The Unknown Variable

If you think I own anything, I shall fry you up and feed you to Nagini.

Penny POV

My chest had been flaring constantly since Dad had left, however, Mortem's massage (had he worked as a masseuse sometime? He was good) had helped me relax and deal with the pain; even though I still wanted to get out of the house.

When I had told Mortem that, about two…three hours ago…he decided to take me on a trip.

So, he teleported me to Italy, and we were currently in Rome, looking at the coliseum. It was old, cool, and haunted.

I was surprised to see ghosts there. I had never seen them before, and I wondered if it had anything to do with seeing Mortem, so I asked him.

He had sighed and said, it is a mixture of things. You would have developed this ability over time, because of time spent with me. But it is actually progressing because of how close to death you are.

I wasn't sure how to reply to that. I mean, sure, I knew I was standing on my last legs, it was just weird to actually hear death himself telling you.

The black lines now covered my entire chest, and were making their way up my neck and down my shoulders. I was in almost constant pain, and the blue drink no longer made the pain vanish, it just dulled it to barely manageable.

"Penny." I heard through the com. as I sat down to rest on a bench by the side of the road. Rome was interesting, and old. But I was tired.

"Dad, I thought you forgot your com?" I asked, surprised to hear from him.

"I did, but I called the house and had Jarvis patch me through." He sounded out of breath, and my eyes narrowed in suspicion and concern.

"Dad, are you okay?" I asked as Mortem helped me stand up. My muscles have been weakened greatly by the poison, and I couldn't walk for long periods of time on my own.

"What? Yeah I'm fine. I just tested my blood again. It's jumped. I want you to test yours and let me know…okay?" he said, there was loud noise in the background; it sounded like the Grand Pix broadcast was extremely loud.

"How loud is that TV up Dad?" I asked, as sighed to Mortem, Take me home.

He nodded and wrapped his arms around my shoulders; we vanished into cold shadows for a moment, before reappearing back in the lab.

"…Grand Pix." Tony finished his sentence sounding nervous.

"What Dad? Sorry I missed that." I said, sitting down slowly on the couch.

"…It's not the TV you're hearing…I'm driving." Tony said nervously, and I turned up the volume on the TV which was showing the race.

"…Tony Stark has replaced his driver in the Grande Pix, this has come as a surprise to many of the viewers watching this race…" I heard the reporter translating the broadcast to English. My eyes widened as I saw Tony's name on screen, and saw a quick flash of him as he drove around a turn.

"DAD! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!" I yelled into the com. causing Mortem to flinch away from me.

"And how the hell isn't the noise louder?" I asked, knowing that those stupid race cars are LOUD!

"Had Jarvis filter out the noise, look Pen. I'm sorry; I should have let you come. Let's just say, that I know how you feel." Tony told me.

"Dad, okay, I get it. We're both dying, and I am sure that it is something that is making you feel better…but it does change the fact that IT'S A BAD IDEA….why didn't you take me." I pouted at the end. Race car driving, especially in the Grand Pix sounded fun it wasn't fair that Dad did it and I couldn't.

"Next time I get a bad idea, I'll bring you along. Okay?" Dad asked I could hear the grin in his voice. He was probably enjoying the thrill.

"Deal." I stated, my eyes narrowed as there was commotion on the track, someone was walking out.

My eyes widened and I jumped to my feet as the man, who was too far away to identify, tore open his shirt, revealing an Arc Reactor and electric whips appeared in his hands.

"SHIT! Dad, some crazy dude's on the track! He's got an Arc, and electric whips…why didn't I think of that?" I stated into the com. I watched in horror as he hit a car that was coming around the bend, the front broke off and it flew down the track flipping over many times before it crashed in flames farther down the road.

"Not the time Pen." He stated, I saw his car come around the turn.

"Dad!" I yelled as I saw the dude raise the whips. "LOOK OUT!"

There was no response as the man cut the front of the car clean off, causing Dad's car to flip, like the one before him and crash upside down into the wall.

"Dad? Dad! DADDY!" I yelled into the com as I got nothing but static back.

I pushed Mortem, who had been trying to comfort me, away. I marched over to the platform, sipping the blue drink in my hand as I went.

"Jarvis, suit me up. Dad's in trouble." I stated.

Don't go Mortem sighed as Jarvis replied, "You are in no condition to help your father."

"I don't fucking care! Suit me up Jarvis! That's an order." I screamed at him. There was no way I was letting some psycho hurt my Dad without me being there to fry him.

