The Unknown Variable

Leave me alone. I do not own what you want. Go look someplace else…

"But Dad!" I exclaimed, ignoring the worsening pain in my chest…was it just me or did the air seem thicker? "I want to go!"

"No, Penny. I want you to stay here! You're getting worse; Romanoff will be there, not to mention that it might actually hurt you." Tony replied as he started locking down the lab.

Tony had hired Romanoff about an hour ago, and now he had to fly down to Monaco for the Grand Prix, which Tony had booked months ago. So he couldn't ditch…Pepper would kill him a week early.

We had tested our blood last night before bed, Tony had skyrocketed up to 34% and mine…well…mine was 58%.

Tony had sighed sadly when he saw last night's results. We were supposed to run them again before Dad left, but hiring Romanoff had taken more time than I thought and he was late.

"But Dad…I don't want to be stuck here for the rest of…" I paused, unable to say what I was about to.

Tony sighed and looked at me with a mixture of emotions on his face; tiredness, sadness, disappointment, and a few other negative emotions.

"I know…how about you go back…no you can't Flash anymore…" Tony started to suggest that I go back to NM and stuff…but I wasn't Flashing again. It caused too much pain. Jane had showed up at my house, and because Mortem had been otherwise occupied, I Flashed over there and back. Flashing over was…bearable…barely. Flashing back however…was a different story. I had completely collapsed in pain, and was personally surprised that I managed to make it back in one peace. Now, even trying to pull up my sparks to Flash makes me practically scream in pain. It was not, and is not, pleasant.

"Dad, please, I'll just be stuck here." I pleaded with my father. It wasn't like I was going to do anything! I just wanted to get out of the house.

"I know Penny," Tony snapped, before he sighed and continued softly, "I know, but I want you to stay here."

Tony wrapped me in a hug before walking up the stairs to where Pepper was calling him.

"Bye…" I called watching sadly as he retreated.

"Be safe Pen." Tony called through the door before heading up the stairs.

"I should be the one telling you that." I stated, before Mortem appeared and wrapped his arms around me.

"Ah," I hissed in pain and leaned back into Mortem's embrace as another surge of pain flared through my body.

Mortem led me towards the couch and laid me down, before his arms were instantly rubbing my shoulders.

"Mmmm…" I muttered as my eyelids dropped. "That feels…good…"

I didn't see Mortem smirk. But I just knew he was, I was certain of it.

Tony's POV

Part of me felt bad that I left Penny behind. There was no way that I was going to let her come, no, it was the fact that with her worsening health…I was afraid that something would happen and I wouldn't be there to help.

I sighed, and wished that I hadn't forgotten the com. the one thing that we both agreed to keep on us at all times.

Man, this just wasn't my day. Our percentages were getting worse, I now had a SHIELD spy working for me, my own flares were getting worse, and I still couldn't figure out a way to tell Pepper.

This is what I thought as I got out of the car and led Pepper inside.

Knowing that Romanoff was waiting for us, I knew that I had to break it to her somehow.

"Make sure, that whatever happens in the next…twenty minutes…just go with it." I told her as we entered the VIP viewing room for the Pix.

"Go with what?" Pepper asked, "I don't…"

"With that." I replied as Romanoff drew attention to herself.

"Mr. Stark." She said as she appeared, I instantly noticed that her v neck was particularly low showing off part of her bra. It was lower than Pepper would ever wear it, and lower than I would ever allow Penny to wear. Totally for my attention; she was good.

But sadly, for her, Pen and I were better.

"Hey," I stated, taking off my glasses and giving her an almost smile. Covers... we all had appearances to keep.

"Hello how was your flight?" She asked and I keep my face cool, even though I knew Pepper was planning my murder.

"It was excellent." I replied instantly, as Pepper looked around shocked. I was going to tell her, but the thought of Penny home alone and in pain…distracted me. "It is nice to see you."

A waiter walked up and handed both me and Pepper glasses of scotch, and I was tempted to just down it, it was only my promise to Penny that kept me from doing that.

"We have one photographer from the ACM if you don't mind." Romanoff stated and waved the man over.

"Cheers." I told Pepper just as Romanoff took the glasses out of our hands. That, was not fair.

"Sure, yes," I replied mentally sighing, this was all a game, one that I had been playing for many years. Did Romanoff seriously think that I was this naïve? Probably, I was good at the game.

"Umm, hmm," I hummed plastering a smile on my face as Pepper started to bite into me.

"When did you plan on telling me…" Pepper started but I interrupted her, in front of reporters is never a good place to 'discuss' something.

"Smile, you're doing it…your making that face." I stated, trying to get her to drop it.

"Well, you…" Pepper tried to continue but I blocked her again.

"Smile, look right there." I said, pointing at the camera.

"Oh, you." Pepper sighed as she put a large smile on her face, making various sighing noises that promised that she would chew me out later.

