The Unknown Variable

(Beta'd by Espacole as of 5/7/14)

Hey ya'll. If you still believe after all this time that I own what Disney, Marvel, and JK Rowling/Warner Bros. have claim too…then I am fully willing to sic Hel, and Loki onto you.

I still couldn't believe it.

Not only was Hel, the Norse Goddess of Death … or something similar, who reigned over the realm of Hell… real, but apparently she thought I was her friend.

I wasn't going to deny that…who would want to piss off a Goddess? Not me, but still. It was an interesting shock.

A few days after the Violin appeared, Mortem brought back with him a whole stack of old books, with the most 'accurate' of the Norse myths; according to him anyway.

I had been reading the myths nonstop, considering that it was the only part of Mortem's world I was allowed to know about.

I had also visited Bruce a few times over the past few months. He was always in a different place, and he was always surprised to see me. Really, I thought that he'd get used to it by now.

Anytime Hulk was up when I was there, we just ended up playing games like hide and seek and stuff till he calmed down. He had become extremely overprotective of me. Just what I needed, someone else with stubbornness issues determined to keep me safe.

Speaking of Dad, Tony had been out a lot lately. He had really taken the whole 'I'm gonna change the world' seriously.

Sadly, it meant that I worried about him more, and for once I sympathized with Pepper. She was the one who everyone bugged about Tony. However, she was also the one who could check in on him without having to be super careful.

Rhodey came by on the days that Dad was off being Iron Man, he tried to help me…and part of me was mad that Tony was so caught up in being a super hero.

Thankfully…or not so much, Dad being gone all the time meant that when he got back, after I made sure he really was fine, we would spend days on end together.

Movie nights, pranks, projects, and just good times were constant when Tony was home.

When he wasn't, Mortem and I sparred, I would play the Violin that Hel had given…back?...to me, and we would just…enjoy life.

The day that the email came in, saying that I was now a graduate, Tony wasn't home. But Mortem was…that day something changed, it was small. But it changed everything…forever.

a week before, three months after Stane

I sighed as I twirled a pen in-between my fingers. Mortem shifted next to me, my Tablet in his hands.

He had been horrified when he realized I had like…no knowledge about music. So, for the past week, any spare moment, Mortem would fill with different songs, successful ones, pitiful ones; ones that I ended up liking, ones that I despised, and ones that I thought just made no sense.

Who knew that there was so much selection in the world?

My attention was drawn away from the M&M (or Eminem which ever you prefer) song that was blaring through the speakers as a soft ding interrupted the song.

"Give it here." I stated, wanted to see who had emailed me. Not many people ever did. I had a different ring for the Worm, and other programs, so I knew it wasn't them.

Mortem sighed, but he paused the song and passed it over.

Rolling my eyes at his attempts to 'educate me' in the music culture I pulled up my email. Raising my eyebrow seeing that I had gotten a new email from the Director of MIT I opened the email.

My eyes widened and I dropped the Tablet to the floor and started bouncing on my bed, a large smile on my face.

"Yes!" I cried as I jumped, Mortem was thrown into the air but quickly stood up and looked at me in confusion as I continued to jump and cheer in joy.

I couldn't stop grinning I just couldn't believe it! Oh, this was sooooo awesome.

What? I saw Mortem ask and before I knew it I had jumped onto the floor and spun around my room as I explained.

"Oh, Mortem! I'm so happy! It was all so confusing when I saw the email, I mean. He never emails me. But oh! It's so exciting. I mean, sure I was sure it would happen but still! Oh, I can't believe it! I'm just so happ…"

I'm not sure what happened, Mortem just appeared in front of me and the next thing I knew my lips were on his.

My eyes widened as I snapped back to reality and pulled away.

I had kissed him…I kissed Death!

"Oh… God M…Mortem…I'm so sorry…I…" I stumbled, trying to hide my blush as I stared at the ground.

'Oh God, what on earth did I just do?' I asked myself, horrified.

Fear gripped my heart as my brain brought up crazy scenarios.

'Oh, he's going to hate me now! It was such a good moment too…oh but now it's ruined. I ruined it…he's going to leave and never come back!' I thought to myself, throwing myself deeper and deeper into the dark pit. 'I mean seriously, he's death! I'm just a stupid mortal…'

I snapped out of my depressing thoughts as Mortem lifted my chin up and stared into my eyes.

My eyebrows furrowed as I noticed an identifiable emotion in the silvery eyes.

Don't be he signed, his face soft. He leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead softly before backing away and signing,

Now, what's got you so excited?

Swallowing all the nervousness, a small smile appeared back on my face as I said flippantly, "Oh…nothing…I'm just getting my diplomas…"

I squealed as Mortem picked me up and spun around, my eyes widened in surprise at the action but then I noticed that he seemed just as happy for me as I was.

He set me down and for just a second, both of us were frozen, nose to nose, before his lips touched mine.

