Awakening

Well, this took longer than I thought it would but at least it didn't take as long as the last update did!

Enjoy.

(Sorry if the formatting is weird, updating from my phone again.)

Penny's POV

Everyone practically flew out of the Malibu mansion that Monday morning. Despite the anniversary ending on a rather bright and heartfelt note, (at least for us Starks) everyone woke up early. We were all on a plane back to NYC by nine thirty, since the house was ready to burst. Though I prefered Malibu over the Tower (it just felt more like home), the mansion just didn't have the living space to house so many people. Even for a short amount of time.

Of course, the speedy flight back to NYC might've had something to do with some chaos caused by Loki's kids. Let's just say that Sleipnir and Jormungand can be very disruptive and destructive with colorful sparks and clouds of rainbow smoke and leave it at that. It was a memory I'd rather not relive.

The flight itself was rather pleasant, as Rogers and Jarvis were able to keep some form of order. Dad and Pepper spent the trip working on their respective electronics right next to each other. (Pepper on a Starklet and Dad using many colorful holograms.) Loki entertained the young Asgardians with magic lessons (except little Fenrir who I entertained with some magic of my own). Rogers and Romanoff watched the magic lessons with fascination while Adayna and Thor discussed some upcoming Asgardian holiday.

Bruce spent the whole trip with his nose in a book, ignoring the fact that we were so high off of the ground (his and Hulk's dislike for hights having come back full force). Jane, Selvig, and Darcy talked about the astrophysics in various sci-fi movies, a conversation I contributed to from time to time. Though I mostly only said something when the movie/book/world was one I had actually lived in at one point. Not that they knew that.

Coulson was there to great us when we got back, as was Hill. We had all been surprised to see Fury's Right Hand there until she gave us an official apology from SHIELD regarding Barton's behavior. That made everyone else, besides Dad and I, realize just how much trouble Barton got in. Of course, Jarvis had already reported that Barton would be spending some time in Antarctica until Fury and Coulson felt that the lesson had been learned; so we weren't surprised. Although Dad and Hill usually clashed worse than oil and water, we both accepted the apology easily enough. By that time we weren't even angry at Barton anymore, just irritated and wanting some wonderful pranking revenge. Which, according to Jar, would have to wait at least a week. Fury wasn't very happy with the archer at the moment.

Mortem and I just thought that Barton should be glad that Fury hadn't dropped him into a volcano or onto a deserted island with mutant bugs or something. (He had been seriously that angry; according to the AI.)

Once everyone got back to the Tower, Jarvis informed us that like we suspected, our threat against the Council had seemed to be for nothing, as they were jumping down Fury's throat again. This caused us to jump back into planning mode. We needed a really good plan on how to either permanently whip the WSC into better shape, or take care of the problem...permanently.

But despite the regular waves of drama, the week after Mom's anniversary and appearance went rather well. The Avengers got better acquainted with Insania when she moved into my room for three days…we all swore to never speak of those three days again...though it was worth mentioning that Steve and Dad managed to bond in that time. (Despite what the Cap had been hoping, no, they hadn't bonded over Howard.) While I was on a date with Mortem, yes that actually happens, Insania, Dad and surprisingly Thor managed to whip up an alcoholic concoction that was so potent that it overrode the super-soldier serum and got both Dad and Steve totally wasted. I walked in on the two of them totally smashed at two in the morning after my date, no don't ask what I'd been doing, froze, realized that they were talking about lost love (aka: Mom and Peggy) and fled to my room. That of course was after ordering Jarvis to make sure that the two remained undisturbed till morning.

Hey, they had been discussing my mother and old friend (from my time as Lynx) they had deserved some privacy. Though it says a lot, that the 'insane alcohol incident' is the only one out of the three days Insania spent in the Tower that we actually speak of. It really really does.

Week and a half after the anniversary, and a few days after Insania left, Barton showed back up. He was quiet, brooding, and with a slight case of frostbite but very sorry. Dad and I made him squirm for about a day by not saying anything, but then we turned him pink, hid his bow, and filled his favorite air vents with foam. He almost cried, and then we told him that we were even.

Though she tried to hide it, Natasha was thrilled to have her partner back. The rest of the Tower was extra lively, even if Phil was grumbling about one of the worst pranksters being back. As October flew by, it seemed like everyone's mood was climbing. Dad was practically floating around the Tower, and although he tried to hide it, I knew that he already had a ring. (No! My talks with Jarvis had nothing to do with the fact that I had such information…)

The Avengers had only been called in once, and it was only to supervise a situation between some lizard dude and a kid in red and blue swinging from rooftops. SHIELD had sent me and Romanoff (playing mother and daughter) to investigate the new little Spidy hero less than twenty four hours after the fact. I figured out who the Spider Man was pretty quickly (my Duties practically yelled it at me, and I recognized his aura) but I made sure SHIELD was kept out of the loop. Or rather, I convinced Fury that the kid wasn't a threat and that the Council really didn't need to know his identity.

