Here is the final chapter of my mini story in the middle of Whumptober. Once again, you should know that we have reached the part of Whumptober where I write things and post them, no time for editing. Enjoy!
Hunted Down
Penny sat on her bed in her bedroom, which was something she didn't know if she'd ever had before. She had no idea what Father had done to her…hadn't even known that the life she'd been living had been strange or wrong until she'd lived somewhere else. But then Tony had invited her down to the lab in his tower and she'd looked down at the thing that she'd somehow automatically known was an internal combustion engine. She'd started building down there with Tony and they'd worked together and talked, not about her past or about the mission she was supposed to accomplish…it hadn't been training and there had been no punishments.
And one day, it had hit her out of nowhere, the knowledge that for the first time she could ever remember, she was happy. Actually happy. She liked being with Tony. She liked talking to Natasha in the kitchen when they ran into each other, and she liked eating dinner with the others. She liked watching a movie with Tony and Pepper. She was enjoying herself.
Had she ever enjoyed herself before? Was there a before? Was there someone out there that missed her? The things she knew about herself could be summed up in such a short list…what more was there? How long had she been with Father? What was her first actual memory? She didn't know…would she ever know?
It took three hours after she hit send on the message that Tony assured her over and over was okay for her to send for her to feel better…for the weakness and pain that had kept her in bed for days finally started to let up. And she knew…Father was angry. He was letting up on the punishment because she'd done part of what she was supposed to. But there was another part.
And she wouldn't do it. Never. Not even if he killed her. She would die before she killed Tony. Or any of them. She hadn't known who he was before…she hadn't known that he would be the first person in her short memory that would treat her like someone he cared about. But she knew now. Things were different. She had a new mission.
Stop Father.
Stop him before he hurt Tony. Stop him before he used the information he now had to hurt the Avengers. He wouldn't suspect her, right? He wouldn't know that she hated him. He would only know what he'd always known…that he'd somehow taken her memories and that he punished her when she disobeyed.
But she couldn't let Tony know what she was doing. She couldn't let any of them know what she was doing. Father wouldn't give her more than a month, she knew that much now. And, honestly, it probably would have been easy for her to kill Tony. They were alone all the time now. Would Father know that?
She had been alone with Father all the time too. Had he ever been worried? Maybe he should have been.
The moment she had started to feel better, sitting up shakily and nodding when Tony asked if she was hungry, he pulled her into a long hug, holding her close and resting a hand on the back of her head, and it was strange but it was nice too. She couldn't remember ever having parents. Logically, she knew she had to have had parents at some point. Had she lived with them? Had they loved her? But being held by Tony, it almost felt like what she thought having parents must feel like. In the days since, he had hovered close, keeping an eye on her. The two of them always ate breakfast together and they worked in the lab all day even though she had some vague idea that teenagers were supposed to go to school. He talked her her about the car they were working on and about his suit…they never talked about her past.
But then, a few days later, Steve Rogers had knocked on the glass door of his lab, looking angry. He'd always been nice to her, but seeing his glaring face, she had taken a step back, looking uncertainty up at Tony. He'd dropped a hand on her shoulder, giving her a brief smile. "Fri, let him in. Penny, why don't you head upstairs for a while? I'll be right up. Go ahead and get some lunch."
It had only been around 11:30 in the morning, but she'd nodded, used to following orders she didn't understand. When Steve had stormed into the room, she'd made sure to give him a wide berth, but he hadn't been glaring at her. He'd been glaring at Tony.
Penny hadn't left. Instead, she'd stood by the elevator just around the corner, silently begging Friday not to rat her out. She hadn't, and Steve's voice had been so loud that she might have even heard it from the elevator.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"You're going to have to be a bit more specific…"
"Tony, don't."
"Don't what?"
"You've been tracking him."
"Of course I've been tracking him."
"And you had Penny send him information on us? Or did she do that on her own?"
"I told her to."
"Why?"
"Because he was killing her!" Tony had snapped. "Jesus, Steve, do you think we should have just let him kill her? Because I sure as hell wasn't going to do that."
"I know you care about her. And I get that." Steve's voice had gone soft. "I really do. She's a good kid, and I don't want anything to happen to her. But what about the next time he wants her to do something?"
"I'm working on that."
"How?"
"Easy. I find him. I stop him."
But Penny had had her own plan. And it was time to enact it. Because Steve had been right…what about the next time Father wanted her to do something? She already knew what he wanted her to do. Kill Tony. But she wouldn't do it. No matter how he punished her.
