Awakening

Hey all, I'm back...writing this in Math instead of Language this time. *chuckles* Sorry about my AN rant the other day, I was rather angry if you couldn't tell.

Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, fav'ed or followed.

Tony's POV

Mortem vanished not long after without another word, and I was left to my own devices. I remained on the roof for another few minutes, thinking over what Mortem had and hadn't said. It had been an...interesting conversation, and I had to wonder if the Immortal had known that I needed to get some things off of my chest.

Either way, I appreciated the fact that Mortem was still willing to come to me regarding Penny. It was reassuring that my claim as Penny's father hadn't completely deteriorated with all of this new Immortal stuff.

Or rather, it was new to me.

"Sir, Miss Penny is currently unaware, how would you like me to proceed?" I was startled out of my thoughts as Jarvis spoke over the com. Penny was unaware, that wasn't exactly a good thing; or rather it wasn't a safe situation. I had a feeling that she was sorting out her mind...stupid Fate… and while that was a good thing, I was still worried.

"Lock down the four floors surrounding her location, and only allow people with security clearance 12 or the Avengers on those levels. Alert me as soon as anyone enters the designated floors." I commanded as the HUD lit up around me and I checked the rest of the Avengers stats. Last night, without anyone noticing, I had Jarvis tag all of my teammates, that way we would be able to keep track of them during battles and on missions. It was because of this that I now had all of my teammates' locations and vitals miniaturized on the bottom of the HUD.

I was never going to admit that I was keeping a close eye on them, and I knew that Jar would never reveal the information either, so my actions were rather safe.

"Right away, Sir." Jarvis replied and I watched as a small notification popped up on screen, showing me that part of the Tower was going into lockdown.

"Stark, where are you?" I schooled my face as soon as I heard Rogers voice, and was quick to reply. I had just patched things up with the man, to some degree, it would not do to get on his bad side again.

"Was just taking a short break to check on some things." I said simply as I shot into the air again and returned to the area that Jarvis had highlighted on the HUD. "I'll be back on the field in a few seconds."

"Well get back to it." Rogers commanded with a sigh, "We really need this PR."

I raised an eyebrow and Jarvis was quick to pull up various news broadcasts and articles questioning our motives of yesterday. So, he was feeling the heat of bad press...too bad for him.

"Rogers, if anyone understands PR here it's me. I've been under journalists' scrutiny since I was born, and it's increased dramatically since I took over Stark Industries. So you're preachin' to the choir here." I stated a slight touch of a drawl as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

Thank god Rogers wasn't able to see my face, or I had a feeling these conversations would be much longer.

There was a moment of silence over the open com and I was thankful that Rogers wasn't jumping down my throat about anything, that was a small annoyance from the last few days that I would rather avoid.

Of course, there were other larger events that I was dead set avoiding, but still.

"Then you understand the importance of today." Was all Rogers said before his end of the line went silent.

As I touched down near another large pile of rubble and concrete I was going to help move and deconstruct, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Sure, we might've stuck a bandage over past issues, but that didn't mean that they were gone.

"Mr. Stark!"

I turned to see a man in a button down and jeans stride over, obviously the one in charge of this little cleanup spot.

"Glad you're here to help." He said simply as he paused at my side, before pointing towards a rather large slab of rhubarb and concrete that had once been the roof of the no longer existing building. "That's where we need the most help, usually it'd take us days to clear this up."

Nodding I let a small smirk settle across my lips as I took a step forward, my lasers powering up.

"Well, let's see what I can make of this." I responded as I jumped back into the air, only to land a few yards away, right on top of the giant slab.

My lasers would make quick work of this.

Penny's POV

Thankfully, it seemed as if my mind was just as keep to organize my memories as I was, because as soon as I had appeared in the Great Hall of my mindscape, I was swarmed by memories, all flashing brightly, trying to be absorbed.

To be honest the glowing balls of light had reminded me of very hyper puppies. It was...an interesting experience to say the least.

