The Unknown Variable
If any of you say one more time that I own anything, Marvel/Disney or JK/WB own, I will stick a Palladium Core in YOUR chest.
Penny's POV
-Still with Bruce-
I told him almost everything. I told him how I used to work with Tony, how I had an Arc (didn't say how I got it) how I basically got my powers because of the Arc, and how the Reactor was killing me.
He was completely horrified with the information. He had known that Tony had been taken captive somewhere in the mid-east and was now Iron Man, but he didn't know the specifics because of how out of touch with things he was.
He also didn't understand why I didn't tell anyone (he didn't know that Tony knew. I decided that I didn't want to give away the fact the Tony was dying too).
"I mean, why haven't you gone to Stark? Surely he could fix it?" Bruce stated trying to get me to agree.
"I'm sorry Bruce, but trust me. Everything that could be done…has." I stated sadly. "I know this isn't the best news…trust me I'm still just trying to wrap my head around it. But it's reality. I'm sorry, but there's nothing anyone to do. I am here to tell you the truth, that you deserved, and to say good bye.
"I didn't come looking for a solution, or sympathy. I came to thank you Bruce. I want to thank you for being my friend, for trusting me, and for saving me when we first me."
Silence followed my little speech; Bruce looked down right depressed, though he managed to give me a small smile.
"And thank you," He said softly, "For not fearing me, for believing me, and for being my friend."
I smiled softly and gave him a quick hug before walking out side. "I'm sorry for cutting it short…but I have a few other people I need to see."
He wrapped me in a hug and said, "It's alright."
I stepped back, tears in my eyes, and I swore I saw tears in Bruce's.
"I'm sorry, Bruce." I whispered as I charged up my sparks.
"Don't be." He replied, "Like you said, there's nothing you could do."
"Bye Bruce." I said sadly as my sparks flared to life around me.
"Good bye Penny," I heard Bruce say remorsefully as I Flashed away.
Tony's POV
Fury had escorted me back to my wrecked house, and I had finally taken off the suit. Most of the pain had faded though there were still some echoes in my muscles.
Fury had agents positioned around my house, I questioned their presence but I didn't dare push Fury any farther. I just knew that by surprising them and pushing their buttons, I was on a much shorter leash.
"That thing in your chest in based on unfinished technology." Fury stated after we sat in silence. I had tried to com. Pen, when I had been given a moment along, but she hadn't responding. Hopefully that just meant that she was Flashing somewhere and not in physical form. Because if it meant what I hoped it didn't…I couldn't do anything until SHIELD was gone.
"No," I argued, if it was unfinished at any point, Pen and I would have finished it ourselves…we wouldn't be having this problem but we also wouldn't have had our time together. "It was finished, w…I finished it."
If anyone caught the slip and questioned me…I could just say Yinsen had helped…which he did.
"It had just never been completely effective until I miniaturized it and…" I trialed off, yeah, didn't really want to talk about that. "It works, so how can it be incomplete?"
"It is." Fury stated, "Howard said the Arc Reactor was a stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race."
My eyebrows collided in my confusion, I had gone over everything of my fathers, and I had never found any evidence of something like that…I knew that Penny hadn't ether…or she would've mentioned it.
"He was onto something big." Fury continued, it looked like I wasn't the only one with a flair for dramatics. "Something so big that it was going to make the nuclear reactor look like a…triple A battery."
"Really? Cause I've never found any evidence of that; and if so, was it just him onto this 'big discovery' or was Anton Vanko in on it as well?" I asked, bringing up the reason that I had a crazy guy with whips attack me and my daughter.
"Anton Vanko," Fury replied, "is the other side of that coin."
I sighed and rolled my eyes, great, another dark side of my father's actions. What else did I need? Was I going to discover any more of my father's dark skeletons?
"Anton saw it as a way to get rich. When your father found out, he had him deported." Fury explained. "When the Russians found out he couldn't deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia and he spent the next 20 years in a vodka-fueled rage. Not quite the environment you wanna raise a kid in."
"Not exactly different perspectives, at first anyway. So, now I have something else to thank my father for." I stated coldly. "He might've not gotten Anton to spy, but of-course, he would be the one to create the monster that came back and bit me in the butt."
Fury glanced at me, but ignored my comment. He continued with a slight indiscreet nod, huh, it looked like I wasn't the only one who was critical of my father's actions. "The son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco."
"Isn't how I'd put it." I stated, leaning back in the deck chair. I was really worried about Pen, I hoped that she was alright.
"You told me I hadn't tried everything. What haven't I tried?" I asked, trying to get the conversation away from my father. There were still a lot of…issues…with that subject.
"He said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started." Fury stated, and I looked at him in shock.
"He said that? My father actually said that?" I asked him in total disbelief. There was no way that Howard could have said something like that. He was always disappointed me he, he never thought that I would be able to accomplish anything; and when I did, he felt threatened, like I was going to take over the little financial empire that he had built for himself.
Not to mention what he did to Evanna and Penny.
"Mm-hmm." Furry nodded, "Are you that guy? Hmm, are you? 'cause if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart."
My eyebrow twitched but otherwise I managed to mask my irritation. "It's not exactly my heart that's the problem at the moment. It's the Arc's core." I stated specifically.