Penny, you won't even be able to do anything, your sparks… I glared at my boyfriend. Ignoring that fact that that was the first time he actually addressed me by my name.

"Like I care. This may be my last stand, I'm gonna make it count." I stated coldly as the mechanical arms appeared around me and soon I was encased in my metal clothing once again.

"Ah," I said as the HUD lit up around me, and the holographic icons appeared on screen. "It's good to be back."

I couldn't see Mortem through the HUD, but I could feel him tapping my arm. I flung down my hood and said, "What?"

I can't stop you…and I can't help you ….be careful. He signed, he then handed me a red fizzy drink. It smelled strange and Mortem looked regulent to give it to me.

I had been contemplating chugging the rest of the blue one…but I guess this worked as well.

The effects won't last long…and know, this a onetime thing. Mortem signed as I took the red fizzy drink from him and chugged it instantly.

As soon as the last drop passed my lips I could feel my whole body becoming charged with energy. It was like liquid fire…a good one mind you…was burning through my veins and my muscles became super charged.

"Thanks," I stated as I flipped down my hood and threw away the cup. An evil smirk appeared on my face as I said, "Jarvis,"

"Yes, Miss Penny?"

"Let's teach this guy why you don't mess with Starks…especially during their last week."

Oh, this was gonna be fun.

My chest did flare as I Flashed onto the race track, but I had the energy to ignore it and with a twist of my wrist, charged up a ball.

It felt good to use my sparks again.

My eyes narrowed as anger surged through me, Tony had just been knocked into a downed race car. The dude's whips had smashed into him.

"OI! You ugly little bugger! Don't you know this track is for racers only?!" I yelled as I threw the ball at him.

He turned around in shock, and I scowled as he was fast enough to block it with a whip.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I shouted, this time just letting loose a bolt of pure blue energy. It sparked across the air, and although it only hit the whips, he was thrown back wards into another smashed car.

I ran over to Tony, my boots clicking against the asphalt. God, how happy I was to see him alive, but I couldn't help but glance at him in worry as I noticed that he was moving slowly.

"Tony, you alright." I asked as I knelt down and helped him to his feet.

"…shouldn't be…here…" He stated as he caught his breath. I glanced at him worriedly, before my eyes widened, my instincts flared, and I pushed him aside as the electrified whip hit me in the back.

I flew through the air, but Flashed back to the ground behind him. I wasn't invisible, and I wasn't keeping my Flashes quiet. It was time to go all out.

He was stalking towards Tony, spinning his whips in circles against the ground.

I scowled again, what was with bad guys ignoring me?

"Hey doofus!" I yelled throwing a knife and watching in satisfaction as it sunk into his shoulder. There goes that arm.

He growled in pain and turned back around to face me in anger, giving Tony enough time to get away.

"Penny," I heard through the com. Dad's voice was garbled but I didn't care, I was just glad he was okay. "Ground's covered in gasoline, if you spark it on accident, it could blow, however…"

My eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about. "Spark it when he's right smack on top of it…"

"It'll blow him to kingdom come." Dad finished, and I could hear a small smile in his voice.

"Or at least into a building." I added.

I wasn't sure how long I had before the drinks effects faded, but I could already feel the buzz starting to fade slightly.

I Flashed behind him again, and threw a charged star at him. He jumped to the side, but it managed to slide into part of his chest plate, causing the electricity along the whips to flutter.

"Okay," I stated as I backed up and he stalked forward. My goal was to take out those whips and him as well. Sadly, my expertise was close quarters, and I didn't want to get anywhere near those whips. "Let's do this."

I started throwing a mixture of knives, stars, and energy balls at him, edging him forward as I slowly crept backwards.

The man, who I believed was Russian, or from somewhere in Asia, stalked forward angrily. He was still cracking his whips, and swinging them around like quoi balls even with the shoulder wound. He had pulled the knife out though, while I was talking to Tony.

"Come on! Scared to hit me?" I taunted, just a few feet more…

Suddenly, he jumped forward into the puddle of gasoline. With a smirk I said, "Game over,"

My sparks flew from my fingertips, igniting the gasoline, at the same time I threw up my shield around myself and my father.

I was blasted back, the explosion causing me to fly through the air. With aerial maneuvers, I managed to land on my feet only a few yards away.

The whip man however, wasn't as lucky; he was thrown into the chain link fence and fell flat on his face.

