Awakening

I'd rather no one sue me, so please don't get the notion in your head that I own anything. Because I really don't.

Penny's POV

I bit my lip in worry as I walked quickly down the many hallways that were in the Helicarrier. My Duties were starting to act up, just slightly. It was like they were trying to warn me about something, not direct me to trouble.

But just the fact that my Duties were communicating with me at all was enough to make me become worried, especially since I had no idea why Dad wanted me.

I really hoped that he and Bruce hadn't blown anything up, I don't think that Fury would like that very much. I also hoped that they hadn't messed with that staff...something was just wrong with it. Well, something was wrong with this whole situation but that scepter just made my Soul squirm.

I shook my head as I paused outside of Bruce's lab, I could see Bruce leaning against the left wall and Dad perched on top of a desk in the middle of the room. My eyes narrowed as I recognized the blank look on his face, that wasn't good.

Frowning, I called upon my sparks and phased through the door.

"Ok Dad, what's wrong." I asked sharply as I crossed my invisible arms over my chest and glared sternly at my father.

I hoped that he wasn't having another fatherly breakdown...that would be bad. Especially since Bruce was in the room.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Dad who answered me, it was Bruce.

"Drop the invisibility Pen, I know you're here." He was smirking at me.

I dropped my invisibility in shock, and gaped open mouthed at Bruce...who was still smirking at me!

Before I got a chance to choke out a word, Bruce's eyes widened and he asked hesitantly,

"Penny? What are you wearing?"

I flushed as I realized that I wasn't in my sweats any longer, I was in the outfit that Hel had given me.

"Um…" I rubbed the back of my neck as I tried to think of a plausible answer.

Sadly, that was when Dad snapped out of it.

He looked up, and with one glance at me his eyes narrowed and he jumped to his feet.

"Penella Piper Maria Stark!" I winced at my full name; Tony never used my full name. "What on earth are you wearing!?"

I winced as Dad glared at me coldly, completely in father mode.

"Um….Hel bought it for me?" I said weakly, knowing that if Dad was angry then there was no distracting him.

"That," He drawled, "is obvious. But I didn't ask you where you go it, I'm asking why you are wearing it!"

I rubbed the back of my neck again and glanced over at Bruce to see he was shaking with silent laughter. I narrowed my eyes at him, and he stopped, but he just smirked at me, again!

"It's sorta my replacement for the Electra suit…" I mumbled and Tony's eyebrow twitched.

"I thought you didn't want a replacement for your suit!" He exclaimed with exasperation. "I would have helped you make a new one!"

I froze as I tried to think of an answer….

"I didn't really want it! Hel and Insania wouldn't leave me be until I tried it on! It was on one of those shopping sprees that they kidnapped me to go on!" I exclaimed, and although I saw Dad relax slightly I also knew that I was in trouble.

"Penny…" He started but I suddenly got an idea.

"What about the cameras?" I asked swiftly changing the subject, "and how on earth is Bruce not completely freaked out right now?"

I tilted my head in confusion and he smirked at me again. That did confuse me greatly though, how wasn't Bruce freaking out?

Tony sighed and rubbed his temples at the subject change. "I put the cameras on a loop."

"And the windows?" I asked as I manipulated my sparks so I couldn't be seen by that side.

Dad suddenly paled but I smirked at him, and he sighed.

"That answers that then…" He mumbled and collapsed into a spiny chair. He gave me a glare and said sternly, "We will be talking about this later."

Wincing once again, I turned my attention towards Bruce.

"Now," I stated, putting my hands on my hips. "Why aren't you at least surprised at all of this?!"

Bruce chuckled and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You seemed to have forgotten, Pen, that I have much better hearing than most people." He stated with a smirk and I froze.

He had heard everything I had said on the Bridge...shoot. I had been so worried about Thor hearing me that I hadn't even considered Bruce.

I was an idiot.

I groaned and slapped my forehead.

"You know that you could've told us Pen, besides. You and your father are too similar for your own good." Bruce said pointedly and I sighed, that was true.

After a moment of silence I shook my head with a fond smile. If anyone was to find out on their own, then I was glad that it was Bruce. He was someone that I trusted, as well as his other half and I didn't mind that he now knew.

"Good job!" I told Bruce as I collapsed into another chair, much like my father had. "I'd give you a medal for being the first one to figure it out themselves...well, ok that's not true...Yensin was the first…." I shook my head to chase away the memories and continued, "But sadly I don't have one on me."

Bruce chuckled and gave me a fond smile.

"You want to know something funny? The Other Guy figured it out as soon as Tony walked through the door, he didn't share is realization with me though." Bruce frowned and for a moment I swore that Bruce was pouting, Bruce, pouting.