I returned the kiss until he pulled back, and with a large grin on his face he signed,

I'm proud of you, my dear. A smirk appeared on his face as he continued; I know just how to celebrate.

It was only then, that I realized that I had just had my first kiss.

Apparently, Mortem's idea of a celebration was three large tubs of ice cream, six cans of whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and an enormous pile of candy.

I had such a sugar high by the time Tony got home that night…it wasn't funny. Tony and I both got great blackmail for each other that night…but I did learn one thing. Whipped cream is killer to get out of your hair.

When Tony discovered just what had caused me to get high off of sugar (well, the reason I could tell him about…I couldn't really tell him that I was dating Death now, could I?) he placed a call to the Director, (who he knew well) and the next day we both flew out to Massachusetts and the Director gave me the diplomas' in person.

He was thrilled that his best student (his words, not mine) was the secret daughter of Tony Stark.

He understood the need for secrecy, especially now that my dad was a superhero, and promised that not a word would leave his lips about the matter.

He kept the diplomas under my Telnets name, but he promised that the moment the news came out, and he was certain it would eventually, that he would switch it over to my real name.

I wasn't too comfortable with telling the director that was until I discovered that Tony had Jarvis hack into his main frame and keep an eye on him. Just in case.

A few days later, when my diplomas 'came in the mail' (a cover we three had agreed on) I smirked and after getting a ride from my neighbor Mrs. Hyln and her kids, I skipped into Darcy and Jane's office.

"Penny?" Darcy said being the first one to notice me. "What are you doing here?"

I smirked and waved the orange envelope around. "Oh, nothing. It's not like anything you might be interested in came in the mail…"

A smile broke across Darcy's face as she reached in and pulled out the diplomas. (That I had slid into the empty envelope.)

Jane, seeing the commotion, walked over and when she spotted the certificates smiled brightly.

"Congratulations Penny, you deserve it!" Jane cheered, throwing her arm around my shoulders.

"What's going on in here? There are algorithms that need to be run. Telnets? What are you doing here? You don't work until tomorrow." Dr. Selvig exclaimed as he entered the room.

Darcy rolled her eyes at the elder man and replied, "You have to be nicer to her now she has two more doctorates under her name."

The doctor's eyes widened and a small smile appeared on his face as he said, "Diploma's came, did they?"

I nodded and Jane passed the papers over to her colleague.

He stared at the papers for a moment before a grin appeared on his face and he said, "Well, this calls for a celebration. Come one. Dinner's on me."

I almost groaned, I didn't need to celebrate anymore. Tony had been showering me in gifts and surprises for the past few days. But still, it was okay to feed your ego from time to time…right?

By the end of the night the whole town knew about it. After dinner, Mrs. Hyln threw a party at her house, and most of the town showed up.

By nine, I was dead tired and really wanted to go home. But I couldn't just ditch them…they were doing it for me. It was the least I could do, putting on a fake smile and celebrated with everyone else.

It also didn't help that Jane had ruined the night, by asking a question that I had been avoiding.

"Are you planning on going into anything else in the coming years?" She commented, before trying to convince me to go into astrophysics.

Of-course, originally, I was contemplating going into a deeper part of physics, but now that I was slowly dying…yeah. That totally messed up the rest of the night.

The party actually turned around a bit once everyone went outside and the party slowed down.

Mrs. Hyln had a nice patio and desert garden surrounding a large, nicely kept swimming pool.

I stayed away from that pool, just looking at the body of water sent shivers down my spine.

I left the instant people started jumping in; there was no way I was swimming. The last thing I needed was to have a panic attack in front of the whole town.

"Where are you going?" Selvig asked a beer in hand as he leaned against the fence.

I sighed and spared him a glance before I continued passed him.

"Home, I'm not a big fan of water." I stated coldly as Selvig followed me through the gate and towards my house.

"Any specific reason?" He asked taking a swing from the brown bottle.

I rolled my eyes, really, why couldn't I just go home to my father and new boyfriend?

Selvig was still following me as I walked up my drive way and slid the key into the lock.

"Does it have something to do with what happened overseas?"

My eyebrow twitched as I turned back around and glared at him, before slamming the door in his face.

I swear I heard him say, "Thought so," before walking away.

It was none of his business anyway. He better stay out of it.

'Well,' I thought to myself as I turned back on the HAI (Holographic Artificial Intelligence) and left 'There goes my night.'

Hey, hope I did a good job with this chapter… wasn't too sure how it turned out. I was so tempted to name this chapter "I Kissed Death!" but I thought that it would give away too much…but it would be hilarious!

Is that a little foreshadowing I see up there? Well, I'm not telling! Hehe, well, there yah go!

I know the topic of Penny's poisoning hasn't been brought up much, but I've got a plan… it'll be talked more about in the following chapters.

Thanks to Espacole!
Cp