"Stop acting constipated." I stated, stepping closer to Pepper and folding my arms behind my back. These were my last few days, I wanted to leave with good images, and good press.

"You are so…" Pepper started in, glaring at me behind her smile.

"Don't flare your nostrils." I told her as Romanoff appeared again.

"You're done." She told me.

"Thanks," I replied and started to lead us away.

"You're so predictable, that is the amazing thing…" Pepper started, now that the photographer was gone. But I stepped away, not wanted to deal with her chewing me out.

"You look fantastic." I told the spy as Pepper trialed behind us, silently fuming and disappointed.

"Well, thank you very much." 'Rushman' replied instantly.

"But that's not professional. What's on the dock-it?" I asked, replacing my sunglasses. Let's see how well this spy played secretary.

"You have a 9:30 dinner," She started, looking at me.

"Perfect, I'll be there at eleven." I informed her as I pulled off the glasses again. The glasses would help the current pain, for bright lights now hurt my eyes, but I knew that both Romanoff and Pepper did not approve.

"Is this us?" I asked, spotting, and approaching a corner table that I liked.

Romanoff froze mid-word, halting what she was about to say to reply, "Absa…It can be."

"Great," I replied, glancing back at Pepper to make sure she was still behind us. "Make it us."

"Okay," Romanoff replied, I then fled the windows as my chest flared. I grounded my teeth against the pain, and moved towards Pepper who had engaged in another conversation.

"Mr. Musk." Pepper stated, walking over to the table next our new one. "How are you?"

"Pepper, congratulations on the promotion." The white suited man said, shaking Pepper's hand.

I quickly walked up, and Mr. Musk's attention was drawn to me, "Eli, how's it going. How's Merlin, I heard the engines are fantastic."

"Good, I have an idea for an electric jet." He replied as I passed him, heading towards the bar.

"You do?" I stated, unable to hide the small bit of disbelief from my voice.

"Yeah," Eli Musk replied weakly with a smile.

"Then we'll make it work." I stated as I turned my attention back to Pepper, who I noticed somehow managed to get another drink.

There was a moment of silence, my brain flew with different possible things to say, I went with the more…innocent one.

"You want a massage?" I asked, Pepper sighed in response and looked amused.

"Oh Go, no, I don't want a massage." She replied as I insisted.

"I'll have Natalie make you an appointment." I told her, reminding myself to use her cover first name.

"I don't want Natalie to do anything for me." Pepper said with a sigh, I knew she was not happy.

"By the way, I really didn't mean to spring this on you…" I started and she interrupted me.

"Thank you very much." Pepper replied.

"Green is not your best color." I stated randomly, as I turned my back to Hammer. I had seen him, and desperately hoped that he hadn't seen me.

I couldn't stand that man.

"Oh please, will you stop." Pepper told me as Hammer practically yelled at me.

"Oh, Anthony!" He called, loudly over to me. "Is that you?"

"My least favorite person on Earth, Justin Hammer." I stated as Hammer appeared right in front of me. God, how I wanted to shoot that man, he would be sorry if he ever met me while I was suited up. I should do that, sometime before I…yeah I'm doing that soon.

"Hey, pal, how're you doing?" Hammer asked in a hyper voice, clapping me on the shoulder. "You're not the only rich guy here with a fancy car."

Pepper looked very smug, and I knew she was going to ditch me to deal with this worm alone.

I sighed, and tried to keep myself from punching the man as he continued.

"Do you know Christina Evenheart? From Vanity Fair? Do you two know each other?" Justin asked, as the blonde reporter walked over to his side.

I turned away, trying not to hit both of them. While Evenheart was one of the more…tolerable reporters, I still couldn't stand her. Not just because she was my last before Afghanistan.

"Hello," She said to us, and Pepper replied with a strained hello herself.

"Yes," Pepper replied to Hammer.

"Yes, roughly." I replied, turning back around, my mask firmly in place. Oh, how I hated this man.

"We do, roughly…" Pepper agreed with me, obviously annoyed at seeing the blonde again.

"BTW," Hammer said to Evenheart pointing at Pepper.

'Seriously?' I thought, 'are you a professional or not? Not even my teenage daughter does that.'

"Big story, the new the CEO of Stark Industries, congratulations." Hammer said, pointing at Pepper the whole time.

I clenched my jaw to refrain from saying anything. God, this man was annoying.

"I know, I know." Evenheart said to Hammer, it seemed that he annoyed her too. "My editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our powerful women issue. Can I?" her sentence directed at Pepper.

"Oh," Pepper replied somewhat shocked. "Sure."

"Um," Hammer said, trying to bring the attention back to himself. "She's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair, for my own…you know…"

Evenheart nodded along, but her eyes kept flickering between me and Pepper, she really didn't want to be interviewing him.

"Right?" Hammer added, looking at the blonde reporter.

