The Unknown Variable

(Beta'd as of 1/16/14 by Espacole)

I own nothing. The Wonderful world of Disney and JK Rowling own it all.

I tried to control my breathing as I led the three SHIELD agents into the house.

"So," I said, breaking the silence as we all took a seat in the living room. "What does SHIELD want with me today?"

Coulson and the other two agents looked at each other for a moment before Coulson asked, "SHIELD?"

I blushed, realizing that I called them by my nickname for the agency. "Well, ever since you introduced yourself to me and Miss Potts," I said, a bit of bitterness creeping into my tone at the mention of Pepper. "I've been thinking of your organization as SHIELD. It is what all of the first letters of the words spell, it's much easier to remember, and a better name then the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Division."

Coulson sat in silence, his eyes wide. "You know, Miss Telnets. People have been trying to change our name for years."

Another agent butted in and added, "I can't believe that a teenager, who only heard the name once, saw something no one else had for decades."

Coulson gave the younger agent a disapproving look and continued, "Yes, it is impressive. I shall pass on the name to our director. Now, back to the reason we're here."

I tried to shove the panic that was building in the back of my mind down. If they had found out my identity, or anything else, I doubt I would still be sitting here.

I pulled up my mask, hoping that none of the agents saw my panic as Coulson continued.

"Now, we have been keeping an eye on Mr. Stark since what happened in Afghanistan. Therefore, we have also been keeping an eye on you. Now, let me assure you, you've done nothing wrong and aren't in trouble. Us watching you is for just as much as your safety as ours."

My eyebrows knitted together, trying to see if they had an alternative motive to coming here. Coulson took the look as confusion and continued.

"Now, Miss Telnets; we understand why you would be confused. Because the Jericho presentation was such a secret, we believe that someone high up in Stark Industries ratted you out, so to speak, to the Ten Rings."

I nodded along to what Coulson said; it was nothing that I didn't already suspect.

I opened my mouth to tell them how Tony and I already suspected that, until my rational side of my brain convinced me to say something else.

"So your worried, that because Mr. Stark and I escaped, that whomever gave us… or really Stark, I was just dragged along," I added bitterness to my voice, hoping to keep my appearance as close to the cover story as possible. "Might come after us again because we didn't die or something?"

Coulson nodded, while the other two, obviously less trained agents looked surprised about how well I was taking this,

"That is correct." Coulson added, and I hoped that it was all he wanted to talk about. "Now, because there is a safety concern, we will be monitoring you, and if anything happens, I want you to call us. There are agents in Albuquerque that will respond immediately in case something happens."

I nodded again, as Coulson handed me the card. I shook my head; the name was capitalized, so if you just glanced at it, it spelled SHIELD.

How on earth had no one figured it out before?

"There are two other things that we would like to speak to you about." Coulson continued as I put the card in my pocket.

I nodded again, not really sure what to say. I was glad that Coulson was doing all of the talking.

"Now, we have received some resent information that we need to talk to you about. We know you are a Mutant."

My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to deign it. 'How the hell did they find out… Tony's kitchen must be bugged!'

I started to panic, and Coulson must have been able to tell because he said, "You aren't in trouble, Miss Telnets. In fact, we don't really care."

'Okay,' I thought to myself, 'that has to be a lie.'

"We just wanted to get a…evaluation of your powers; for future reference." Coulson said, hoping to defuse a situation before it happened. "We know that you can create a weak invisible shield around your body. We're just asking, if you can do anything else."

I almost rolled my eyes at the whole, 'future reference' thing. That was a bunch of bull.

'Hmm, if they only know about my invisibility, and think its weak, there's no reason to let them thing otherwise.'

"Um…well…" I stammered, trying to appear nervous. I rubbed the back of my neck for good measure, wondering if… of course they would be trained to read body language.

"You aren't in trouble here Ms. Telnets. Just tell us the truth." The third agent, who had yet to speak, said.

I took a deep breath and said, "Wh…when we were in…" I paused, swallowed pretending that I didn't want to say Afghanistan. The agents nodded that they understood and I continued, carefully.

"I...I found out that…if I tried really hard… I could make parts of…my body…disappear."