I gazed at him for a moment before I burst out laughing, he was pouting!

"You know, you pull that face off better than my daughter does!" Dad exclaimed with a smirk causing Bruce to snap back to attention.

"What?" he asked as Dad and I burst out laughing. Bruce was totally oblivious.

After a moment of laughing at Bruce I calmed down enough to turn my attention back to Dad, "Do you want to kill the video loop? This is SHIELD and we don't want them investigating."

Dad shook his head and replied, "I don't want you to remain invisible the whole time Pen."

I chuckled as I reassured him, "Don't worry about me, I can manipulate my Sparks to that electronics don't sense or see me, but you both do!"

"Really?" Bruce asked, cutting Dad off.

I nodded and smirked as Dad sighed in defeat.

"Fine." Dad grumbled as he selected a few icons on SHIELD's screens and I shifted my sparks to do just as I said.

"Now then," I stated clapping my hands and letting a large smile spread across my face. "Who wants to have some fun?"

Bruce suddenly looked worried as Dad's grin grew to match my own.

"What kind of fun?" The doctor asked with slight hesitation.

My grin turned into an evil smirk, and I saw Dad's do the same.

"Stark fun of course!" Dad exclaimed as Bruce paled.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I heard Bruce mutter to myself and I smiled as I appeared next to him and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.

"Come on, we're not that bad!" I exclaimed with a pout and a glint in my eye.

"I would beg to differ, Miss Penny." Jarvis' voice suddenly echoed through the room and I glared at the ceiling as Bruce sighed.

"Party pooper!" I yelled at the AI as Dad sighed. Seeing Bruce's confused look I added, "Jarvis is our AI...he has a great personality."

"I'll take that as a complement, Miss Penny." Jarvis intoned and I rolled my eyes as Dad laughed.

"Whatever you want, Jar." Tony drawled and I giggled.

"So!" Dad exclaimed as he lept to his feet and turned to grin at us. "Let's get to work!"

Twenty minutes later and the lab had been Starkified, according to Bruce anyway, but I agreed with him.

All of the suspended screens were discarded, and holograms now floated around the room. ACDC was blasting through the speakers and both Dad and I were multitasking. I was upgrading every system I could find that related to the search for the Cub, while making sure that SHIELD didn't notice anything strange about our activities.

Dad was messing around in SHIELD's files, reading anything of interest while Jarvis and my worms monitored their activity.

But what had been the most surprising even of the last half hour, was Bruce's reaction to ACDC.

When the music first started blasting through the speakers Bruce had froze in place. While we didn't look like it, Dad and I were both keeping an eye on Bruce to make sure that Hulk didn't have an adverse reaction to the heavy rock.

It had surprised us both when, after a moment, a shock look appeared on Bruce's face before he smiled.

Dad and I had shared a look before he asked, "What's up?"

Bruce had turned to look at us with a surprised look on his face and said in disbelief, "Hulk really likes this!"

Dad and I had shared another look before we had burst out laughing. After his statement, Dad and I grinned evilly and turned the music up even louder.

I didn't know if the lab was sound proof, but I didn't care. Loud music reminded me of home and put both Tony and I at ease.

Soon afterwards all three of us were humming along while Dad and Bruce were discussing the fact that Hulk and Bruce could communicate mentally.

"Personally," Dad answered Bruce's question with a shrug and a grin, "I think it's cool."

"What, your head isn't loud enough as it is?" I drawled with a smirk, Dad threw a random pen at my head and I ducked out of the way before sticking my tongue out at him.

"Oh shush you." Dad stated with a sigh. "So, does Hulk always reply to you or not?"

Bruce shrugged, "Well, I'm usually the one who starts the conversations, but Hulk has been talking more today than ever before."

"Really?" I asked, remembering how shocked Bruce had been the very first time that Hulk had spoken to him.

"Yeah, he's turning into a little chatter ball." Bruce smirked before wincing slightly. "Or not... not works too."

Dad and I snickered as one of the holograms connected to Loki's staff that Bruce was monitoring started blinking.

He walked over to check on it as I hid a scowl. My Duties were still sending me warning jolts every now and again, and that was only one reason I really didn't want them messing with the staff. But my Duties weren't going to let me intervene. It really did stink sometimes...ok, it usually stunk majorly.

I glared at the staff as Back in Black started playing, the thing was emitting extremely strong negative energy. This energy felt similar to me, but I couldn't place it because of all of my missing memories; which was another thing that bugged me almost constantly.

I just wish I knew what I had forgotten.

"These Gamma readings are almost identical to the ones in Selvig's reports, but even with both of you in the system, unless you have some high end processor in your pockets, it's going to take weeks to process." Bruce stated as Tony walked over and glanced at the data.

