The Unknown Variable

(Beta'd as of 1/27/14)

Go sent your evil legal hounds someplace else, for I own nothing.

It was exhilarating.

It was an extreme, intense, overwhelming high.

Every nerve was aflame, every molecule sparking with energy.

It was….

Indescribable;

Unimaginable;

Inconceivable;

Unspeakable…

It was, unworldly.

As soon as the blast of pure, electrifying energy hit us, I pulled as much as I could into my body, while at the same time, directing it into my shield.

My mind blurred, as my consciousness connected to every spark of that large blast.

The impact of the blast threw Tony and me onto the roof, out of the way of the large blast. My shield repelled most of the flying bots, consuming the rest that threatened our lives.

The whole sky lit up with enough light to awaken everyone in a fifty mile radius. I vaguely heard Stane's pain filled scream, as he was caught in the middle of the electrical storm. I also vaguely remember a large beam of pure energy shooting into the sky like a… well… like something.

I was barely able to hear the distant thunder crackling, caused by the new amount of electricity in the atmosphere.

My eyes finally closed as the noise vanished in one large zap, and everything around me went dark.

I heard large thundering crashes, and I imagined that Stane had fallen into the Arc bellow.

There was a large explosion I felt Dad shift next to me, and his metal suit covered my body just as the flames exploded around us.

The explosion was short, but the smell of electrical fire filled my nostrils.

Dad slumped back down next to me, and I slowly rolled over to face him; wincing while I moved.

"Daddy?" I whispered, but as I could barely hear my own voice, I could tell that he couldn't hear me.

"Daddy?" I croaked, raising my voice as my spinning mind slowly became more aware. I noticed the charred, smashed remains of the Mark Three, and as I managed to push myself up on one elbow, my eyes widened as I noticed the Arc in his chest was out.

My whole body was sore and tired. My Core was fluttering, exhausted from having to channel so much energy in such a short amount of time. But that didn't stop the pure horror that filled me, seeing my father's motionless body.

"Daddy!" I cried, struggling to move. Biting my lip, I managed to heave myself up into a sitting position that caused my head to spin.

"Wake up Daddy!" I cried, tears threatening to spill over. A tear dropped from my eye as I tried to call my sparks to my hands.

"No!" I cried as my Core fluttered, unable to heed my command. "Daddy!"

I squinted my eyes and tried to push the sparks into my fingers. One lone spark appeared for an instant before it vanished.

"Come on Daddy!" I yelled shoving him just enough to make the suit rock.

My eyes widened as the damaged Reactor started to flutter, slowly, back to life.

"Oh, thank God." I cried in relief as the Arc slowly flickered, its light starting to glow once again.

"Tony!" My head snapped to the side as I heard Pepper's voice echo through the factory.

Conflict tore through my heart; I didn't want to get discovered, but… I didn't want to leave Tony here alone.

"Tony!" Pepper's voice was getting closer, and I could hear the faint sound of debris being shifted.

'Arg,' I sighed to myself, realizing that the SHIELD agents were still here. I had forgotten about them.

I pulled the hood over my head just as Pepper and two SHEILD agents burst onto the roof from the stairway.

"Freeze!" Agent Coulson, who looked more banged up than usual, announced training his gun on me.

'Well, that was a close call.' I thought as I put my hands up.

"Who are you?" Pepper demanded again, as she carefully hurried over to Tony. The other agent was calling for backup, a cleanup team, and a medical team.

"Just a friend." I replied again, taking a few steps away from Tony so that the worried PA could get close to her boss.

"You need to come with us for questioning." Agent Coulson said, stepping closer cautiously.

I shook my head, and replied, "Can't do that. Sorry. Family's waiting for me."

I took a step back as the two agents slowly got closer. "We just want to talk with you."

I sighed, my Core was still fluttering, but the air was charged enough… it might just work.

"Sorry, I mean that. But I can't." I replied as I raised one arm into the air, and started drawing the static to me.

"See yah 'round." I called as I pulled the electricity from the air to Flash me home; and I vanished with a very visible and loud strike of lightning.

"Gah!" I exclaimed as I fell flat onto my face reappearing in my hidden room.

"Ow…" I moaned slowly getting to my feet. Taking a deep breath against the fatigue, I shivered as Mortem appeared next to me.

"Help me out of this." I stated tiredly. A small, sad smile appeared on Mortem's face as he slowly undid all of the metal hinges and removed my thin suit.

I collapsed onto the bed as the last of the suit was removed. My body was black and blue… or it would be soon. Each breath I took seamed to last for a lifetime, and each movement felt like I was trying to move a mountain.

I opened my eyes tiredly as I felt Mortem tap my arm.

"What?" I croaked tiredly, I was emotionally, physically, and mentally drained. I wanted to sleep. For like…ever.

You look like hell. He stated, and I would've rolled my eyes if I could.

"Obviously." I drawled, my eyes closing again. "Would've been better if you were there."

I cracked one eye back open as Mortem tapped my arm again to get my attention.

Can't interfere. You know that.

Oh, I knew that. Mortem had tried to explain what he could a while ago. I just didn't really care.

"Yeah…can't interfere in major events. I think you already blew that one." I commented, closing my eyes again.

I just wanted to sleep…why was I talking to him again?

Mortem didn't answer, and I had a feeling that he couldn't find a way around all of the stuff he wasn't supposed to tell me.

"Unless you found a loophole or something." I muttered to myself, knowing that that was probably the case.

"I'm going to sleep now… wake me in a few hours. Dad's going to need a new Arc…" I sighed as I drifted off to sleep; Mortem sitting by my side.

I had slept for about an hour and a half, before I woke up. Mortem was gone…again…but I felt that he had done something, for I felt like I had slept for much longer.

With most of my energy back, and my Core no longer fluttering, I set to work on Tony's new Reactor.

Thankfully, we had ordered extra of the materials just in case. We just hadn't bothered to build any extras… I was going to have to fix that.

So anyway, about four-ish hours (I lost track to be honest) after I woke up, Tony's new Arc was finished.

I placed the new Arc, in the top drawer in his desk… I couldn't just bring it to him…and it couldn't just appear next to him…

A smile spread across my face as I got an idea.

"Jarvis?" I called my voice not nearly as loud or cheerful as usual.

"Yes Miss Penny?" the AI replied, also sounding tired.

'How does a computer sound tired?' I wondered silently as I said, "Call Rhodey for me, would you?"

"Right away Miss Penny." Jarvis replied, and a moment later, the call appeared on Tony's screen.

The phone rang a few times before the call connected and Rhodey's voice drifted through the computer speakers.

"Hello?" Rhodey said, sounding confused.

'He probably has caller ID, recognized Tony's number but knows that Tony isn't calling.' I reasoned to myself.

"Hey," I said, snapping out of my thoughts. "It's me."

I heard Rhodey sigh in relief and say, "It's good to hear from you."

'Hmm…probably not the only one in the room…' I thought.

"Is he up yet?" I asked, and I knew that Rhodey would know that I was talking about Tony.

"Yeah," He replied simply.

"Totally not alone." I muttered before saying louder, "Have an errand for you. Talk to Tony, see if you can convince him to tell you where his backup Arc is. Top drawer of his desk, in the lab. Left hand side."

"I'll see what I can do. Thank you for your concern." Rhodey said before hanging up.

"Pretty sure that was a 'Got it.'." I muttered to myself as I left the lab; my bracelet beeping. Someone was walking up my drive way.

And done, not much action in this chapter… yeah. Hope you all enjoyed it, thanks everyone for everything, special thanks to Espacole for Beta'ing.

Cp