"Yes," she replied swiftly.

"Ah," Pepper stated and my gaze drifted away as my chest flared again. Damn, this was getting worse.

I shook my head, trying to ignore Hammer and tried to get the pain under control. Pepper was handling the situation.

"She did quiet the, spread, on Tony last year." Pepper said looking at me briefly.

"And she did a story on me as well." I added, gazing at Hammer, mentally sighing at the painful flare dispersed.

"It was…very impressive." Pepper stated as I cleared my throat. Yeah, not bringing up pleasant memories here, I wanted to leave.

"It was good." I added on as Pepper continued.

"Very well done" This was a game, or strategy, however you want to perceive it, that we had come up with years ago.

"So," Pepper continued as Evenheart thanked us for our compliments. "I'm going to go wash…"

"Don't leave me." I stated urgently as Pepper started to walk away. Shit, now I was stuck alone with both of them.

"How you doing?" Hammer asked, placing his arm around my back.

I instantly stopped leaning on the counter, even though I really didn't want to stand and replied, "Alright,"

"You're looking gorgeous." Hammer stated, eyeing my suit.

'God, is he gay or something!?' I thought, horrified. I did not need to deal with this now.

"This is tough," I stated, wincing against an unexpected flash, my eyes burned and I mentally cursed. That hurt.

"Hey, can I ask, this is the first time," Even heart started as she pulled out a recorder, and I slid my sunglasses back on. "You've seen each other since…"

"Oh, God. It's all so awful." I stated and Hammer laughed. I wasn't joking.

"Listen." Evenheart snapped, "This is the first time you've seen each other since the senate."

"Um, since he got his contract revoked." I said, starting to walk away. Distract reporter, get Hammer in bad press, and escape; a great plan.

"Um, actually…" Hammer tried to input but I ignored him. "It's on hold."

"I can't believe this." I muttered to myself "That's not what I heard. What's your difference between hold and canceled." I asked, and Evenheart looked gleeful. I bet this was the most interesting thing she had heard about him all day.

"Yes, what is?" Evenheart asked, rounding on a flustered Hammer.

"Um," Hammer muttered unsure what to say.

A smirk appeared on my face as I added, "The truth?"

"Um…the truth is …why don't we put that away…" Hammer stated as he hit Evenheart's recorder. That was rude.

"Why don't we?" I stated, just going with the flow while I was trying to spot a way to escape.

"The truth is that we are hoping to present something at your Expo." Hammer said, trying to cover up the loss of his contract.

"Well," I replied, "If you invent something that works I'll make sure I get you a slot." I stated just as Romanoff appeared behind me.

"Mr. Stark?" She said, and I almost jumped up in joy. Thank you spy girl.

"Yes?" I replied, instantly standing up.

"Your corner table is ready." Romanoff informed me.

I nodded and I heard Hammer tell Evenheart that he would have a slot this year.

"Hammer needs a slot Christi." I stated as Romanoff led me away.

"He's kidding…ah…hahaha…" Hammer said nervously, lying through his teeth. "We kid, we're kidders."

A few minutes later I managed to slip away from everyone and escape into the bathroom. My chest had flared three times within the past hour, and five times within the past two. It was getting worse.

I sighed as I pressed my thumb to my blood tester and cursed when the toxicity percentage came up. 53%, it was progressing even worse.

The blood drained out of my face as I realized I needed to contact Penny. So far she had been about 20% ahead of me since this started…she was getting worse. Way worse, we both were.

I just hoped she was okay.

As I stared at myself in the mirror, or rather, at the Arc that was killing me, an idea appeared in my mind.

Pepper would kill me, Penny would kill me…but hey. I was dying I could do whatever the hell I wanted.

I should have let Penny come. Now I knew how she felt. "Any more bad ideas?" I asked myself in the mirror.

I needed to call Penny.

OK PEOPLE, I GET IT, I MESSED UP. BLACK WIDOW IS PLAYED BY THE SAME GIRL. I JUST THINK HER CARECTOR WAS WRITTEN BETTER IN THE AVENGERS! I THANK THE FIRST PERSON TO TELL ME, xXAnimeXXRevolutionXx. TO THE OTHER 20 PEOPLE WHO ALSO INFORMED ME OF THAT FACT, NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE, BUT IT GOT ANNOYING.

xXAnimeXXRevolutionXx you get a cyber cookie. thanks

The fight will be next chapter, and yeah, Tony's still going a bit crazy, but hey! Penny is going to too! Next chapter will be FUN! Hehe, *evil grin*

Oh, and Penny won't be keeping her rationality for long. the whole, "you only live once" mind-scape is going to come into play for her soon. She's going to start being more...reckless..is a good word.

Thanks to everyone, I know that there wasn't a lot of Penny in this chapter, but hey. I wasn't sure how else to write it.

Thanks to Expecto Prongs,
Cp