Penny had been right about being able to use the tablet without being detected. The message had been sent. And now…now she just had to follow her new orders. So she waited until one in the morning to stand from her bed, still fully dressed. She'd disabled Friday, at least in her room, and she took a moment to look around the first bedroom she could ever remember having, then stepped out onto her balcony and began the long climb down the side of the tower.
Father had given her the coordinates of the meeting place, and although it was cold outside, she barely felt it as she made her way through the city. The stars were bright in the sky and she glanced up at them, wondering if she'd ever actually looked at the stars. Hoping she'd get to see them again sometime soon, Penny kept walking the three miles until she reached the spot she'd been ordered to come to as soon as possible.
Father was waiting for her in a car and she climbed into the back, knowing he wouldn't want her in the front. She wanted to end it right there…wanted to reach forward and put her hands around his throat and end his life. She was capable. She was strong. She would have the element of surprise, but something stopped her…something she couldn't name. Instead, she put her hands in her lap and lowered her eyes, not daring to meet his in the rearview mirror.
"Well?"
"It's done. He's dead. I killed him in his sleep tonight."
"Took you long enough," was all he said, and then they were driving through the city and then out of it, through trees and on winding roads until she was nearly asleep. But she knew he wouldn't want her to sleep and she knew he wouldn't want her to talk, so she just watched the scenery pass in the darkness, knowing that at any point, she could do it…she could kill him. But for some reason, she just couldn't. It was strange, but it also wasn't something she could make her brain focus on for very long.
It was three hours before they reached the building where he'd apparently made his new home, and Penny had to fight with everything inside of her not to fall asleep. Father got out of the car first and something made her follow obediently at his heels until the two of them were in the building, the front door shut, at least three locks clicking into place. And then he turned to her, looking her over carefully as though afraid to miss something.
"You fulfilled your mission?"
"Tony Stark is dead," Penny told him simply, trying to make her face blank like it had been when she'd lived with him before. She tried to look at him like she was devoted to him…like she craved his approval over everything else. Like she didn't want to kill him.
"So you said. Do you have proof?"
Penny tried to look distressed instead of afraid. "No…you never asked for proof!"
He sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. "I assumed that went without saying." Still, he waved a hand. "Go to your room. Third door on the left. I'll deal with you later."
Her jaw dropped. "But…but I did what you asked!"
Father stared down at her, incredulous...almost amused. "What did you just say?"
"I did what you asked! I…"
The back of his hand struck her so hard she tasted blood and Penny stumbled back, more surprised than hurt. She'd forgotten, somehow, about Father's punishments. Tony had never hit her. None of the Avengers had. Even when they'd thought (correctly) that she was a spy, they had never been cruel to her. But Father reached out, quick as a snake, and fisted his hand in her hair. She could have fought back…she could have killed him right there.
But he threw her to the floor, pulling back a foot, and something in her refused to let her fight back. She wanted to! She wanted to kill him! But his foot smashed into her face and she screamed when her nose cracked, her whole face aching as she rolled over onto her back. Still, she couldn't make her hand grip his boot…couldn't force her feet to kick out! Why couldn't she fight him? Why didn't she get up?
"What did I just say to you?" he asked, voice so quiet it was almost hard to hear. He sounded totally calm, as though they were having a normal conversation.
"You…you told me to go to your room."
"Then go."
So she did, feet taking her to the cell that was identical to the one that had been her room, and she sat on the new cot, shivering in the cold, hot tears dripping down her aching cheeks. Why couldn't she fight him? Why had she let him hurt her? Was it something to do with how he'd punished her when she'd been at the tower? Tony had never figured out how he was doing that, but she'd heard him talking to Natahsa, using words like 'implant' and 'magic.' She hadn't thought magic was real!
Penny didn't know how many days she spent in the cell that was her room. It wasn't like her bedroom at the tower…there was only a threadbare blanket and a flat pillow, and meals were delivered on trays that were kicked into her room by an employee. It wasn't like before, though. Before, she'd had no problem sitting in her room, mind blank as she'd stared at the wall. Now though, she kept remembering days spent with Tony and the Avengers…of working in his lab and reading books and watching TV. Those had all been wonderful things, but now she almost hated that she'd experienced because now she knew what she was missing. It was like her brain had woken up, and now she couldn't be content with sitting in a cell with the lights out because Father was angry with her and refused to turn them on.
