This was actually the first whumptober prompt I wrote this year, and the one I've been most excited for so far! I hope you enjoy!

Presumed dead

Tony Stark hesitated outside the door to the apartment in the building that looked about twenty minutes from being condemned…or just collapsing. He couldn't help remembering how he'd knocked on another door looking for Penny Parker, back when she'd been fourteen and he hadn't known how much he would love her one day. May Parker had answered the door then, looking first startled, then suspicious, then a little frazzled as she'd offered him a walnut date loaf, something he'd never heard of, but had forced himself to eat, not wanting to be rude to the woman he was lying to about taking her niece out of the country to fight a few superheroes.

Not his proudest moment.

Now he tapped his knuckles against the door to the apartment that apparently belonged to Penny Parker, closing his eyes as if that would help him hear better, but it was quiet inside. No footsteps came to the front door. No one moved inside. So, only feeling marginally guilty, he pulled a lockpick out of his pocket.

They'd brought him back. He didn't know how, and couldn't help his wave of resentment towards the people who'd brought magic into his life. For the first time in his life, he felt like he just could not understand something. Magic was impossible. It wasn't real. But it had allowed Thanos to snap half of the universe out of existence and it had killed him once and for all…it had brought those people back and it had brought Tony back, and he wasn't sure how to feel about that.

He remembered laying on the ground. He remembered pain and Pepper's tear-streaked face. He remembered wanting to see Penny one more time, so he could tell her how much he loved her and how much he'd missed her and how he hoped she had a wonderful life. He remembered wishing for Morgan, but being glad that she wouldn't see him die. He remembered closing his eyes and Pepper telling him he could rest…and then he was opening his eyes in a room so white it had hurt his eyes.

It had taken three days for him to orient himself. One of his arms was a metal prosthetic. His face and neck were covered in scars. It had been five years. Five more years. And somehow they'd brought him back to life for reasons that were, frankly, of no interest to him. He could live with the arm and the scars. Because the second he'd fully understood, he'd asked for Pepper and Morgan and that…that had been hard. So, so fucking hard. Morgan was almost ten years old. His little baby girl was an actual child now who barely remembered him and didn't understand. Pepper, he could tell, had finally healed. Finally moved on with her life and was killing it at the single mom thing with the help of Happy who was looking out for them and the reunion had been…complicated. But there had been sobbing and hugging and he'd told himself that it would take time and that was okay.

Because apparently he had time now.

He'd waited a few hours to finally ask. Happy had taken Morgan out for lunch to give her a break and Pepper had been sitting beside him on the sofa of what looked like a hospital suite, although he felt mostly fine. She'd been catching him up on the last five years, telling him stories about Morgan and the Avengers. Sam was Captain America now, which was pretty cool. Bucky worked with him sometimes. Strange was still around. Rhodey was doing well, and would be thrilled to see him...he couldn't wait for that particular reunion. Steve had apparently gone to live in the past. With every story, he'd found himself more and more puzzled at the one person she seemed to be avoiding talking about.

Surely, he'd thought, nothing had happened to Penny. Surely she was okay. Right?

Pepper had been telling him about Clint and the girl he'd been mentoring when Tony had finally let himself ask. "Pep? What about the kid?"

She wouldn't be a kid anymore, he'd known. It had been five more years. She would be twenty two. It felt impossible. Twenty two years old. An adult. Had she graduated from MIT yet? Was she working for Stark Industries? He knew that Happy had liked her aunt…were they together? Did she go on missions with Sam and Bucky? Had they looked after her? What about Rhodey? He knew how much Tony loved that kid…Rhodey would have looked out for her!

But Pepper had just frowned at him, shaking her head a little. "What do you mean?"

"The kid. Penny." He'd gone on when she'd just stared at him. "Penny. Penelope Parker. Spider-Girl."

Her eyes had gone wide. "You knew Spider-Girl? The vigilante?"

She hadn't been messing with him. She wouldn't, of course, but for a second he'd suspected it. Hell, he'd almost laughed a little because it was such a crazy thing to say. Penny and Pepper had met! Penny had come over for her internship before the Snap and they'd fought together in that last battle. Pepper had even teased him a few times when he'd first brought up having a baby, asking if maybe a certain teenage girl hadn't perhaps changed his mind about having kids. She'd had dinner with May a couple of times, for Christ's sake!