Thankfully, the first hundred memories or so that I had sorted were random, unimportant things from lives that I no longer really remembered. As I sorted more memories though, I tweaked my sorting system, as technically I didn't remember after a certain point, which memory went where in chronological order. Oh, don't' get me wrong, some I could tell happened before or after certain events, like my Bonding, discovering Insania, being on Asgard, etc. But most of them I was luck to match up to the correct lifetime at all.

After all, I sort of lost count of my lifetime after the thirtieth, and now I was lucky enough to get the first twenty five in chronological order at all.

So yeah, even sorted my lives weren't exactly organized to perfection.

But hey, who needed perfection? And besides, it wasn't like anyone had ever said that Balance had to be sane.

Still absorbed in my thoughts I reached out and my fingers brushed against a pale, blue-grey orb, instantly causing the memory to flood my field of awareness.

"And why the hell should we trust you?" The green eyed man asked as he shifted his stance and his hand twitched towards the gun that was concealed, poorly, in his pant's waistband.

"Dean," The younger hissed as I cocked my head and raised an eyebrow. Yes I had heard about the Winchesters' attitudes, but it was a rather interesting experience dealing with it first hand.

"You came looking for me, let's not forget that." I spoke to the hunter as if he was a toddler, because to me he really was, just as Sam gave his brother a pleading look. "Now, do you still want to to make a deal or not boys? You should know that you aren't the only two who has walked into my shop looking for this gun, and you sure don't have anything worth trading for it. So answer me this, hunter boy, how badly do you want the Colt?"

There was a heavy silence that followed, as the two boys seemed to communicate to each other simply through slight twitches and gazes. If I hadn't been around as long as I had, I would've thought that the two were telepathic.

"It's not if we trust him," Sam suddenly spoke, seemingly to answer an unspoken question of his brother, "it's if we trust him more than Crowley."

I couldn't help the small twitch that played on my lips. Oh, so that's what their issue was? Well I certainly wasn't about to tell them that the Crossroads King was a long standing business partner of mine. After all, I had been getting rather bored in the recent years, an I had a feeling that the two of them would bring of action back into my rather dull life.

"Unknown or not," Dean suddenly said with a bit of disgust, "I trust anything more than some slimy demon."

I couldn't help but chuckle as my mouth stretched into a smirk. Oh, if only they knew.

I couldn't help but chuckle fondly as I thought about the two brothers I had dealt with so often in my Fourth Life. Sure, they had been pains in my ass more often than not, and rather dim, but they had been the turning point in my life in the world. Of course, now that I had more memories to look back on, Dean being Logan really wasn't surprising.

I just wondered where Sam's Soul had ended up, because if there was one thing I knew it was that two Souls didn't become that close and codependent during one lifetime alone. They must've been stuck together several lifetimes together, at least.

"Oh well," I told myself as I sent the memory to the room storing my Fourth Life. "I'll deal with that if and when the need arises."

Nodding to myself, and wondering if I had spent too many lifetimes with no one but myself to talk to, I reached out to another orb, this one was a strange creame color that was splattered with white. To be honest, it looked like a very round, wispy, freckled egg.

"What are you?" The frightened woman in front of me asked and I sighed. Everyone always asked that, everyone was always afraid of who I was.

To be honest, I was getting tired of playing the same games over and over again, especially in situations like this where I wasn't even sure how to answer.

"What I am doesn't matter." I finally said as I turned away from the woman and looked out at the numerous spirits before me. I had to wonder if Mortem was in this world as well, will all of these trapped Souls I would assume so. But I had yet to see my friend here, and I had been trapped in this semi-solid state for almost two years now.

"Neither does who I am." I added before the woman could ask me any more questions. To be honest I wasn't even sure who I was supposed to be in this world. I arrived in this world with all of my memories, so I knew who I was, but not what I was called in this world.

For two years I had floated aimlessly, as my Duties called me to comfort Souls, and I had traveled the globe following my Duties, as they led me straight to the woman before me.

I only hoped that she was able to fix the problem, before my Duties became to much.

"The only thing that matters," I continued with a sigh as I turned around, my body fading slightly. "Is what you can do."

The woman blinked, startled, before asking, "What?"

I was surprised that I actually recalled where this memory fell in my long list. It hadn't been too important, and I hadn't had to do much besides search for Melinda, bust still. It was slightly comforting knowing that I could recall my Twelfth Life.

