the dirt dead disturbed me greatly.
'Why the hell did you make me come, Pepper?' I cursed in my mind, but then again I wouldn't want Tony to be alone in this situation either
"Son of a bitch" Jimmy shouted as he loaded his gun. Tony was looking around frantically, obviously no longer trying to hide how scared he was.
Jimmy jumped out of the van as Tony shouted, "Wait, wait wait, give me a gun!"
I looked over at my boss in confusion; did he even know how to work a gun?
"Stay here!" Jimmy ordered through the door.
But just as he turned away the whole van wall was covered with bullet holes, making me jump and Tony wince.
Tony looked around, trying to figure out what to do as his gaze fell on me. For a moment I tried to picture what I must look like to him. Scared, probably wide eyed, and looking just like the young girl I really was. No matter how much I didn't like it.
Another explosion happened outside, rocking the jeep.
Grabbing my hand, Toy jumped out of the car, dragging me with him, and ducked as more bullets flied past our heads.
We stumbled and ran through the bullet fire, ducking every two seconds to avoid being shot, Tony let go of my hand only to grab my shoulder. He was holding onto me so tightly, I had a feeling that if we ever got out of this alive than it would bruise, if we survived that long.
Our eyes squinted as the smoke stung in our eyes. I was trying to pay attention to what was going on, but it was just confusing; the loud noises were not helped by the fact that my was heart pounding in my ear.
Tony jumped behind a bolder, pulling me with him as bullets landed just where we had been a moment before.
Tony let go of my shoulder for a moment as he caught his breath, before frantically pulling out his phone, he sat up straighter behind the rock. Another mask falling into place as the dialed Stane, I wondered if it was even a conscious action anymore.
Just then there was a loud swish and thunk and Tony and I looked over to see a Stark Industries bomb on the ground not even four feet from where we were hiding.
Tony's eyes widened as he recognized the bomb, I didn't know which one of his weapons it was but obviously I didn't want to be anywhere near it.
Then it all seemed to happen in slow motion.
I pushed Tony sharply back and raised my hands but just as it exploded Tony jumped in front of me the same time as a net of blue electricity sprang to life, surrounding me and the place Tony had been.
I let the makeshift shield die as I looked down at Tony; he pulled back his shirt, revealing a bulletproof vest, with blood seeping through.
Tony blacked out pretty quickly, and a sharp blow hit me on the back of the head, sending my world into darkness.
Hey, Sorry for lateness, well I would explain but… well let's just say that I've lost practically all control over my life in the last two weeks. Yeah, so no clue how often I'll update but I'll do my best.
Special thanks to my new beta Expecto-Prongs. Anyway, hope you liked the chapter, and the next few Chpt.'s will be covering Penny's past, and who she really is *evil grin* personally, I'm looking forward to that.
Happy Easter if you celebrate,
Cp