But Pepper hadn't been lying, and when he'd done a quick internet search, he'd found very few traces of Penny Parker. Spider-Girl, yes. There had been plenty on the masked vigilante, mostly a local paper calling her a menace, which had made his blood boil, fingers itching to call his lawyers, all of whom were still operating under the impression that he was dead. But no mention of her working with the Avengers. So the second he'd gotten back to his lakehouse, where Pepper and Morgan still lived, he'd gone down to his lab, waking Friday and asking her to help him find everything he could on Penelope Parker.

And then he'd found the obituary. May Parker. Beloved wife and friend.

She'd died four years ago. Right after him…less than six months after him! Penny had lost her aunt right after losing him and…and Pepper had no idea who she was. Neither did Happy.

And so here he was.

Slipping into the apartment, he flipped the light on, giving the room a quick once-over. It was clean, which wasn't surprising. But it was cold, and he rubbed his flesh and blood arm with his metal one, wincing when that just made it colder. He would have to fix that. But that would come later. First, he had to get his kid. Figure out why Pepper and Happy had no idea who she was. It had to be magic, which was harder to hate when it was giving him a second chance…third chance? He honestly couldn't remember which chance he was on.

The apartment was one room. A studio. The sofa in the corner apparently doubled as a bed, with a blanket thrown over the back and a pillow at one end. The stove was so old he was sure if it must require wood, and when he opened the refrigerator, he found only a takeout container from the Thai restaurant the two of them had gotten dinner from once or twice after her internship, and a half-full bottle of soda. In the freezer were two frozen pizzas and a bag of peas.

He'd had a plan in the event of his death long before he'd ever actually gotten the girl back. The glasses with Edith. A college fund. Pepper would have taken her in if May had died…if she'd remembered her. Morgan would grow up with her. He'd wanted to see them meet…had known that Penny would be an amazing big sister. She would go to MIT and work for Stark Industries and eventually she would run the company with Morgan, if that's what she wanted. He'd had visions of his daughters working together some day. Being lifelong friends.

Sisters.

Not that he'd told her any of this. Before she'd been snapped, he'd been too afraid to let her get too close…hadn't known how to be a father. But in those five years, he'd had a lot of time to plan before he'd given up…and even then, he didn't know if he'd ever given up. This place, though…this wasn't what he'd wanted for her. This wasn't the plan…a run down apartment where she slept on her sofa and ate take-out alone. Where a local newspaper called her a menace and a criminal and called on Sam Wilson to stop her.

She was supposed to be taken care of. She was supposed to be safe.

"You know it's illegal to break into other people's apartments?"

The web came out of nowhere, and he almost didn't realize what was happening until he saw that his left arm was stuck fast to the wall. Spinning around, he came face to face with Spider-Girl crouching in the window, her head cocked. He couldn't read her expression…this suit was different. The lenses didn't move. What had happened to her suit? He'd designed the Iron Spider to keep her safe...he'd spent hours pouring over plans, trying to think of everything she could possibly need. It was bulletproof and fire proof...the parachute was better and the legs that came out of the back would help catch her if she ever fell. What had happened to it?

The second their eyes met, the woman in the window froze, and Tony had to smile in relief despite himself. It was her. It was Penny. He'd been so sure that he'd lost her but he'd brought her back and she was okay, only no one seemed to remember her. But he did. He could never forget the girl who had been like his daughter. Then he'd been sure that he'd die without ever getting to speak to her again…to tell her how much she meant to him. And now here he was.

"Who are you?" she demanded, voice colder than he'd ever heard it as she stepped fully into her kitchen which was also her bedroom and also her living room. And, judging by the beaker and the hot plate on the tiny kitchen table, her lab. He'd really have to fix that.

Unable to stop smiling despite all that, he gestured to himself with the prosthetic which was surprisingly responsive with only a slight delay. "Tony Stark."

"Don't," she ordered. "Don't you fucking dare."

His heart dropped. She was hurting. So much. He didn't even have to see her face to know it. "Pen…"

"Fuck off. I don't know what you think you're playing at…" she stormed over to him, reaching for his face, her glove covered fingers searching for a seam under his chin, and he stood and let her, unable to help his watery smile. He hadn't even seen her face yet, but he was still so happy. She was here. His kid. His Penny.

After a moment of searching, she pulled away, taking a step back and staring at him.

"Who are you?"

"Tony Stark. Anthony Stark, if you want to be formal about it."

"No. I…listen asshole, I can't do this, okay? So whatever twisted shit you're trying, it stops right now. Tony Stark is dead. I know you're not him. So tell me why you came here before I throw you out this window."

He almost believed her…but Spider-Girl didn't throw people out windows. She couldn't have changed that much…no way. "I'm here to see you. I missed you so much, kiddo."

