The Unknown Variable

You shall be submitted to a physcological Evaluation by Fati and Mortem if any of you think I own Marvel, Disney, or JK's work.

It shall not be pleasant…you have been warned.

I had still been to out of it after the major panic attack and almost drowning…Selvig or Jane…I wasn't sure which…the memory was all blurry, had carried me back to my house.

After they left…about an hour later, once they were sure that I was okay, I turned the HAI back on and Flashed home.

Dad had freaked out when he saw me all wet, shaking, and with red eyes.

He held me for a while as I, sobbing my eyes out again, told him what happened. Dad didn't really say much on the matter; he just let me cry and told me everything was alright.

I eventually fell asleep, and it wasn't until after Dad left, that Mortem reappeared.

I woke up for a second, to see him glaring murderously at the ceiling, before pulling me into his lap; and I fell back asleep with his arms wrapped around me.

I gasped awake, trying to push the vivid nightmare away. Mortem's arms wrapped tighter around me in comfort as he saw me awake.

I mentally groaned, it looked like the flashback had triggered all kinds of memories that I had tried to forget…and the nightmares were back. Just great.

They weren't the same nightmares from six months ago however, now they involved Stane, Dad dying in numerous ways, and strangely, Fury (who I still hadn't met, but I had watched the surveillance tapes…that he didn't know about…of his and Dad's meeting,) locking me up in some SHIELD base.

I winced as my chest seared in pain, and I remembered that I had left the water bottle filled with the fizzy drink at Mrs. Hyln's house.

I rubbed my chest and coughed harshly as the pain flared again.

Mortem rubbed my arm and pulled me back against his chest as he rubbed my arms in comfort.

I closed my eyes and sighed, before I jumped at the sound of something shattering from the Lab.

I sighed and slowly got up from Mortem's arms and the comfortable bed. I stumbled as my vision spun and I had to grab onto the bed frame to keep myself from falling.

Mortem's cold arms wrapped around my waist and he silently supported me as I regained my balance.

"Thanks," I whispered, as my head and vision returned to normal. Mortem nodded, his silver eyes fixed on mine, as he handed me another blue fizzy drink that had literally just appeared out of thin air.

With a small smile at his antics I took a sip of the offered drink. As the bubbles slid down my throat, the pain in my chest faded, and my limbs and eyelids no longer felt like led.

With a kiss to my temple, Mortem let me go, and after glaring at the ceiling he said,

I'll be back soon…go deal with Tony.

I nodded slightly as he vanished into the shadows.

With a sigh, I slowly made my way out of my room. Narrowing my eyes at the bright light, I spotted Tony easily enough. He was sitting in one of the cars again; a glass of scotch in his hand, and another pile of broken glass lay against the wall.

The holographic screen was open in front of him, and I instantly recognized the information about Palladium poisoning that I had been looking at myself, a few months ago.

I grimaced, I wasn't sure just what Tony was upset about…it could be quite a few things attached to that information…but I knew that he wasn't in the best place.

The Stark Expo was opening tomorrow…or tonight…I wasn't sure what time it was. I knew that Tony was planning on some big entrance and celebration to kick it off. Sadly, because of Expo, memories about Howard had been dragged up for the both of us. Although I had never met the man, the thought of my grandfather left a bitter taste in his mouth; and it was worse for Tony. Who actually had to grow up with him.

"Dad?" I called softly, making sure that my hologram was up. Even though the fizzy drink that Mortem gave me made me feel better, I still looked like shit. I didn't want to worry him…but I knew that I had to. We couldn't avoid it any longer.

Tony's eyes widened as he spotted me, and with a wave of his hand the screen disappeared.

I sighed as I climbed into the car next to him. Tony looked guiltily between me and the glass of alcohol; I held my hand out and have him a look. Dad sighed, but handed the glass over and I slid it beneath the car.

"So…" Dad opened his mouth, probably to say something insignificant, so I cut him off.

"It seems that you have forgotten something, Dad." I stated sadly, looking out over the lab, unable to look at my father.

"Huh?" Tony asked in confusion, though I saw something flicker in his eyes. He knew, he just had been denying it…his conscious mind hadn't connected the dots like his subconscious had.

I shot him a stern look before pulling back up the holographic information about the Palladium poisoning.

"You're not the only one with a Palladium Core." I winced as I said it, and I continued to stare at the information…nothing would make this conversation easier.

"Oh God." I heard Tony gasp, before he cursed loudly.

He groaned and muttered under his breath, "I'm an idiot."

I sighed and turned to face my father, his face was in his hands, and he was pale in shock.

"No you're not, Daddy…I…I should've told you sooner…" I mumbled the last part to myself, but Dad still heard me.

"Oh baby…" Tony whispered as he wrapped his arms around me. I returned the hug, but it did nothing to quench the ball of guilt that had settled in my gut.

"How…how long have you known?" He asked quietly, he wasn't able to actually mention anything about us dying, but we both knew it.