"Come now," I chuckled, "Don't you know that we practically are high end processors?"

"Very funny." Bruce drawled as Dad chuckled.

"No it won't," Dad stated as he started manipulating the data that Bruce was looking at. "We've already bypassed all of SHIELD's systems. Jarvis is in complete control of the search and our systems are ten times faster and better protected than SHIELD's. We can clock this around 600 teraflops in over a tenth of the time SHIELD can." Dad stated as he tossed two holograms into the trash and left three others spinning in the air.

"We are Starks, Mr. Banner." Dad added on with a smirk.

"We know how to get things done." I finished with a laugh at Bruce's face.

Bruce chuckled with a shake of his head, "I should have known."

"Don't worry," I stated sliding over in the chair and patting him on his arm. "You'll get used to it."

"That's what scares me." Bruce stated with a teasing smile.

Dad started playing solitaire against Jarvis causing Bruce to laugh.

"You know," Bruce said as he leaned back against a desk. "All I brought to this party was a toothbrush, my glasses, and Pen's panic button."

Dad and I laughed, "Its ok I joined this party in my pajamas." I told him with a smile.

"Yeah, but you don't really need to bring anything." Dad stated, "You can create a party without it."

"And you're the one starting it." I told dad with a smirk. "And that's not true, I brought my tablet!"

Bruce and Dad burst out laughing and I smiled at them. It was nice to just kick back and enjoy life, even when everything was going to hell.

I had to hold back a wince as my Soul tugged, but I scowled internally and ignored it. My Duties were starting to act up again, this time with more than just a warning, but I didn't want to go deal with more issues. I had just settled down here with Tony and Bruce, and besides, my gut was telling me that the staff was dangerous.

I didn't want to leave the two most important (mortal) men in my life alone with it.

"After all of this is over and done with," I shook my head and focused back on Tony's conversation, "you should come see Stark Tower. Top ten floors are all R&D, whole thing is built with all of the latest toys, most not even on the market yet; you'd love it. It's like Candy Land for scientists." Dad stated as he maneuvered the holograph sea with practiced ease.

"You can even stay, that is, if you want." I continued, ignoring the call of my Duties as I gave Bruce a smile. "And trust me, when we say that we have all the toys we mean the real stuff. Not the knock off junk that SHIELD uses."

"Exactly!" Dad stated in agreement. "I mean, look at all of this junk! I newest models I've seen here are from last year, and their security is beyond sad! It doesn't even take me three minutes to get in manually, without Jar's help, from an outside server!"

Bruce frowned, "That's worrying."

I nodded and added, "It only take me two to get in front an outside server."

Bruce glanced at the two of us before asking, "And when access has basically been given to you on a silver platter?"

He gestured at all the tech and computers around us with a raised eyebrow.

Dad and I shared a look before large, evil, Cheshire Cat grins appeared on our faces.

"Oh, that's cake." Dad smirked with a shake of his head. "Even without Jarvis' help."

I chuckled as I added, "We assessed almost everything from our living room, and within ten minutes of me finding a free terminal here I, and therefore Dad and Jarvis, went through every file on the carrier. I've even glanced through most of their hard copies as well. Though mostly everything seems to be digital, so it's not that big of a deal."

I shrugged as Bruce gapped at me in shock.

"There isn't a thing that SHIELD knows that we don't." Tony stated, "Jarvis and a few of Pen's programs monitor any new data and inform us of anything important. We don't really trust SHIELD."

"Nope." I agreed as Bruce shook his head with a look of disbelief on his face.

"You know...I really shouldn't be surprised." He sighed before giving us both impressed looks.

"Eh," I shrugged with a blush, "It's not that big of a deal...I just got bored."

Dad burst out laughing and I blushed again as I avoided their eyes.

"But we're serious; you should come stay at the Tower with us." I said, swiftly changing the subject again.

Bruce chuckled and shook his head, his demeanor darkening. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to turn you down, the last time I was in New York I sort of broke Harlem."

I rolled my eyes; that wasn't too bad. "Eh, Harlem Shmarlem, Dad and I've done worse! Besides, it'll be fun."

"That it would be." Dad agreed as he glared at the hologram, Jarvis had beaten him.

"Not to mention," I added on with a smirk at Dad's direction. "It gets boring around the Tower with only Dad and his little girlfriend living there."

"Hey!" Dad exclaimed, jumping to his feet, now ignoring the game with Jarvis. "That's not true and you know it! Coulson and Rhodey try to come at least once a week, and not to mention your boyfriend and little girlfriends, who frankly scare me, are over all the time!"

"Sooo," I drawled, Dad wasn't winning this one. "It's not like they live with us!"