"And besides, I don't know who's the one giving you all of your information, but I'll tell you. He wasn't my biggest fan, and I'm not his." I stated coldly, trying to mask my fury. After everything he had put me through as a child, all of the ignorance, all of the pressure, all of the down putting attitude I had to put up with, there was no way I believed him.
"What do you remember about your dad, huh?" Furry asked me, leaning forward slightly.
I mentally groaned I really was not in the mood to talk about this. Hell, I was dying and was probably going to see him soon. I really didn't want to deal with all of this stuff sooner then I needed to.
"I remember him being, cold, calculating. He never told me he loved me, or that he even liked me. He was barely able to tolerate me as a child when I was around. He put me down no matter what I did to impress him. Hell, he even took away the one chance I had at a family. So forgive me if it's a bit hard for me to believe what you're saying.
"The whole thing with him saying the future was riding on me and he's passing it down, or whatever it was you were trying to say, I just don't buy it." I ranted in cold tones. This was the most I had spoken about Howard to anyone except Penny in…ever.
"We're talking about a man whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school, and probably celebrated with glee when he ran my fiancé away." Fury stared at my statement, I knew bringing up Evanna had thrown him off. It looks like SHIELD doesn't know everything.
"That's not true." He said harshly, "and you've never had a fiancé."
I snorted and replied, "Shows the little you know. He ran Evanna off the day I proposed. Didn't matter to him if I was happy, he thought that having a family would make me weak. Didn't matter my age, or what I wanted. It was all about his plans."
Fury stared at me, trying to see if I was telling the truth. "I know nothing about that." He placed his glass down carefully before leaning back and staring at me. Obviously wanting me to continue about Evanna and Pen, thankfully, it was easy to come up with a plan.
"Searched for her for years. She just vanished. I was only able to find a trace of her last year," I stated, continuing the cover story. "Search pulled up her death certificate. Died from cancer only two months before."
"I am sorry." Furry stated, and I glanced at him in shock before continuing; what better way to wrap up with story then a big fat bloody bow?
"Never even got to meet my daughter." At this, Fury's eye widened in shock and he leaned forward. "Never gonna either."
Fury's gaze silently told me to continue so with a dead eyed look I said, "Stane had her killed when she was only four days old. Apparently, he was in on the whole thing. Was supposed to keep me from knowing, the basterd. Told me himself when he tried to kill me."
I sipped my drink, and wished it was something a lot stronger than water. I needed it right now.
"So, I dare you to say you knew my father better than I did." I stated, because I knew that that was where the conversation had previously been going.
Fury sighed and rubbed his temple, apparently, I was pulling more cards out of my hat he wasn't expecting.
"Perhaps I only knew one side of Howard." Fury admitted, looking confused that his (obvious) old friend had done those things. "But I still knew him well; he was one of the founding members of SHIELD."
Two agents walked in, carrying a silver armored case they set it down as I responded and sat up straighter.
"Why am I not surprised? What's this?" I asked my tone hard and clipped at the end.
"Look, I've got a 10:00," Fury stated looking down at his watch.
'Is it that late already?' I thought as Fury stood up.
"So I've got to go. I assume you got this?" Fury asked me rhetorically.
"Wait…wait! What on earth is this?" I asked, getting to my feet.
"So you're good?" Fury stated as Coulson appeared.
"No, I'm not good. Will someone please explain this to me?" I stated glancing between the two spies.
"Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact." He stated, giving me a pointed look. "And you remember Agent Coulson, right?
"Yeah, sure, hi, whatever. Will you just tell me what this is?!" I asked, trying to get someone to answer me.
This was getting annoying.
I gave up getting answers as Fury walked away.
"Oh, and Tony," Fury stated, glancing back at me.
"Yeah?" I replied flippantly.
"Remember, I've got my eye on you." The master spy said before leaving.
"Get it, got it. Wonderful." I muttered the last word under my breath.
"We've disabled all communications. No contact with the outside world. Good luck." Romanoff stated before she too, left.
"Really? What did you do? Cut the phone lines since hacking Jarvis is beyond your peoples' capabilities." I asked rhetorically, and sarcastically.
"Exactly." She called over her shoulder as she left my house.
There was a moment of silence before I turned to Coulson and said, "So, are you leaving to or are you gonna stick around? Cause if you could send one of your goons down to Starbucks to make a coffee run I would appreciate that."
"That's not what I'm here for." Coulson replied, looking amused and relieved, I could have said something a lot worse.
"I've been authorized by Director Fury to use any means to keep you on premises." Coulson informed me. "If you attempt to leave, or play any games, I will Tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet."
"But games so much fun." I stated, at Coulson's look I added, "But I can be good."
"Good, enjoy your morning's entertainment."
"But you all have been so entertaining this morning!" I called after him.
It was only as Coulson turned and walked away, that I noticed that stamped to the lid of the armored case was Property of H. Stark.
'Great,' I thought to myself. 'Now what?'
I'm actually surprised, not a lot of Penny in this chapter either. But the second scene with Fury took longer than I had hoped it write. I hope that these last few chapters have been AU enough for all of you. I told you I would get there eventually.
sorry for the lateness of this chapter, I had a long day, am irritated, and exhausted.
Thanks to my Beta's Expecto Prongs and Aqua Are; along with all of you other fabulous people.
Cp