"I…I noticed something…the same day…as the press conference…" I mumbled, and Tony pulled back in shock.

"You mean that you've known for six months about this?!" He exclaimed in worry and shock.

"Well…I didn't think it was that bad at first! I had had my Core for almost a year by that point…it was barely there…I estimated that it would take a while before it would get really bad…but it just got worse, and worse…"I sniffed, blinking back tears at the look of horror on Dad's face.

"How…how long…" he managed to ask, his dark eyes wide in worry and panic.

"Well…I'm not really sure…it keeps accelerating…first it was a year…then six months…then…" I paused, the words caught in my throat. "My powers…it's making it worse…I…I can't even use them half of the time anymore…"

"Penny," Tony stated, his voice sounding hollow. "How long?"

I took a deep breath and whispered, "Half a month? I don't know…it's…it's just getting worse…"

"Pen, why didn't you tell me?" He asked choking on his own words.

"The same reason you weren't going to tell me, Dad…I've been trying everything!" I was crying now, tears streamed down my face and the hopelessness crawled back into my heart. "I can't fix it…I've tried everything…there's nothing…"

"Penny!" Tony snapped, and I managed to lock eyes with his blurry figure, "We are going to fix this, alright. Don't think like that. It doesn't matter, we're Starks, and we will find a way to survive."

I nodded, but his words didn't make me feel better.

My eyes wondered back towards the screen, a small pop-up in the corner of the display caught my attention and my eyes widened.

"Is…is that your blood tox. Results!?" I exclaimed in shock.

Dad's eyes narrowed in confusion as he said slowly, "Yeah… Pen…Penny what's wrong?"

My mind whirled with the possibilities…Dad's had progressed so much faster than mine, it took him six months to get the same score it had taken me a year to get…oh shit…

I quickly did the mental calculations and estimates and my face paled….not that Tony noticed.

"Where's the thingy?" I asked, glancing around…trying to find what he used to test his blood. I could just go get my tablet…but I didn't feel up to moving.

"What thingy? Penny! What's wrong!" Tony exclaimed, looking at me in worry and confusion.

"Whatever you used…to test your blood…" I stated, before feeling like an idiot when Tony pulled the little device out of his pocket.

I quickly turned it on and pricked my finger, paling when the results appeared on both the screen and the device.

My blood had been at 23% blood toxicity yesterday, before the party. Now, I was at 31%. It had taken three months…after I found out about it, for it to get up to 10% another two months for it to get up to 16%, and it had accelerated to 23% in the past month…now…it had gained three months' worth of points in less than TWENTY-FOUR HOURS!

Dad, whose symptoms couldn't have shown up more than a half a month ago, was already at 11%. I don't know how long he had been checking his blood or if this was the first time he had done it.

"Is this your first blood test?" I asked, my mind whirling with different statistics and possibilities.

"Second, first one I did a few weeks ago…right before our trip to Rio. It was at 4%...why's this so important Penny?" Tony asked.

I sighed in relief; Tony's wasn't accelerating that quickly. I had a theory that ether my Sparks had been keeping the poisoning at bay, or Mortem…because if Dad's poisoning was anything to go by, I should've run into problems ages ago.

"I need you to keep me updated on your percentage…start testing every day." I stated before I started moving around the hologram, so I could hack into my Tablet without physically having to go get it.

"Penny! Why?" Tony said, pulling me around to face him, by frowning in confusion when he noticed that his hands seamed to go into my arms a bit. Shoot…there goes the hologram plan.

"Penny…" Tony said slowly "are you… wearing…a hologram…?"

I sighed, "I didn't want to worry you…" I stated slowly before flicking the small holo-ball that sat as a ring on my finger, off.

Tony's eyes widened and he cursed when he saw my appearance. "Penny! You can't hide this stuff from me! You need to tell me these things!"

I looked away from him, guilt coursing through my veins, "I didn't want to worry you…"

I heard Tony sigh and he spun me around to face him. "Pen, I'm your father…it's my job to worry about you."

I managed a weak smile, trying to ignore the throbbing that was reappearing.

"Now, please explain to me what you know? Since obviously you know more about this than I do?"

I winced at the tone of Dad's voice, by sighed and complied. He deserved to know, it wasn't just my life on the line any more…and while I couldn't be curtain until we did a few more blood tox. tests on him…I had this pit in my stomach that was telling me that neither of us had more than three weeks to live…two at the most for me.

Well, there was the much waited for revelation… yeah Penny is getting worst faster. I'm just going to guess and say that the whole Iron Man II movie line was about a week or so in length…I have no clue if that is accurate, but hey, that's what I'm going with.

Thanks for everything everyone, Iron Man II official starts next chapter…so you know (I'm pretty sure I said this before) but I only have Iron Man II on my Kindle Fire, and I can't get Amazon Instant on the Fire to have Subtitals, to it probably won't be as accurate as with Iron Man I, but that's okay, because this is where it starts to get a bit more AU. Not by much, but still.

Later,
Cp