She thought about all the ways she could take him down…thought about the next time she saw him, and how she would wrap an arm around his neck and squeeze until he dropped. She thought about stealing a knife from her tray the next time they brought her one, hiding it under her pillow, and driving it through his eye. She thought about hitting him, again and again, just like he'd hit her, until he stopped moving.
But when he opened her door an indeterminate number of days later, she couldn't do any of those things. Instead, she sat still while he grabbed her by the hair and brought a fist back, punching her first in the eye, and then in her newly healed nose. She cried out, starbursts appearing in front of her closed eyelids, then gasped when he wrapped a hand around her throat, cutting off her air.
"Well, well, well. It seems my friend was wrong. You can lie to me."
She couldn't even choke out an answer, and she wished she'd taken a deeper breath when his fingers tightened around his throat. Penny didn't know what he was talking about or who his friend was, but that didn't matter because he was staring at her in that cool, dispassionate way he always stared at her when he was angry…when she was about to be punished.
He let go of her throat then, leaving her gasping for air. Before she could recover, he went on. "Did you complete your mission?"
"Yes!" she gasped, nodding. "I sent you the information! I killed Tony Stark in his sleep!" As she spoke, she willed her body to move…to attack! She knew she could! So why wouldn't she? Her fingers twitched as she tried to make them wrap around his throat or clench into fists and hit him in the face for once. But her limbs refused to obey.
He shook his head, laughing under his breath. "If you weren't such a disappointment, this could be fascinating. I'm going to have to bring him back…see if we can do it again. In the meantime, let's see how you do with a direct order."
He grabbed her by the hair and began to walk, not pausing when she stumbled and struggled to get her feet under her. Her head throbbed and her face ached and all she wanted was Tony…to be held in his arms again, or to work on that car together, side by side. She wanted to feel like there was someone in the world that care if she lived or died.
So it felt as though that wish had manifested into reality when he dragged her around the corner and threw her to the floor, and she heard a sharp intake of breath. When she looked up, there sat Tony, hands cuffed behind his back in an uncomfortable wooden chair. It made no sense…why would he be there? She blinked furiously, trying to clear her vision, wondering if he'd given her a concussion. But no matter how quickly she blinked, he still sat there, looking so worried about her, just like when she'd been in the medbay.
"I'm going to give you one last chance to complete your mission," Father told her, voice soft and cold. But she couldn't look away from Tony. Did he think she'd run because she had wanted to go back to Father? Did she think she had betrayed him? He didn't look angry with her, though. He just looked sad and worried. But she didn't dare talk to him…didn't dare confirm for Father that she actually cared about this man so much it hurt her to see him handcuffed in this horrible place.
"Penny," Father started, grabbing her wrist and placing a gun into her hand. It was cold and heavy and although she'd held guns before and although she'd shot things before, it still felt so strange and scary. "This is your mission. Kill Tony Stark."
The words had weight. They felt heavier than anything he'd ever said to her, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, she lifted her hand and pointed the gun at his head. But still, Tony didn't look angry. He just looked sad. And she knew that if she pulled the trigger, he would be dead. Just the thought made her whole body start to shake, her lips trembling as she sobbed. She didn't want to! Still, her finger pulled back the hammer as she watched Tony giver her a tiny, sad smile that made her breath catch in a sob, and then he closed his eyes.
Tony Stark had been kind to her from the beginning. He'd known she was a spy and he'd taken care of her anyway. He'd never hurt her…never even raised his voice. He'd brought her into his lab and he'd spent hours letting her help him build a car and he'd wrapped his arms around her, holding her so tightly when she'd started to feel better…he'd been afraid for her.
Father wanted her to kill him. That was her mission. But she had her own mission.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, and she didn't know if she was apologizing to the man she'd called Father or to the man who had actually been a father to her. She didn't know if she was sorry for being a failure or sorry for not trusting Tony or sorry for herself and whoever it was that she'd been before Father had done this to her. Tony shook his head, blood running down his temple, and she thought later that it was that…the sight of his blood, proof that he'd been hurt, that gave her the strength to turn, moving so quickly that she knew they wouldn't quite be able to see, and put a bullet through Father's head right between his eyes.
He didn't even scream. Didn't even jump. He just dropped backwards, and she wondered if he deserved to have died too easily, or if she should have made him suffer. If she should have fought harder so she could do it with her bare hands.
Penny started to drop the gun, then remembered it was still loaded, so she sat it down instead. But she only made it two steps towards Tony before she tasted the blood that dripped and landed on her lips. She brought a hand up to her mouth and froze at the sight of the bright red stain there…and then it was as though something in her head popped.