She reached under her own chin, yanking the mask off and dropping it on the floor. And there she was. Penny Parker, with her big brown eyes and long hair pulled into a ponytail, just like he'd seen her a thousand times. Older now, of course. And tired…she looked so tired, and the sadness in her eyes broke his heart. What was happening? Why hadn't the Avengers looked out for her? Why didn't Pepper or Happy remember her?

"Who are you?" she whispered again, face pleading with him to tell the truth, so he did.

"It's me, Pen. Tony. Or, Mr. Stark, as you insisted on calling me. You're an adult now though, so maybe we can finally switch to Tony."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, practically begging. "Why not just hit me with a crowbar or shoot me or something? Why would you come here as him?"

"I don't know what you mean, kiddo."

"Did you drug me? Or…"

"My name is Tony Stark. I'm Iron Man. I first met you when you were fourteen years old. I asked you to help me contain Cap so we could talk about the Accords and stop the Avengers from breaking up. I yelled at you when a ferry was nearly destroyed because I was scared to death you were going to be killed. You had an internship with me. We went to Titan together because you hung on to the outside of a ship even though I tried to send you home. We fought Thanos together and lost and I held you when you turned to dust. You told me you were sorry, and it about killed me. I didn't even have time to tell you how much I loved you."

Penny shook her head, looking bewildered, then her eyes went wide. "Oh my god."

He waited, and she pushed a hand to her chest, the new suit deflating around her and leaving her in a tank top and shorts. She had a scar on her shoulder that looked like it had been caused by a gunshot, and an uneven row of stitches ran across her thigh right above her knee, obviously still healing. With bare hands, she reached for him again, one hand grabbing his metal arm and holding him firmly in place like he might try to fight her, the other searching roughly along his neck where the seam of a digital mask might hide. Finding nothing, she jerked back as though he'd burned her.

"It's really me, Penny. I don't know how…some kind of magic shit. You know how I feel about that." He tried for levity, but she was still backing up, not stopping until she hit the wall.

"I'm insane." She said it like a proclamation, ignoring him when he shook his head..

"You're not…"

Penny wiped a hand over her face, smiling a little, but not from happiness. No…her smile was sad and hopeless and it broke him to see her like that and he tugged on his hand but it was stuck fast. "I mean, it makes sense. Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long." She gave a weak laugh, a tear running down her cheek, and this wasn't right! She wasn't supposed to be like this!

"Pen…kiddo, can you get me out of this?" If he could hold her, she would know. She would know it was him! She had to!

"You're not real. I know you're not real."

"I am…"

"No, you're not. I'm having a psychotic break because I've lost literally every person who has ever loved me…or liked me. Or cared about me even a little. No one remembers me. May is gone. Ned and MJ don't remember me. Mr. Stark…" she shook her head, closing her eyes tightly. "It makes sense. It does. But I know you're not real. You are not real. Mr. Stark is not in my kitchen. It's not real. I'm hallucinating. I am alone in my apartment talking to myself."

Nodding a little to herself, she opened her eyes, then sighed when he was still there. .

Turning away from him, Penny took the three steps to the kitchen cabinet beside the fridge and grabbed a bottle, returning to the wall where she'd been standing before and sliding down until she was sitting across from him, legs outstretched. It was scotch, he realized with a start, watching as she twisted the top to pull the cork, then took a long swig from the bottle before dropping her head against the wall once more, her eyes watching him tiredly.

For a long time, she just stared at him like she was trying to memorize his face, but when she brought the bottle back to her lips, he couldn't help but speak up.

"Honey…"

Penny gave him a faint smile, shaking her head. "Wrong."

"What?"

"He never called me that."

Tony closed his eyes, trying so hard not to cry. "I should have. Pen…I should have been better. I'm so sorry. I…I didn't know what I was doing but I want to be better now!"

She just shook her head again, taking another drink straight from the bottle.

"You at least want to share," he tried, hoping that if he could get ahold of the scotch, he could stop her from drinking herself into unconsciousness. He didn't know if he could bear to watch that.

The smile wobbled. "Wrong again. He didn't drink. Not by the time he knew me. He was sober." She took another drink, this one longer.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"You know what happened," Penny told him simply. "You know because I know, and you, Mr. Hallucination, aren't real. You're just a figment of my shitty imagination."

"Mr. Hallucination was my father. Call me Hal."

She choked out a laugh, tears running down her cheeks as she sat the bottle of scotch down on the floor beside her. "This is cruel, you know that? Even for me."

"You aren't cruel. You could never be cruel. You don't have it in you, honey." He tried for a smile that felt as pained as hers.