He stood up with a scowl, and spat blood out onto the ground. He began to swing his whips again as he stalked towards me.

"Shit, you just don't know when to give up…do you?" I asked reaching into my belt; time to get creative.

Taking out two flash screen pellets and two smoke bombs, I threw them to the ground in front of me before Flashing, invisible, to the other side of the road.

Taking out the roll of plastic glue I rolled it out across the ground, from one side of the road to another, and spread a few of the exploding pellets on top of it.

With my trap laid, I Flashed to the other side of the road once more as the smoke cleared.

"Well," I taunted him; he was only a few feet away from my tap. I charged up an energy ball just in cast, and let my invisibility drop. "Aren't yah gonna come and get me yah little prick?"

Seriously, what was up with British slang? I was going to have to figure that out… or not.

He charged forward, brandishing his whips. He was quick to fall into my trap, and his feet were instantly stuck to the paper, as the pellets exploded lightly at his feet; making him wobble.

"Note to self. Exploding pellets and glue sheet does not work well together." I stated, I heard Dad grunt in agreement though the com as Jarvis said,

"Miss Penny, I think you should move, Happy and Miss Potts are approaching."

"Huh?" I asked in confusion that was, until I saw Happy's car skid around the corner and go right for the man stuck to the pavement.

"That's gonna hurt." I commented as I Flashed out of the way.

Happy's car tore the guy right out of his boots and slammed him into the fence. He was now stuck in between the car and the wall.

I helped Tony to his feet, as my breathing started to become labored. "Not good." I muttered to myself as my vision started to blur slightly.

"Let's finish this." I stated as Happy backed up and smashed into him again. Tony ran forward, and I narrowed my eyes at my father.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled, following him slowly.

Pain flared up my leg, and it was only now that I noticed that I hadn't gotten away unscathed. I had a twisted ankle.

"Perhaps these shouldn't be heels." I commented to myself.

"Are you okay?!" Happy yelled to Tony.

"Yeah, at the moment" he stated, as Pepper continued to scream.

I sighed, and walked slowly over. "Shit." I cursed as I felt more of the drink leaving my system. My chest flared in pain and it took all of my will power not to double over in agony. Biting my lip I limped over to Happy's car.

"Were you heading for me, or him? Because I can't tell!" Tony yelled at Happy.

"I was trying to scare him!" Happy argued back in reply.

"Are you out of your mind!" Screeched Pepper who was still hyperventilating; she glared up at Tony from the back seat of the car.

"There was security!" Tony argued getting in her face, "Not to mention Electra showed up!"

"Get in the car!" Pepper yelled, completely hysterical.

"I was attacked!" Tony argued, yelling at the new CEO.

"Get in the car!" Happy yelled, as we both noticed the guy starting to move. Pepper was still screaming unintelligibly and hysterically at Tony, who was yelling back at her.

"I can't go anywhere with you…it's embarrassing!" Tony stated as he walked around to the other side of the car.

"Move you idiot!" I screamed as Tony opened his car door. The guy moved and bought down the whips, cutting the car door in half as Tony muttered.

"Fist vacation in two years." He jumped back as I flung a shield up just in time to save him from the shower of sparks that followed the whip.

"Get the fuck out of here!" I yelled, using my anger to mask the pain.

I jumped forward and let another Ball fly, but the guy cracked his right whip, dispersing my Ball, and wrapping around my bad foot.

"Bugger." I cursed as the whip snapped back and I was sent flying through the air.

The current pain, and lessening energy boost made me loose focused just for a moment, and I landed painfully onto the pavement.

I distantly heard Happy and Pepper screaming again, and I heard the car reversing. But my vision was spinning and I felt extremely nauseous. This wasn't a good idea.

I was able to sit up, as my vision cleared I saw Happy hitting him with his car for a third time. I had heard Tony yelling at him to hit the guy again, and I was surprised that he was still conscious, and that his spine was still unbroken.

I managed to get to my feet, my head still spinning and my chest pounding painfully, as they hit him a fifth time. Happy's airbag exploded and Pepper was unable to give Tony the metal briefcase that was the Mark V before the guy swung his whip again.

"LOOK OUT!" I yelled, and tried to pull up a shield. But I was a second too late. The whip smashed the car down the middle, then the other one sliced through the side of the car.

"GIVE ME THE CASE!" Tony yelled, trying to get the Mark V from Pepper.