The next memory floated up to my face and I had a strange sense of familiarity as I gazed at the pale sky blue, with a touch of purple, color.

"I wonder…" I mused just as I brushed my fingers across the surface.

I looked down curiously at the human who wandered through the woods below me. I was currently crouched high up in a tall tree, as I had been chasing down a squirrel for a snack when it had scampered up the tall oak.

The human was male, and the fur atop his head was almost as bright as the sun, or a daisy. He didn't seem to be very happy, and he seemed to have silver scales over his skin. But that was weird, because Father had told me that humans didn't have scales.

Sun-Fur, as I decided to call the man, had a long silver stick in his hand, and I wondered why he would be holding such a strange looking one. He also had a large, red blanket with a strange looking gold dragon hanging from his shoulders. Why was he walking around the woods with a blanket? Was he cold?

My mental questions were paused and my curiosity increased as I suddenly tilted my head to the side. A strange, ancient and powerful wave of magic fell upon me like a wave. This wasn't active magic like Father or 'Garrah used, this was the magic of Destiny, and it was wrapped all over the scaled human.

I inched closer, knowing better than to make a sound, the Destiny of this man was similar to the Destiny that wrapped tightly around Father.

As other scaled humans appeared in the trees and followed Sun-Fur, I had to wonder.

Was this the human Father called Prat?

I was actually chuckling as the memory faded. The scene had taken place before I had Awoken, and I had been pretty young at the time, only about a month or two old. Of course, I hadn't exactly been human at the time, so I was much more intelligent than a normal babe.

Of course, being a dragon had helped that.

I sent the memory and tried to stop my chuckles, but it seemed almost impossible. That had been one of the few lives were I wasn't human or humanoid. Being a dragon had definitely been an...interesting experience.

My chuckles faded as I remembered which life had followed that one. It had been the life I discovered Insania, shackled and trapped inside of a being consuming her power. Fati had almost killed the Immortal, though it would've taken many more centuries to do so.

There was a reason my Sister had changed her name from Chaos to Insania after all.

I shivered, and tried to push the recently sorted memory away.

Now wasn't the time to dwell on the past any more than necessary.

Third POV

It was almost seven o'clock by the time that the Avengers decided to call it a day and return to the Tower. Jarvis had kept Tony up to date on Penny's condition though nothing had really changed. Only short words had been exchanged between Rogers and Tony, as if some slight tension had decided to permanently solidify between the two, despite the previous reconciliation between the two.

No other Immortals had appeared, and neither had anyone else from Penny's very long past. Which Tony was very grateful to, it had been a very long and tiring past few days, and he looked forward to spending a few hours in the lap with Penny before crashing on the couch with her and Pepper for a movie.

Tony of course was better at handling exhaustion than the others and so was just as sarcastic and obnoxious as usual, to the others that is. Though he was really more exhausted than the others; he was just really good at hiding it.

While he had been flying around in the suit all afternoon, he had also been tweaking some of the calculations and equations that needed his renewal, and also instructing the reconstruction of the Tower's penthouse.

But Tony wasn't the only one who had been multitasking, Thor had been keeping a keen eye on the Tower, pausing every now and again to check and make sure that no strange energies had tried to enter it. He was on high alert for the familiar presence of Fati; he didn't want his godfather-turned-child to be injured once again.

Barton had personally thought that the day had been going well, he hadn't had any weird side effects from being a mindless puppet, besides the overwhelming sense of guilt that he kept hidden from the rest of his 'team'. He was also slightly worried and horrified at Romanoff. He had known his partner for a very long time, and thought that he knew her well, however it seemed that there were things about the spy that even he was unaware of.

Like the fact that she could disobey a direct order and shoot a teenage girl! He had cornered Coulson a few hours before and had gotten the story out of him.

It was safe to say that he really wasn't happy with the woman he did not have feelings for.

But he didn't want to think about her right now.

"Jarvis, disable the lockdown." Tony stated as he landed on what was left of the landing platform and the suit detached itself from him. He was just thankful that while that the whole floor had been leveled, and was the current roof, the platform had remained. He really didn't want to have to bother with rebuilding another one.

