Awakening

*Mortem gazes at readers*

*Cp slowly edges away*

Third POV

Ok, Tony definitely knew that something was wrong with his daughter. First off, she had been staring off into space a lot in the last few days. Second, she was completely out of it at the moment. Tony had literally had to walk her out of the lab and into the elevator. He knew that it had to do with the memories of her past lives, but still. Something was wrong.

The elevator doors slid shut as Tony turned Penny around, frowning at the glazed look in her eyes. He was thankful that Fury and Bruce had already gone up. He doubted Penny would want them to see her like this.

He doubted she wanted him to see her like this, but there was nothing to be done.

"Penny?" Tony asked softly as she knelt down in front of his daughter. There was about fifteen more seconds of the elevator ride, and he wanted to make them count.

The redhead Immortal didn't move. She didn't even blink, her normally bright green eyes clouded over.

Yup, he was right. Something was seriously wrong!

"Penny?" He asked again, just as Penny's eyelids flickered. The concern gripping his stomach tripled, what was wrong?!

"Sir! Miss Penny's…" Jarvis exclaimed what whatever he was about to say was interrupted as Penny suddenly fell limp.

She would've collapsed into a bony heap on the ground if Tony hadn't caught her. Fear gripped his heart as he stared down at his daughter in panic. He wanted to know what was going on!
"Penny?!" He exclaimed, shaking his daughter. Panic clouded his voice and his brown eyes were wide. "Penny!"

He flipped her over, and almost let out a breath of relief as he noticed the light of the Reactor was still glowing strongly in her chest.

"Jarvis!" He snapped, remembering that the AI had been trying to say something when she collapsed.

"Sir, her vitals are fluctuating rapidly. I am unable to detect the source, though it is not from her reactor. I suggest getting her to her room and then having either Doctor Banner or Lord Mortem take a look at her." Jarvis spoke quickly, concern also obvious in his voice.

Tony nodded to himself and barely picked up the teenager as the elevator door slid open to reveal

Cradling his daughter in his arms Tony walked swiftly down the hallway towards Penny's room. Not even three seconds after he left the elevator, the shadows next to him swelled, and Mortem appeared, worry on his face, and his eyes dark.

"What happened," He demanded as he kept pace with Tony, looking down at his Bonded his Tony's arms in worry.

"Don't know." Tony practically growled, his eyes narrowed. "One second she was fine, and the next she didn't seem aware of anything around her. She collapsed in the elevator about a minute later."

Mortem didn't pause in his step, putting a glowing hand on Penny's head as Tony turned a corner.

His dark silver eyes narrowed, and he cursed under his breath.

"It's mental strain," He informed the billionaire darkly as they got closer to Penny's room. "Her mind can no longer handle the flood of unsorted and random memories. It shut down when Penny ignored the warnings."

"Warnings?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. "From what I could tell, she hadn't had any...flashbacks….for a while. At least an hour if not longer."

Mortem noded sagely. "That is why her mind shut down."

At Tony's look of confusion he continued, "Her mind was using the flashbacks to get her attention, to show the mental strain that she was under. When she kept going, pushing through the flashbacks and not going back into her mind to sort the memories, her mind eventually crashed. The flashbacks stopped because her mind was under too much strain to show them. Because the problem wasn't getting addressed, her mind shut down to preserve the rest of her brain until the problem is sorted through. She won't wake up until the problem is taken care of."

Tony blinked a few times before nodding, and Mortem was impressed that he had managed to deal with all of this insanity so well. Hell, Mortem knew at times he had trouble dealing with it and he was Immortal.

"So, quiet and peaceful place until she wakes up on her own?" Tony inquired as they turned the final corner and Jarvis slid open Penny's door.

"Yes, she will be able to sort through the memories herself, she just needs the time to do so." The Immortal stated as they strode into the room and Tony laid his daughter on her bed.

Mortem carefully tucked his Bonded into bed, Tony gazing at her in worry. Neither man said a word as Jarvis dimmed the lights in the room.

"I afraid I can't stay," Mortem admitted with scorn, a small frown on his face. "However, I shall watch the Bond carefully. Nothing shall happen to her."

Tony nodded thankfully as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Jarvis will keep an eye on her as well." He said, his shoulders tense and the Immortal could tell that the man was unhappy. "I'd stay but...Fury would kill me if I missed this press conference. Then Pepper would bring me back just to kill me herself."

Mortem chuckled, knowing what it was like to be the center of your woman's wrath.

"I shall watch over Miss Penny," Jarvis stated suddenly, almost startling the two men. "Do not worry."

"Thank you," Mortem said with a tiny flicker of a smile and a nod of his head. Mortem was actually rather fond of the AI.

He had known that the AI was since the beginning, of course, and that had only increased his liking of the once computer program.

Even in his long lifetime, seeing an AI with a Soul was rather rare. Jarvis was special indeed.

"I'll keep you updated." Mortem told Tony before vanishing into the shadows without moving an inch.

Tony suddenly sighed, his tense stance dropping as he stared at Penny sadly. Running a hand through his hair he almost groaned. Penny looked practically dead, the slight motion of her chest rising and the glow of the Arc being the only indicators of life.

"She shall be fine, Sir." Jarvis intoned from the ceiling, and there was a touch of warmth in his voice that would be impossible for a normal AI. "She gets her stubbornness from you."

Tony snorts and shakes his head before turning and striding out of the room. He slipped a mask on his face and straightened his shoulders.

Now Tony only had to figure out what he was going to tell everyone else when they asked; and he knew they would.

Why wouldn't they? Romanoff was probably the only one that Penny hadn't ensnared into being her friend yet.

Tony winced, he really hoped that Fury wasn't about to get all protective over his daughter. Things might get...a bit awkward if he did.

"Happy thoughts," Tony muttered as he entered the elevator and Jarvis slid the doors shut. "Happy thoughts."

Yes, I know, extremely short. I'll try to get another one up today. As the end of the semester approaches school is getting a bit insane. (I also didn't have internet for three days...it was rather awful.)

Hope you liked the chapter, I'm sorry if it's not up to my normal par, like I said things have been hectic.

Thanks!
Cp