"Oh yeah, because I would let those guys stay with us. Everyone would be placed in a locked ward within a week!" Dad exclaimed with a shiver, and I nodded to myself. Yup, he did talk to Insania alone. I just wondered when.

"Oh come one. It's not my fault that you're scared of a bunch of teenagers!" I rebuked, trying to keep my head on the moment, and ignore my Duties which were getting more and more painful by the second.

The fact that they weren't causing me extreme pain meant that it wasn't too important, but I also knew that if I kept ignoring them that it would reach that point eventually.

Dad scowled at me, clearly irritated as Bruce tried not to burst out laughing. I snickered as I watched Bruce; he was obviously enjoying the show.

"Oh yes, a bunch of teenagers. It's not like they have supernatural powers and literally don't belong on this world!" The sarcasm was literally dripping off of Dad's words.

He shook his head before gazing at me in determination. "How on earth did you meet them anyway?"

I smirked at my father, he had been asking me that for months now, and I wasn't any closer to answering him.

"I've told yah once, I'll say it again. I can't say, though you sorta know how Mortem and I met." I stated with a shrug, noticing that Bruce looked extremely confused.

"Fine, whatever." Dad mumbled as he turned back to his game. Rolling my eyes I turned my attention to Bruce and started to explain.

"My boyfriend is Mortem; and let's just say that he's not completely human…."

"Obviously." Dad muttered to himself causing Bruce to look at him in confusion.

"Shush." I told my father before turning back to my story. "I'm also best friend's with Hel, Thor's niece and Loki's daughter, and Insania...who's Mortem's younger sister."

Bruce nodded, though he looked surprised that I knew an Asgardian.

"What are Mortem and Insani….ouch!" Bruce exclaimed as Dad suddenly appeared at his side (where did he come from?) and jabbed Bruce with what looked like an electrical fork.

"Hey!" Bruce exclaimed as he glared at my father. I sighed, of course Dad would do that...he does weird stuff when he's bored.

But then so do I.

I shrugged as Dad moved back to the desk with the staff and leaned against the blocked windows.

"Pen was right, you have great control." He stated with a smile as Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Most of that is because of your daughter." Bruce stated with a sigh. "But still, I don't always have control, I can assure you that."

"Eh, control isn't the goal; balance is." Dad replied instantly with a smile and Bruce rolled his eyes fondly.

Shaking his head Bruce said, "I'm actually surprised that no one else has figured it out. Like I said, you two are too much alike for your own good."

"Good to hear, Pepper always just complains that we're both too destructive." Dad commented flippantly, thought the smile gave away how happy Bruce's statement had made him.

I laughed and nodded, "She does say that a lot." I agreed with my father.

"But it's not my fault that you blew up the lab four times in a single week last month" I stated as Bruce turned to look at my father in disbelief.

"Hey! You had a hand in that…and didn't you end up frying all the electronics in the house like six times the following week?" Dad rebuked with a smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"It's not my fault; Hel thought that I was the one to cover her in pink paint. She took it out on my powers." I told him with a pointed look, he had been the one to set the prank.

"That prank was meant for you! How could I've known it would drench Hel instead!?" Dad exclaimed with exasperation. This wasn't the first time that we had this conversation, and I doubted that it would be the last.

That mistake of a prank had caused a lot of trouble for everyone for two weeks. That was when that a pissed Hel was a scary Hel, and was the reason that he was so hesitant around my friends.

I was about to reply, but Bruce had decided that enough was enough and interrupted us with an amused look on his face.

"Children, children, calm down. Now, aren't we supposed to be finding the Cube?" Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dad and I shared a playful glare before pouting; we never got to finish that argument.

"We'll finish this later." Dad stated and I nodded. "Besides, it's not like there's much more for us to do. We're just waiting for the program to get a hit."

"True." Bruce acknowledged, "But you two still don't need to fight."

I had to admit that he had a point there, but still. It was fun arguing (playfully) with Tony.

"How much longer do you think the program's going to take?" Bruce asked as he relaxed into a chair. Dad shrugged,

"Don't know depends on how well Loki's men are trying to hide it."

I winced as my Duties spiked at Loki's name...they were pulling me towards him.

That wasn't good.

The twisting of my Soul got more and more painful, causing me to sigh. This game was just beginning, but I was already tired of playing.

As I glanced at the two men talking about random things once again, I sighed. My bad feeling just wasn't going away.

Now I was worried that it wouldn't.

Hey, I hope you like it. It was going to be longer but I got an idea for the next chapter and cut it off. This is basically where the cannon, what's left of it that is, really splits off.

...I hope to get more chapters up today but...well...today isn't a good day for me, a bad anniversary you could say….and I'm trying to distract myself with writing so more should be coming.

It would really mean a lot to me if some of you all could review...I really need something to help me get through today.

...Thanks,

Cp