"Lockdown disabled, Sir." Jarvis reported from his ear as Tony walked past the numerous workmen that swarmed the top of his tower, trying to repair the building as fast as humanly possible.

Thor landed on the platform, and swiftly followed Tony through the maze of construction that had once been his penthouse. Neither man said a word, but no words were needed.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Barton, and Dr. Banner have arrived at the Tower, would you like me to direct them to a specific floor?" Jarvis inquired as Tony and Thor made their way into the Tower.

"No," Tony said with a needless shake of his head. "I don't care what they do, just keep an eye on them."

Tony really felt like a scotch right now, but it really wasn't worth Pepper and Penny's wrath.

"You seem weary Man of Iron." Thor spoke up, his voice as booming as usual; and Tony could barely believe that it was the same god who had been so quiet this morning.

"I think the whole city is tired, Point-Break," Tony responded instantly, his voice light. If Penny had been in the elevator, she would've noticed the hidden sigh in his voice.

"Aye," Thor nodded gazing at Tony in thinly veiled concern. "But the whole city has not been through your trials these past days."

Tony shrugged, he was not having a heart to heart with the God of Thunder. It was just not going to happen. "Well, I'm just special."

Thor nodded, while he wasn't exactly sure what Tony meant he was able to tell when someone wanted a subject dropped. He didn't continue the conversation.

"Sir, the others are entering the floor where Penny currently is." Jarvis' voice echoed through the elevator and Thor glanced up at the ceiling in curiosity. He was unsure where the strange, invisible servant of Stark's was, or how skilled he was in the art of magic, but he was definitely knowledgeable.

Tony froze for just a moment before the glowing number on the elevator wall changed, showing that the elevator was changing directions.

"Her state?" The genius asked as Thor started to become even more concerned. There wasn't anything wrong with E're...was there?

"Still unaware and unresponsive, Sir I would not advise letting the others see her in her current condition." Jarvis' tone was slightly hesitant and shadowed in worry. Tony nodded sharply, knowing that the AI could see him.

He did agree, the others finding his daughter unresponsive in whatever state she was currently in would be very bad indeed. It would spark questions that they wouldn't be able to answer, and they didn't need any suspicious and nosy people living with them.

"Coulson is also now in the Tower." Jarvis reported quickly, waiting to hear what Tony would do about his new teammates.

"Try to delay them as long as possible, lock doors, whatever it takes." Stark ordered just as the elevator door opened and the two of them stepped out.

"I'll try Sir," Jarvis sighed, "But there is a .05% chance that you'll arrive before them, Sir."

"I don't need to know the numbers Jar." Tony sighed as he tore through the hallways, cursing the fact that he and Thor had taken the smaller elevator on the other side of the Tower.

The others were closer, having taken the large, main elevator up.

"Damn it!" Tony muttered as a hologram appeared in front of him courtesy of Jarvis, showing the others right outside of the room Penny was in, the door to that room closed and locked.

Sadly for him, that was the only door into the room.

"Sir, Agent Barton has become concerned, and has informed me that unless I open the door he will take to the air vents." Jarvis reported just as Tony and Thor rounded the last corner, and came face to face with the rest of the Avengers.

The hologram vanished and Tony forced a mocking smile on his face as he stared at them.

"What's got all of your panties in a twist Barton?" Tony drawled, crossing his arms over his chest.

He shifted his weight and was able to hide the fact that his leg was currently throbbing as Jarvis spoke through his com, "Sir, I haven't been able to arouse Miss Penny."

Tony mentally cursed, and Thor tilted his head to the side, causing him to wonder just how well Thor's hearing actually was.

"Why's this door locked Stark?" Rogers asked curiously, tilting his head to the side just slightly.

Tony's mask was firmly in place as he said, "Well, obviously it's locked for a reason. Now whether or not I'm going to tell you the reason…"

Rogers scowled and Bruce raised an eyebrow in question. The doctor looked between Tony and Thor for a moment before his eyes widened just slightly and his stance relaxed as his eyes tensed.