She gasped, hand pressed to her forehead…
A bright, hot agonizing pain that felt like it might split her open was all she knew and she dropped, mouth open in a scream that she didn't even hear, and endless, relentless pain that left her shaking and sobbing and then…
And then…then it was gone.
Tony was yelling for her, straining against the handcuffs and calling her name and she looked up at him, feeling something wet dripping on both sides of her neck. But it didn't hurt anymore…the pain was gone, as though it never had been, and it was as though she'd been in a fog but she'd finally gotten out and she could see and…and she could remember. All of it.
"Parker," she whispered. "My name…it's Penny Parker."
"Okay…" he nodded, eyes wide and worried. "Can you…"
Immediately she snapped back into action, the memories overwhelming but not as overwhelming as her worry about Tony. Tony Stark. Iron Man! The Iron Man! She grabbed the chain that held the cuffs together and snapped them, starting to apologize, but the second he was free he was holding her.
"Jesus, kid," he murmured, shaking his head. "I thought he was going to kill you!" He pulled away, bringing his fingers to her neck and wiping at blood that must have dripped from her ears.
"You're Iron Man."
He hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah…you with me, kiddo?"
"I had a poster of you in my bedroom."
He snorted at that, shaking his head and squeezing her again. "Good to know, Pen."
"You're Tony Stark," she whispered, the words carrying more weight, but she couldn't help hugging him back. "I was calling you Tony!"
"Keep calling me Tony. You ready to get out of here?"
"I was at your expo! You saved me!"
"Wait…what?"
"With…with the robots! And…I was wearing the mask and…"
He stared at her for a long time, then shook his head. "That was you?"
She nodded.
"Okay. We can talk about that later. We…"
"He killed them." The memory was just there all of a sudden, like a movie flashing in front of her eyes. That man had followed her from school…had hunted her down when she'd run. Had kicked the door to their apartment in. "My uncle…he tried to stop…". She wouldn't call him Father. Never again. "Him. The…scientist. My uncle tried to stop him and he killed…"
"Pen…"
"I don't have anyone left."
"Hey, you've got me, okay? Now let's get out of here before more of them show up."
It wasn't an order. That other man had always given her orders and he'd punished her if she didn't follow them. Not Tony, though. He waited, letting her process before finally nodding, following him out the door and to the car that had been the other man's. Tony yanked the driver's side door open, gesturing for Pen to go to the other side, and she climbed into the passenger seat as he climbed into the driver's seat, touching a button on his watch.
"Fri, hotwire this for me, will you?" He stuck something in the ignition, and it only took five seconds for the engine to come to life with a roar.
"How did you know where I was?"
"Read your messages. You're one hell of a spy, kid. How did you disable Friday?" She opened her mouth but he waved a hand. "Actually, we can talk about that later. Anyway, I sat the coordinates of the dropoff point, had Friday hack into surveillance…but then I received a message from Doctor Asshole inviting me to come find you, so he made it pretty easy from that point on."
"You walked into a trap?" she cried, incredulous, but he just nodded.
"Yep. Left a note for the Avengers and came here in the armor. I figured that between the two of us, we could probably break out."
She just stared at him, then shook her head. "How did you know I wouldn't kill you?"
"I didn't," he admitted. "But…I knew you didn't want to. I was betting on your will being stronger than whatever magic shit was making you follow orders."
"I don't know how he did it…but he said he was going to call his friend and have him do it again…he said I wasn't supposed to be able to lie to him."
Tony nodded, seeming to file that away. "Okay. We'll figure out who he's talking about and make sure we put a stop to them too. How are you feeling?" he asked, glancing over at her and grimacing at what must have been some painful-looking bruises.
"He killed them," she told him simply. She had no idea how she was feeling. She was feeling in shock. Numb. Distantly horrified. But he just nodded like he understood, reaching over and putting an arm around her shoulders despite the fact that he was driving, pulling her close so that she was resting her head against his shoulder.
"I know. I'm so sorry, kiddo. It's going to be okay. I've got you, okay?"
And, too tired to ask any more questions, Penny nodded, closing her eyes and listening to the soft rumble of the engine and Tony's breathing until she fell asleep. She knew that she would probably have nightmares about her aunt and uncle…May and Ben. Those were their names and it seemed impossible that she'd ever forgotten them. But she was too wrung out to stay awake any longer and besides, she knew that Tony would be there to wake her up.