"GIVE IT TO HIM!" I yelled, I knew that I didn't have much in me, as this time, the whip managed to only hit my shield instead of the car.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Pepper finally threw the case at Tony. It landed at his feet, Tony stepped on the opening latch, and it popped up. He then reached into the metal gloves that had appeared and lifted it up, while the bottom started wrapping around his feet. He placed the bulk of the case of his chest before spreading out his arms, and soon, the portable suit was clicking into place all around his body.

The crowd cheered as they recognized Tony suiting up, even if the Mark V had never been seen in public before.

"Penny?" Tony called through a HUD link Jarvis had set up.

"I'm here." I said, although I couldn't keep the breathlessness out of my voice.

"I got it from here." Dad stated as he kicked the car away.

"Alright…" I sighed, but shifted my stance so I could interfere quickly if needed.

Now that the guy was free again, he smirked at Tony. Dad tried to power up his replulors, but the whips were faster. With a crack, one was wrapped around his outstretched hand flinging Tony backwards when he cracked it again. The second hit was as swift as the first, but this time I flung up a shield in time, the energy sparked at it hit, and all three of us were flung backwards. Tony flew away from both of us, while I was thrown closer to the psychopath.

Tony managed to fire a blast at the guy as I got to my feet. But the blast missed, and he just flexed his whips tauntingly.

"Get out of here Penny!" Tony yelled as the guy dodged another one of Tony's attacks.

"I'm not leaving you here!" I yelled, getting swiftly to my feet, the metal boot taking some pressure off of my ankle.

I took out my last knife, although I knew Mortem would get them all back for me later, and with a swift charge, I threw it towards the guy. He moved at the last second, or the knife would have plunged into his back. Instead it cut his arm slightly as it flew through the air and into the rubble around us.

He glared at me, and backed up slightly so that both of us were in his line of vision.

I felt the energy boost fade, and I would have collapsed if the metal in my suit hadn't supported me. He cracked both whips at the same time, and one wrapped around Tony's arm, the other, my waist.

My vision was fading now, and I could barely hold back a scream as the foreign energy supercharged my Core.

"Penny!" I heard my father scream.

It one instant, it seemed everything stopped, for one moment, time seemed to freeze. My eyes widen as I gasped for breath, I knew what I had to do. I didn't know how, I just did.

The world seemed to unfreeze, instantly my Core powered up to my command, and the suit became super charged with energy, small bolts surrounded me like an electrical storm but I did not let the energy go. The buildup was painful, sending shock after shock through my Core, up my spine into my brain, finally, after the pain became too much, I let the energy fly out in a gigantic wave the blasted out in a circle.

Tony managed to duck just in time, but the whip welding man did not. He screamed as he was electrocuted, and his own Arc flickered. The whip attached to my waist let go, it seemed to just fall right through me. Then, the electricity along the whips failed, just for a moment. Allowing Tony to wrap his arm around the whip and started to pull it towards him.

I fell to my knees, my vision spinning an my breathing labored…I…I didn't know how I felt…it was like floating exhaustively in thick mud. Everything and anything required too much effort…you didn't want to do anything, and even if you could, it was too much.

I watched in a daze as the second whip wrapped around Tony's neck, I tried to move, tried to help…but I couldn't. It felt like there was nothing left, like…I was empty….there wasn't any more energy, not for my sparks, my muscles, my thoughts…or even the poison.

That was what scared me the most.

Tony was flung into the car before he managed to hold his ground. With a determined air, he grabbed both whips and started pulling himself closer to the maniac. Wrapping the whips around his body, so the guy could not use them or escape, Tony moved closer, ignoring the electricity that was surly shocking, him. With two punches to the face, and using the whips to flip the guy through the air and onto his back, the fight was over as Tony pulled out and crushed in his hand, the primitive Arc Reactor.

"That, is why you don't mess with Starks."

I wasn't sure if he said that only through the com. or if anyone else heard him as well.

Nothing mattered anymore. I felt Mortem's cold touch, even if I couldn't see him, and my sparks flared for the last time, Flashing me home.

Penny kicked some serious A$$ today. That was really fun to write. I wanted Penny to have a nice final act…oops I wasn't supposed to say that. Oh well, you guys will find out soon enough.

I HAVE A POLE UP FOR THIS STORY! GO VOTE! NOW I TELL YOU!

Hope you all are enjoying it. That chapter was seriously AU. Thanks to everyone and especially Expecto Prongs.
Cp