The Unknown Variable
(Beta'd as of 1/25/14 by Espacole)
Marvel, Disney, and JK own everything. I am a nobody. So go find a somebody to bother.
I groaned as I walked out of the kitchen in the house. My whole body was sore. Mortem and I sparred until about three in the morning, and then I crashed. Literally, I crashed into a wall and blacked out.
Mortem brought me back to the house.
I took a bight out of an apple as I stormed into my office. My dissertations did just not want to be written. I didn't think that it would be this hard. Deciding that I would work on it later, I Flashed over to Malibu, I wanted to see Dad.
As soon as I materialized, I heard a crash and ran out of the room. I froze in shock as I saw Tony shooting the glass walls with the flight stabilizer. I put my hands over my ears at the noise.
Smoke filled the air, and one of the lights had detached from the ceiling; and only once he put his arm down did I yell, "Dad!"
"But I want to come with you!" I huffed; Tony was planning on going to Gulmira. Even though he didn't tell me, the news report and the broken glass said enough.
"No." Tony said, as he stepped onto the pad.
"Why not!" I said, I knew Yinsen too, and I had also been a captive of the Ten Rings. Sure, it wasn't my company (not yet at least) that sold the weapons, but I still had a few bones to pick with those people.
"You don't have a suit." Tony stated, but I knew that wasn't the reason.
"I have my Stealth Suit!" I stated, but knew it was a weak argument. My suit was still a prototype, and was nowhere near ready for combat.
"It's not made for combat, nor is it tested." Tony said, as the floor started to move and the Mark three appeared. Arms from the floor and ceiling came down, and within a minute, the armor was on.
"Please Dad, I have my powers, I can help." I stated, knowing this was my last chance.
"No, I can't lose you too." Tony said as the helmet snapped into place.
"Stay here." He said. His voice now sounded rough and computerized. He fired up the repulsors and took off through the hole in the roof.
"I'm coming next time!" I yelled as he flew away.
Crossing my arms over my chest I grumbled. It wasn't fair.
"I am sure your father is just worried about you, Miss Penny." Jarvis tried to sooth me.
"Yeah, whatever." I replied, as I turned back towards my desk to see Mortem sitting in my chair, playing with the almost completed Holo-Balls.
These things are a great idea. He stated, staring at the small projector.
"A great idea, but a pain in my neck." I grumbled as I took Tony's chair and sat down.
We could always spar. Mortem suggested a smirk on his face.
"No thanks," I stated quickly and started working on the Holo-Balls; trying to ignore the worry settling in my stomach.
'That's my girl' Mortem thought as he disappeared. He had some things' to discuss with Infinitas.
Over the next few hours I had managed to finish the Holo-balls. Now I just had to record footage, connect them to my computer, which would be their mainframe, and I would have a lot more free time on my hands.
Picking up the ten small balls and the flash drive that held the software; I Flashed back to NM. I had some work to do.
It looked like I was cleaning, rearranging random things in the hallway, living room, and kitchen. But really I was placing the Holo-Balls in strategic places around the house, to the Hologram projected would appear flawless.
Hiding the last one in a large potted plant on the mantle, I walked back into my office. Downloading the software, I connected the computer to the Balls, and pressed record. Jarvis would contact me when Dad got back.
I had a lot of footage to tape.
"It's better now than never." I sated to myself and walked out into the main part of the house; SHIELD's bugs no longer being the only thing videotaping every move I make.
I sighed with relief as I laid down on my bed back in Malibu. It had taken another three and a half hours to get enough footage for the program to loop, without it appearing that it was looping.
Now, I could practically just stay here most of the time.
"Miss Penny," Jarvis's voice appeared through my new panic bracelet, it was smaller than the last one, and Tony promised that it wouldn't fry this time. "Your father's back."
I quickly got to my feet and exited the room, and froze at what I saw.
"You look like you've been through hell and back." I commented, eyeing him and the damaged armor.
"What did you do? Wrestle a Tank?" I added sarcastically.
Tony looked over to me, and he rolled his eyes, "Hello to you too."
As Jarvis tried to dismantle Mark Three from Tony, I described to him, in boring details, what I did while he was done.
"Well, at least you finished the Holo-Balls, right?" Tony said, trying to look on the bright side.
"That means you can stay here mo…hey!" He yelled, as one of the arms made the suit tighter, rather than looser.
"It is a tight fit, sir." Jarvis commented, as the many arms attempted to help their creator.
I turned towards the stairs just in time to see Pepper walking down. "Pepper!" I hissed and vanished from sight.
Pepper's face became one of confusion, shock and concern when she noticed the glassless walls and the glass all around the floor.
"Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt." Jarvis told him, trying to get Tony to stay still.
"Be gentle. This is my first time." Tony replied, and I gagged, did Jarvis and Dad try to make that sound dirty on purpose? I would be surprised.
Pepper looked up at Tony hearing this and her mouth dropped open at the sight that greeted her.
I snickered, it was quiet funny, there was like, seven arms trying to dismantle the suit, and Tony was trying to be still…he just didn't do that part well. He was also balancing on one foot. It was quite the sight.
"I designed this to come off, so… hey!" Tony stated as one of the arms twisted his arm in the wrong direction.