"I still have dreams about him…about seeing him on that battlefield after he brought us all back. He hugged me…he'd never hugged me like that before. But he looked at me like…like he loved me, you know? And I…I think he did. I think he really loved me."

"I did. I do. So much."

"I dream that he's back sometimes…just like now. I dream that he knocks on my door and I open it and…" She huffed out a little laugh through her tears. "God look at this place…he'd be so ashamed of me."

"No," he told her, voice more forceful than he'd meant to make it, and she stared at him in sad amusement. But he couldn't let that stand. "Never. Penny, I am not ashamed of you. I could never be ashamed of you."

"I didn't even finish high school," she told him bitterly. "Which you knew. Because you're not real. Sorry, Hal. You think antipsychotics would work on me?"

He blinked at her, trying to process the whole not finishing high school thing, but she went on.

"Advil doesn't. Neither does local anesthetic. Thank god I've never had to have major surgery, huh? Stitches are bad enough."

"I was working on pain medication that would work on you."

She raised an eyebrow, that same sad smile making another appearance. "Huh. That's a new one." Penny took another drink of scotch.

"I was. I didn't know how to tell you that I loved you, or that you were like a daughter to me, but I wanted to at least try and find pain medicine for you. So if you got hurt, I could help."

"That does sound like something he would do," she told him with a little nod, wiping her face. "I've hallucinated before, you know? I've even seen Mr. Stark before. Not like this…sorry, Hal, but you look kind of rough."

He laughed, tugging on his hand again…he needed to hold her. His kid was hurting and he needed to hold her but he might as well have been superglued to the wall. "Tell me about it, kiddo." He lifted the robotic hand, flexing the fingers. "Not bad, but I could have done better."

She nodded. "He really could have. He'd probably have made it red." Her smile was fond as she watched him. "You're a lot better than the other hallucinations." She took another drink. "The ones Mysterio made me see were a lot less friendly."

"Who the hell is Mysterio?"

Penny huffed out a little laugh, those ever-present tears still falling. She didn't even seem to notice them. "Do you think I have a brain tumor?"

"What? No!" he snapped, not able to stomach the thought, but she went on, oblivious.

"You know, like that episode of Grey's Anatomy? Where Izzy was seeing that guy she loved, except he was a ghost."

"Come on, Pen. You felt my face. You know I'm not a ghost."

"Izzy felt him too. Denny! His name was Denny! Her brain was telling her it was real. Brains are weird, you know?" She swayed a little, the alcohol apparently hitting her as her smile wobbled and fell. He knew the effects of the scotch wouldn't last long, but it still killed him to see her like this. This was wrong…it was all wrong! "He died…I can't remember how, but she laid on the floor in her wedding dress…she sat shiva for him. I sat shiva for Mr. Stark too. Seven days of mourning. Then for May. And Ned and MJ…they weren't dead. But I was. No one sat shiva for me," she whispered, voice breaking at the end.

He tugged harder on his arm when she sobbed, wincing when it hurt, but at this point, he was ready to have two prosthetics if chewing his own arm off to get to her was a viable option. She might not even stop him. For all he knew, hallucinations did that kind of thing all the time. "Penny, you are not insane and you do not have a brain tumor. Some weird magic people brought me back to life. I woke up and they tried to explain it to me but magic is all bullshit anyway so I didn't pay that much attention. I saw Pepper and Morgan and Happy. Morgan barely remembers me. It's been five years. She's freaking out. So is Pepper. When I asked Pepper if you were okay, she didn't know who I was talking about, so I did some research and I found you and I came here to figure this out! I'm not a ghost. I'm not a hallucination. I am Tony Stark. Iron Man. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

Penny stared at him for a long minute, then sighed. "I don't have health insurance, so the brain tumor will probably just kill me."

"Pen, kid, you've got to work with me. What happened? Who is Mysterio? Why doesn't anyone remember you?"

"I don't want to talk about this," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"What do you mean, Ned and MJ don't remember you?"

"Come on Hal…don't be an asshole. Please?"

"Pen…please…tell me what happened. I don't get it. What are you doing living here? Why didn't you finish high school?"

She reached for the bottle again and he slammed his metal fist against the wall, the sound of the impact making her jerk to attention. "Stop!" Penny froze, staring at him in confusion, and he tried to soften his voice. "Honey…please. Stop. Put the bottle down. You've had enough."

Her eyes darted to the dent in the wall where the plaster had cracked, and for the first time since she'd sat down and apparently resigned herself to her own insanity, she seemed alert. She was smart…so smart. She could do this. She could put the pieces together.