Bruce now had a feeling that Penny was behind that door, and that she and Tony really didn't want them in here.

Tony wanted to curse the fact that the universe was out to get them, out of all of the locked doors and restricted places in the Tower...of course they were drawn to this one.

"What's in the room Stark?" Barton asked, picking up on the tension between Tony and Thor that they had been trying to hide. But he wasn't an expert spy and marksman for nothing. He had damn keen eyes.

"The better question is what isn't in the room." Tony smirked and Rogers glared at Tony, giving him a look that Tony would later rename the "disappointed/frustrated grandfather" look.

"I'm sure the rooms locked for a reason, how about we head back to the kitchen from this morning and find something to eat? I don't know about you, but Hulk and I could do with some food." Bruce quickly stepped in to prevent a situation, the loving peacekeeper that he is, but the others basically ignored him.

If Penny or any other Immortal had been there they would've noticed that Bruce's aura flared as Hulk voiced his agreement to Bruce. But of course, she wasn't, and no one in the hall could see auras, so the detail went unobserved.

"Stark," The Cap sighed as he shook his head. "Just unlock the door. If we are going to be working together and living here, then there must be no secrets."

At that, Bruce, Tony, and Barton all looked at Cap like he had just grown a second head.

"No secrets," Tony laughed a bit darkly, "yeah like that's going to be possible when we have two master spies in the building."

There was a small tense moment as everyone's thoughts drifted towards Romanoff, before Rogers jerked his head towards the door, his eyes narrowed.

"Fine then," Tony muttered under his breath, knowing that Jarvis would do what Rogers wanted once Tony gave in. "But just know that all privacy privileges in this Tower are henceforth revoked."

Rogers rolled his eyes as Barton gave Tony an uneasy look. Rogers might've just thought Tony was pulling their leg, but Barton had heard the stories from over the years, and knew that the man was anything but joking.

Tony waved his hand and the door slid open, with a swish, as everyone was suddenly bombarded with the loud, echoing music of Penny's violin.

With everyone frozen at the door in confusion, Tony strode past confidently, knowing that he would have to try and get Pen out of her head before the others came up with too many questions.

Penny was currently pacing the room in a small circle, her eyes closed and body automatically going through the movements of a every fast paced song that Tony couldn't place.

"Jarvis, turn it down." Tony muttered and the music track playing quieted to the point where he could barely hear it, Penny was still playing though, her body moving fluidly through the movements though her mind was elsewhere.

"Pen,"Tony said softly as he stepped up to his daughters side. There was no response from the teenage girl as the others walked into the room. Rogers and Barton were staring at Penny in surprise and slight astonishment as they realized that it was her playing.

"Penny," Tony repeated, taking another few steps forward to keep pace with the circling girl, and touched her lightly on the arm.

"Is she ok, Stark?" Rogers asked cautiously as he watched the redhead continue on in her own little world like they weren't there.

Tony had to hold back a snarky retort, and ignored the Cap. He just needed to snap Pen out of her thoughts as quickly as he could. He really didn't need anyone else getting involved in this.

"Penny!" Tony called out louder, quickly becoming worried and frustrated. Trying to hide his fear as Barton slowly stepped forward, he practically jumped forward and snatched the bow out of Penny's hands.

"Penella!" He snapped, trying not to jump as he realized that the golden bow wasn't wood as it appeared. It felt like metal under his hands and he realized that it must have an illusion on it.

Thankfully, Tony's actions seemed to do the trick and Penny froze before her eyes blinked open and she lowered the violin.

"Dad?" She asked her green eyes flickering between her father and then over to the rest of the Avengers in the tower. "Back already?"

Tony couldn't help but sigh in relief, well, there was one crisis averted.

"What one earth was that about?" Barton asked as he looked between Penny and Tony as Bruce winced.

Tony and Penny shared a look, neither of them very happy.

Rather, one crisis slightly adverted.

Hey all, the middle of this just didn't want to get written or it would've been up yesterday. So I added more to it to make up for it.

Ok, so the first flashback was Supernatural world, obviously, anyone want to take a guess at what the other two are? :) I'll tell you all next chapter either way but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading!
Cp