The Unknown Variable

(Edited as of 1/16/14 by Espacole)

Ok, next chapter. I still don't own anything. Go bother whoever convinced Disney to buy Marvel.

Sadly, I had to head back to the house before I could get chewed out by Tony. The problem was that I had closed my skylight. So, I flashed to the roof, and remaining invisible, I opened up the skylight (I had to use my sparks to get it open) and dropped down into my office.

Becoming visible, I scanned for bugs one more time, and not finding any more than the two I already knew about, I grabbed a snack from the kitchen before heading towards the bedroom. As soon as I was out of sight from the living room camera I turned invisible and Flashed to Malibu.

As I stepped out of my hidden room, I saw Tony in the kitchenette, holding an ice pack to his head. Looking around I spotted a hole in the ceiling, pieces of wood on the floor, his blue sports car smashed, and extinguisher foam all over the car.

I also spotted Mark two, a bit scratched up, but in better condition than I thought.

"You tested it without me." I pouted, as I snuck up on Tony.

He spun around, then froze and winced in pain. "You never showed up." He said, as his eyes narrowed.

"I waited for you until eleven, before I tested the Mark Two. Do you have any idea what time it is?" Tony asked extremely displeased.

"Um," I said, shifting around a bit. "No, not really." And winced, this wasn't going to end well.

"It's three in the morning, Penny. You were supposed to show up eight hours ago!" Tony exclaimed. "Do you have any idea how worried I was when you never showed up? Not to mention when Jarvis told me he could no longer get a signal from your bracelet!"

"My bracelet stopped working?" I restated, confused. I took the bracelet off and flipped it over. Yep, fried as hell.

"Must 'ave been the lightning…" I muttered as I put the bracelet back on.

"Now, where were you?" Tony asked, one hand on his hip, the other still holding the icepack to his head. The icepack was totally ruining the stern image Tony was trying to create.

I shrugged, I never asked Dr. Banner exactly where we were. "Somewhere in South America, I think."

"What?!" Tony exclaimed, look at me in shock, and horror. "How on earth did you end up there!"

I sighed, and flopped down onto the couch, "I was trying to Flash…I'm not calling it Zap anymore by the way…back and somewhere between you and me, there must have been an electrical storm. Because, it messed up my sparks, and the next thing I knew was falling out of a lightning filled cloud, over a rainforest."

Tony eyes widened, and he sat himself down next to me.

"Are you ok?" he asked, looking for any injuries. "Did you Zap…or whatever you call it, down to the ground?"

"No," I told him, and his eyes widened. "My sparks were over charged or something. The air was so full of electric discharges that I couldn't focus my own."

Tony opened his mouth, probably to ask what happened, but I just continued.

"Someone caught me. Literally. Right out of the air." I told him, and he looked confused.

"Like a Mutant?" He asked, worry in every inch of his voice.

"Sorta, but not really." I stated, and wondered if Tony knew who Dr. Banner was. "Met Dr. Banner though. Nice guy."

Tony's eyes widened to a whole new measure, and he shot up off of the couch and exclaimed, "You met Bruce Banner! The Bruce Banner who turned into a big green rage machine when angry!? Are you crazy? Are you okay?"

I stood up and tried to calm my panicking father down. "Dad, hey, calm down. Hulk caught me."

Tony looked like he was about to have a panic attack so I quickly added, "Hulk was fine, very worried. Personally I think everyone just stereotypes him because of his size. Don't piss him off, and he's a teddy bear."

"The big green machine a teddy bear? You sure about that?" Tony asked, as he tried to calm down.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Bruce didn't really believe me ether. But, hey, can't fix everything." I shrugged.

Tony finally calmed down with another large breath as he closed his eyes.

"So," Tony exclaimed, sounding like his normal cheerful self again, "What was Dr. Banner like?"

Apparently, my father had always been a fan of Dr. Banner, and his work. So when I described the small encounter with him, and his alter ego, he flipped between over protective father, to avid five year old fan.

While we were talking, Tony and I finally wondered what was in Pepper's box. Tony had taken the coffee a while ago, but the box and papers had been left untouched.

"Wonder what it is." I commented, stifling a yawn, as I stole Tony's chair.

"Well, let's find out." Tony replied, as he picked up the small rectangular box.

There was a sticky note on top that said, 'From Pepper'. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, we already knew that.

Unwrapping the brown paper, Tony got an interesting frown on his face.

"Not used to presents?" I asked, looking between the half open rectangle and my Dad.

Tony didn't reply, but he didn't have to, the slight shave of his head was all the answer I needed.