"I really should be able to…don't you think so P…" Tony thought aloud as Jarvis said, interrupting Tony before our cover could be blown.
"Please, try not to move, sir."
Tony got a confused look on his face, realizing that Jarvis interrupted him at that moment for a reason.
"What's going on here?" Pepper asked, approaching the elevated platform.
Tony froze as he realized what happened; he obviously hadn't heard me mention Pepper was coming. He glanced around, and noticing I wasn't visible, said,
"Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."
I turned visible for a moment, mouth gagged and made sure Tony saw me; before I vanished again.
"Are those bullet holes?" Pepper asked, horrified her eyes going wide.
I desperately wanted to say, 'yes, yes they are.' But I didn't, Pepper ruined all of my fun.
It had taken a while, but Tony was finally out of the Mark Three. Pepper had left, some big famous dude wanted to talk to Tony. She had to deal with it; and for the first time, I was glad I was no longer working for him.
"…and then I ripped open the guy's chute, talked to Rhodes about using a failed test flight as a cover story, and came home." Tony said, wrapping up the story of what happened in Afghanistan.
"Because everything is always that simple." I said, rolling my eyes. Tony was manually working on the suit. I was handing him tools, and tinkering with the left glove.
"Trouble just loves you, doesn't it Dad?" I commented, thinking out all of the situations, both hostile and hilarious that I knew of.
"Must be a Stark thing." Tony commented with a small grin.
"Sir, Pepper is coming." Jarvis said, I instantly put the glove down and turned invisible.
As I hopped off the desk, Pepper walked in.
"Close one." I muttered in Tony's ear. He gave me a discreet nod before turning to Pepper.
"Hey, you busy? You mind if I send you on an errand?" Tony asked walking towards her, putting down his tools. "I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe, and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests."
My mouth dropped open, I could do that; and in half the time Pepper could, hell, I could even do it without being seen!
"This is a lock chip." Tony said, handing Pepper a flash-drive. 'This'll get you in."
I huffed; being invisible was a pain when you wanted to get someone's attention. I silently found a piece of paper and marker and quickly wrote Tony a note that I held up over Pepper's head.
I could do that! In half the time, and invisible!
Tony glanced questionably at the message, before shaking his head no slightly.
"It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading." Tony commented lowly, moving some his tools around, not looking at me or Pepper.
"And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?" Pepper asked quietly.
"Same drill." Tony replied, and I couldn't help but wince at the way he said it. "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."
I wrote another message and waved it around until Tony glanced at it.
You mean we are going to stop them. We're in this together. Family sticks together.
I knew that the last jibe was mean, and brought up bad memories with Yinsen but I was determined to get through to my father.
"Tony," Pepper said resentfully, "you know that I would help you with anything; but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again."
'All this again?' I wondered, 'What's she talking about?'
"I watched you practically destroy yourself because of Evanna for years Tony," My breath caught at the mention of my mother…Pepper couldn't have worked for Tony that long…could she? "I will not watch you go back down that path."
I saw Tony's eyebrow twitch at the mention of my mother, and his eyes flickered to me for a brief moment before he reinforced his mask.
"There is nothing except this. There's no art opening, there is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else." Tony snapped, staring at Pepper heatedly; purposefully ignoring the comment about my mom.
My heart panged, but I told myself that Tony was just saying that because Pepper was there.
'But he cares for Pepper…' I thought to myself, 'I know he does…maybe he's just trying to make a point or get through to her.'
I hadn't even realized that my invisibility dropped before Tony glanced at me, his eyes widening for a moment, before they turned back towards Pepper. I quickly vanished from sight again, cursing myself for slipping.
"Is that so?" Pepper asked, her voice lighter than expected, I could hear the emotional mask.
"Well, then, I quit." Pepper added, after a moment of silence. She tossed the flash drive onto his desk, turned, and walked away.
"You stood by my side all these years," Tony said his voice filled with pain, "while I reaped the benefits of destruction."
Pepper turned at the harshness in his voice, "and now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way," the unsaid 'ones I care about' was obvious, "you're going to walk out?"
"You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it." Pepper stated, shaking her head.
'It's better to be part of something bigger, then nothing at all.' I stated, and wished I could say it out loud. I wondered if there would ever be a time where I wouldn't have to hide.
"I shouldn't be alive," Tony stated, sitting down in his chair. His eyes were downcast, and I could tell he was wallowing in memories.
'But you are, you are alive.' I thought, oh how much I wished I could talk. I wrote the message on the paper and after moving behind Pepper again, I held it up for my dad to see.
"Unless it was for a reason." Tony added quietly. "I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do."
There was a pause, and my pride for my father swelled and he continued, "And I know in my heart that it's right."
Tony looked back down, and slowly Pepper walked over and picked up the flash-drive.
"You're all I have, too, you know." Pepper said softly as she left.
I dropped my invisibility, walked over and sat in Tony's lap.
"I'm here too, you know." I said, leaning into his chest, and wrapping my arms around him.
He slowly pulled his arms around my thin frame and tucked my head under his chin.
"I know."
This chapter was a bit choppy at the beginning, but hey, I did my best. Last slow chapter for a while people, the plot thickens.
The next few chapters are gonna be FUN! And interesting! ... and a small bit depressing! Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it.
Cp