"I chose this," she whispered, not bothering to wipe the tears from her face. "I had a choice. Doctor Strange was just doing what I asked."

She needed water, he could tell just by looking at her. Something to eat. A blanket and the sofa in his lakehouse and a hot shower and his arms around her, keeping her safe. His hands itched to help, even the one that was made out of metal. But he was stuck fast for at least two hours…probably more if she'd managed to improve the formula. Still, he used his metal hand to grab at the edges of the webbing, desperate as he dug into the plaster

"It was me or everyone else…" she went on. "I wanted to be like you. It's all I've ever wanted."

"You're better than me, Pen. So much better."

"You already know the story. You aren't real…you're just me, Hal. Just my fucked up brain…"

"Penny, I am real and I'm freaking out. Please, kid. Just tell me what happened. What do you mean, it was you or everyone else?"

"I couldn't get into MIT," she told him, finally seeming to give in. "After Mysterio…the whole world knew who I was. They wanted to arrest me for killing him. And then Doctor Strange helped me but the spell went bad and…and there were other Spider people…other Penny Parkers. And the only way to fix it was to make everyone forget me. May was gone and…" She covered her face with her hands. "I don't want to do this anymore. Please go away. Please. I can't do this."

None of that made much sense but he didn't care! He couldn't stand this anymore! Using the metal arm, he yanked on the edges of the plaster under the webbing, and he wasn't sure if the web fluid was faulty or his metal arm was stronger than his regular one…or if his desperation had given him the kind of super strength that let women lift cars off of their babies, but he fell forward when he finally managed to pull it off the wall along with most of the wall itself, nearly falling on his face. Penny was reaching for the half-empty bottle of scotch again when he grabbed it from her, making her jump. He took it straight to the sink, pouring it down the drain, then moved back to her side, dropping to his knees, something that used to be easier, but the pain didn't bother him. Not when Penny was sitting there, crying on the floor and staring at him like that.

Her eyes darted between him and her own hand which had, only seconds ago, held the bottle of scotch. After a second, she jumped up, running over to the sink and staring at the empty bottle he'd left on the counter. Picking it up, she peered inside, then turned it up like the liquid might just be invisible. Nothing happened. She opened her cabinet then, pulling out another bottle, this one cheap vodka. Tony jumped up, grabbing that one from her too, and she let him, backing away while he poured it down the sink.

"That's a pretty cool trick for a brain tumor, Hal," she whispered, and he reached out, gripping her bony shoulders. She was too thin. She needed to eat more. She was exhausted. She needed sleep. She was so lonely and so afraid.

She needed him. He needed her. This was his kid and he'd do anything, including inventing time travel and coming back from the dead, to help her.

Tony lifted a hand and used his thumb to wipe the tears that ran down her cheeks. "Oh honey…" He cupped her cheek and she shook her head again.

"Wrong," she whispered. "He wasn't like this."

"He didn't know how to be," Tony told her softly. "But then he lost you. And he had another daughter and…and it was so easy, all of a sudden. It was so easy to love her because I loved you first. You taught me how to be a father, Pen."

Penny seemed to crumble then. "I wish this was real," she sobbed, throwing her arms around him, and he held her as tightly as he could, rubbing his metal hand over her back and cupping the back of her head with his real one. "I miss you so much, Mr. Stark…"

"It's real. Honey, I'm real. I swear…I know it doesn't make any sense but it's real. I'm here…Penny, I'm here."

"I don't know what to do! I lost everyone…I lost everything! I don't have anyone!" Her knees buckled and he lowered them to the ground, kneeling and holding her and remembering those five years when he'd have done anything to get her back...now she'd lived through the same and he hated it. But he was going to fix this. So he held her and pressed a kiss to her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"You have me now. I'm going to fix this, okay? I'm going to talk to Strange. We'll figure this out. You're not alone anymore. All I could think about was getting you back. I tried everything and then…then I had Morgan and I had to move on but I never really did. I never got over losing you, Pen. And then the Avengers got back together and I invented time travel because there was nothing I wouldn't do to get you back. I…God, Pen…I can't believe I got you back!" He hugged her impossibly tighter and felt her tears soak into his shirt. "It's going to be okay. I swear. I'm going to fix it."

"This can't be fixed."

"Penny, I'm Tony Stark. I can fix anything."

She pulled away then, and he saw her start to believe as a slow, genuine smile took over her face and she nodded a little, pointing a finger at him. "There. That's what he was like."

Thank you for reading!