Coulson nodded as the other two agents shared a look. I hoped they bought it. Technically, I did discover my invisibility when we were with the Ten Rings.

"Can you make other things disappear? Or your whole body?" The second agent asked me.

"Well… I can make my whole body disappear if I really try, but it's really tiring, and sometimes smaller objects like screws or erasers but otherwise… I can't really do much with it." I shrugged majorly downplaying my abilities.

"We would also like to take a look at your scars." The third agent said, his voice hard.

Pretending to be shocked, an angry. I narrowed my eyes, "How do you know…" I paused for moment before rolling my eyes and adding as if I just thought of it, "You bugged Tony's Kitchen, didn't you?"

The second agent's eyes narrowed and said, "How did you know that!"

Coulson and the other agents motioned for him to be silent, but before Coulson could do damage control I said, "Please, have you seen my IQ score? There has only been two places that both my invisibility and scars were shown together: Tony's kitchen a few days ago, and …that cave. It wasn't that hard to figure out. Unless of course you work for the Ten Rings, I went with option one."

We sat in silence for a moment, while Coulson glared at the second agent, before he turned to me and said, "Will you let us examine the scars?"

"Why?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

Coulson held up his hands, trying to calm me and said, "Just to make sure they aren't an endangerment to your health."

"And because you didn't know about them." I added, none of the agents tried to deign it. I sighed and stood up.

"Fine, just let me put a tank-top on first." I said, before leaving the room.

I was back not even five minutes later. I had to put on the cover for my Core. I was taking no chances. There was no way in hell that I was allowing them to discover that.

I sat back down on the couch with Coulson on my right, and the third agent on my left. My invisibility was still up. They knew about it, and they knew I used it to hide them, so why wouldn't I?

"Would you drop the invisibility please, Ms. Telnets." Coulson asked.

I huffed, but allowed the invisibility to drop, at least. That's what they thought. I actually just pulled it all to my core, so it had another layer of protection.

Coulson's eyes widened as the numerous scars appeared on my arms and upper chest. The third agent was quick, picking and peering at a number of scars. If you looked close enough, you could tell which ones were from the cigarette and the cigar, and which ones where the poker.

"They don't, eh hem, go any lower do they?" Coulson asked.

"No, you can see all of the ones that are there." I replied, glancing at the third agent. He was starting to creep me out a bit.

"There seems to be two types…but they've healed so well I can't tell what they are from though." The third agent finally stated.

I replied instantly, surprised that he said the scars healed well. I still thought they were ugly as hell.

"Three kind actually. These," I said, pointing to the various round scars that had a slight twist in the middle, "are cigarette burns, cigar burns," I pointed to the slighter larger ones.

"And these," I said, gesturing to the other scars that resembled slight bulls-eye, "were from a very hot fire poker."

All three agents looked at me with wide eyes, "You remember which ones are which?" Coulson finally asked.

"Ah…yeah?" I half stated half asked.

All three agents looked stunned.

"Is that a problem?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together.

Coulson quickly shook his head, "No, but it is remarkable. I've seen agents who've taken less burns then you in torture, and couldn't recall most of it."

I shrugged, I was never normal; and I have a large pain tolerance. The high IQ also helps with remembering this.

"A high IQ and high pain tolerance combination can result in curious things, Agent Coulson." I stated vaguely.

All three agents were still frozen in shock, "Now, is there anything else? I have some studying I would like to finish today." I asked, pulling my invisibility back up and rising.

Coulson was the first one to snap out of his stupor and said, "No that will be all Ms. Telnets."

The two other agents were out the door quickly, and as I walked Coulson to the door I figured that out of all the secret agents I had met, he was the best.

As he reached the end of my walk way I called, "Agent Coulson."

He turned and said, "Yes Ms. Telnets?"

I smiled and said, "Call me Penny."

A brief smile appeared on the agents face before he replied with a nod, "Phil, good evening Miss Penny."

Just so you know, that is not the Avenger Penny is going to meet soon. I've always liked Phil. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

Thanks for beta'ing Espacole
and thanks to all of you wonderful people.
Cp