Of course, on top of that the Fantastic Four (with whom I was still irritated with. I mean, where had they been when their city was under attack by aliens a month ago!) returned to the Baxter Building not even 36 hours after Spider Man's appearance. Dad got irritated that he had to put up with Reed again, who was being extra irritating trying to pull everything that had happened in their absence apart and study it.

With so many so called 'heroes' in NYC the crime rate pretty much vanished. Peter took care of all of the low level people around town that showed up, while the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X Men (who were also based in the area) all agreed what groups had jurisdiction over what crises appear.

This took a lot of stress off of everyone as lines were drawn in the sand, and even Fury became slightly more relaxed. The general mood was lifted, and everyone was slowly getting to know the other 'heroes' in the area. (I played go-between for the Avengers and X-Men to help smooth things over.)

However, as everyone else's moods were going up, mine was going down. I couldn't help it! Halloween was getting closer and closer with each passing day; and I HATED halloween. Nothing good ever happened on Halloween for as long as I could remember; and I could remember a lot. It didn't help that Halloweens tended to be worse when I was Awake.

On top of all of that, both my gut and Soul were telling me that Fati was going to try something this Halloween. It seemed inevitable, and with my millennia worth of awful Halloweens...Mortem, Hel, Insania and I all agreed. There was a 98% chance that Fati would act on Halloween.

Originally I wasn't going to tell Mortem or Hel about my theory regarding Halloween and Fati, but then Insania had to go and mention it in front of the death duo, and I was basically screwed. Let's just say that Mortem wasn't very happy that I was trying to keep that from him and keep it at that. It wasn't very pretty. Thankfully, the argument happened in Mortem's Realm so none of the Avengers and Co witnessed it. (We might've mentally scarred a few Reapers but eh, neither of us really cared.)

The real reason I was so happy that Mortem's blow up hadn't happened in the Tower was that I really didn't want Dad or anyone else worrying about me. Fati was my problem, and the problem of the other Immortals and their Adiutores. Dad worried enough as it was regarding my safety. Although his nightmares were subsiding, according to Jarvis and Pepper, his paranoia hadn't really hit a peak yet. It had just become a lot more subtle, to the point that even Pepper and Romanoff were having trouble seeing it.

Pepper and I both agreed that Dad needed less stress in his life, not more. That was hard enough with SHIELD and the Avengers and everyone else now in our life (not to mention Stark Industries). So what if Pep, Jar and I conspired against Dad every now and then? The self-destructive idiot needed it sometimes. (I ignored the fact that Mortem argued the same about me. Completely ignored it.) I really didn't like thinking about what might've happened to Dad if Pepper and I had never been there for him; he might've never made Jarvis, and that's an awful thought by itself.

Thankfully though, worrying about Dad and the upcoming holiday that I despised weren't the only things on my mind. Dad and I had also been building things like crazy, and I was actually looking forward to the 30th with glee. Don't call me hypocritical for looking forward to the 30th and loathing the approach of the 31st. I have a perfectly reasonable excuse! The 30th was our Bonding anniversary (or as close as we could get). Though Mortem and I treated our anniversary differently than most. Ignoring the fact that we were both Immortals, we didn't count our actual anniversary's. We counted the anniversary's we celebrate together. It's odd I admit, even for us, but it's much easier to keep track of. Especially when time doesn't necessarily flow the same for us at times.

(Another reason was neither of us could remember the actual number of years that we've been Bonded.)

Like the feeling I had about Fati, I just knew that Mortem was planning something special for this anniversary. It would be our 34,509th celebration together, and since we hadn't been able to celebrate for a while, (and considering the trouble with Fati) I just knew that Mortem was planning something. His eyes would glitter mischievously as more days passed by, and though he was very careful to shield all thoughts regarding the 30th, I could feel his excitement through the Bond. Not to mention that after all of these years together I could read my Bonded very well.

Though to be honest, neither of us were very good at successfully hiding things from the other.

So, over all everything had been slightly relaxed but also quite high strung after Mom's appearance and anniversary. Although I was having fun and things were going well (ignoring the Council but we were working on that), I couldn't help but feel stressed. It really didn't help that part of this feeling came from my Duties and Soul. That was just annoying.

Life was as normal as it ever got for us.

Until that is, the Council decided to be complete and utter assholes; luckily for us, it was the same day that Dad and I had planned on setting things straight with them anyways. They had threatened Coulson, Natasha, and Clint on top of Fury, once they found out about the fact that information on the Four and Spiderman had been kept from them. The Council had always been idiotic, insufferable, and horrid, but that was the last straw.

They had to learn why you don't mess with Starks.

Hey all!

I know, not a very interesting chapter...it was basically one major time skip. Hope you enjoyed it anyway and I'll do my best to get the next chapter up sometime this weekend. (This would've been up yesterday but the internet was being stupid.)

Believe it or not I'm actually planning out the final chapters on paper (I usually just do it in my head) and there's only eight chapters left. (There will be 95 chapters in this story.) Part of me can't believe we're so close to the end. (Though I know I've been saying this for a while now.)

Review, if you would, it would make my day!

Cp