"I'm gonna fix that." I told him, he raised an eyebrow at me as he pulled out a glass box from the paper.

Inside of the glass box, elevated on a little podium, was Tony's original Arc, surrounded by a band of metal that said,

Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart

Part of me frowned. Tony always had a heart. Why did Pepper feel the need to prove that?

A small half smile and put the case on his desk.

'Huh,' I thought. 'I'm never going to understand adults.'

"This is what you did for eight hours last night?" I asked Tony as he handed me some type of gantlet.

It was about a four inches of metal that would clasp on to my wrist. It was engraved with circles and lightning bolts. But I had no clue what it was for.

"Try it on." Tony replied, not bothering to answer my question. I slipped the large band on, to see that it fit perfectly and sat on my wrist like it belonged.

"So, is this one another tracking device?" I asked, the band was actually pretty cool, but I was not wearing a thing this bulky just to keep Dad happy.

"No," Tony replied, shaking his head. "Flick you wrist to the right, just slightly."

Not understanding what this had to do with anything, I did as he asked. With a small right flick, I heard something softly click in the band, before a small Palladium ball rolled into my hand.

My eyes widened, this would give me a large supply of energy balls whenever needed.

"Much better than a tracking device." I stated, looking closing at the band, I realized that the circles I saw, were probably where the balls were stored, waiting to slide into my hand at a moment's notice.

"I agree." Tony said, and I looked at him in shock. He gave me a half smile but he looked tired, over worked, and worried.

'Did the nightmares come back?' I wondered. Neither of us had been able to get the nightmares to leave us alone completely, though mine had dulled a bit. But I wondered if Tony's were still going strong.

"I know you won't let me make you armor…" Tony started as I shook my head. We had discussed it many times. I didn't care how worried Tony was, I wasn't going to wear a giant suit of metal. "So, I found something I think you'd like a bit better."

I looked at my father in confusion as he dragged me towards the crate.

"What is it Dad?" I asked as he removed the top and revealed a bunch of black, and silver.

"Your own sort of protection. One that'll fit your tastes." Tony stated, "Now, you'll have to find some things to personalize it. But, it should work well."

I started pulling out fabrics, and my eyes widened as I saw a large container filled with a silvery, metallic, liquid.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked Tony.

"If you think it's liquid metal, then yes." Tony replied a large grin on his face. "Yes it is."

The first thing I did, after Flashing home and pretending everything was normal, was go shopping.

I went to the Wal-Mart, there was no need to buy anything fancy, and any clothes I bought were getting an upgrade anyway.

I bought a pair of black legging, a black jean mini-shirt that flared a bit, and along sleeve black shirt.

I also grabbed some plain black material out of their sewing section, and a pair of cheap black high heeled boots.

After shopping, and talking with a few neighbors, I Flashed back to Tony's.

Tony had explained his plan, and I was totally excited. This was going to be fun.

"Notes," I heard my dad tell Jarvis, "Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitudes. Hull pressurizations is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probably factor."

"A very astute observation, sir." Jarvis replied, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Icing?" I asked, walking over. "Oh, I got what I wanted. What froze?"

Tony looked at me, but before he could answer, Jarvis added, "Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the ecosystems."

I raised my eyebrow at what Jarvis implied. If the suit flew above a altitude it could handle, then it would freeze, and possibly shut down.

"It would seem," I drawled with a smirk "that I wasn't the only one falling out of the sky last night."

Tony shook his head in amusement, and said with a shrug, "Hey, it must be a Stark thing."

"I hope it doesn't become a family tradition." I hoped, falling out of the sky would be a very bad habit.

"It won't." Tony promised, turning back to his computer screens.

"Connect to the sys. Co. have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio." Tony told Jarvis, as he took a sip of his green shake.

I realized, that Tony practically lived off of those things, when no one convinced him to eat. I tried, but I didn't always succeed.

"You got it?" Tony asked staring at the screen.

I walked over to my desk and sat down in my chair. Dad didn't want me touching the liquid metal until he showed me what to do.

'I hope he hurries up.' I thought to myself, picking up a half-finished Holo-ball and twisting it between my fingers.

"yes," Jarvis replied as Tony stood up, drink in hand. "Shall I render using proposed specifications?"

"Thrill me," Tony replied as he made his way over to my desk.

"Now," he said pulling up another chair besides me, the black clothes, and "You're gonna have to design the rest of it. But, this is what I want you to do."

Not the best place to cut it off, but oh well. Hope you all enjoyed it.

thanks to everyone and especially Espacole,
Cp