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Chapter Text

So I've been working on this story for such a long time, and I'm finally ready to start posting! :) I hope you enjoy!

The man wasn't waking up.

Penny wasn't surprised, really…she'd seen injuries like his before. Shrapnel to the heart. Her aunt had helped lots of people, saved so many. But she'd never been able to do anything for the walking dead...the ones whose organs would be torn apart by tiny shards of metal working their way deeper and deeper into their bodies. This man had been unconscious for hours...maybe a full day. Keeping track of time was the most difficult thing she did now, but she had to do it. Otherwise, she thought, she would be lost.

She'd tried to go about her day as normally as possible. Avoiding the cameras. Making food. Pacing. These were the things she did now without books to read or TV to watch or anyone to talk to. But she couldn't help but worry. Why had they put the man in with her? Why had they kept her around in the first place? These were questions she'd had plenty of time to dwell on since they'd taken her, but all that time hadn't given her any answers. The men that kept her here rarely spoke to her...rarely even entered the room they kept her in other than to bring more bread, which they hadn't done in at least five days if the tally marks she'd scratched into the wall were any indication.

And then, without any fanfare or warning, he was waking up. The man groaned, shifting on the cot, and she shrank back against the wall her cot was pressed against, making herself small as he stirred. The wall had scratches, all made with a tiny kitchen knife they hadn't hesitated to put in what amounted to the kitchen in the prison cell she now shared with Tony Stark apparently. They all had machine guns, these men. They weren't afraid of a knife they'd given to a child to cut half-molded bread. When they'd dragged Tony Stark of all people into the room that served as her cell, dropping him, bandaged and smelling of antiseptic and explosions onto the bed, they hadn't even bothered pointing their guns at her.

That had been almost a day ago.

She fought the urge to crawl onto the ceiling...to be safe. Ever since the bite, something in her had urged her upward...urged her to get as high as she could, to make herself as small as she could. But she couldn't risk these people finding out who she was...or what she could do. She already had too many secrets, secrets they didn't even know existed. Sure, they'd knocked her around plenty of times, but she'd never told them a thing. It was something she was proud of, that she'd endured pain without saying a word to them.

The man they called the merchant of death groaned again, starting to stir. She couldn't help the twinge of sympathy. They'd cut him open, shoving a magnet in his chest and talking about how he was worth more alive than dead. They would want him to build weapons for them. After all, why buy or steal the weapons when you can have them made for free. Still, that magnet in his chest would hurt. She had learned enough about medicine to know that much. She'd unwrapped the dirty bandages when he'd been asleep, spreading the ointment they'd thrown at her over the sides of the magnet and his chest, trying to prevent infection. As best as she could, she'd washed the bandages, then rewrapped them with more care.

She didn't know why they were keeping her, but assumed they didn't want Tony Stark to die.

May had taught her this...had taught her how to sew a wound and how to wrap them. How to prevent infection which would kill a man no matter how small the cut. While she and her uncle had chatted in the handful of languages they'd known, May had taught her to sew and clean and heal. She wasn't sure which skill would come in more handy now.

When the man put a hand to his head, blinking in the dim light of the cave where they would live, she curled up even tighter under the blanket, praying he didn't see her. Not yet. She didn't want to talk to Tony Stark. Not now, not ever. Her uncle had talked enough about him for the both of them.

Ben hadn't hated Tony Stark. But he had been disappointed by him, as if the man barely a year or two younger than him were his own to be disappointed in. "A man with that much power holds a lot of responsibility," he had told her in French one day while she had practiced sewing a banana together, the words rolling off his tongue with an ease she envied. She'd been ten then, and they'd lived In their small home in a small village for almost three years. She could barely remember New York anymore, although the other school kids still looked at her funny. In the other room, May had been studying medical textbooks, a pastime she'd engaged in almost every day.

"Doesn't he care? That he's killing all of these people?" she'd asked in German once after a long day of helping May in the makeshift hospital. German was her favorite. She liked the way the words sounded, strong and sure and deep. She had wanted to be strong. Now she had to be.

"He doesn't kill people, Pen. He builds the weapons, and he doesn't care where they go." He'd stuck with French, his own favorite, and one he rarely had need for in their small village in Afghanistan. She hadn't seen how that had been any different, but hadn't argued.

The man on the other side of the room groaned, coughing and shuddering as he yanked the nasal tube out. She had to assume that hurt, but she didn't ask...didn't draw attention. He was making noises, gasping and moaning, sounding almost like a normal man, and just for a second, Penny thought about asking him. Did you know that your weapons were being sold to terrorists who would kill innocents? Do you like being called the merchant of death?

"What the hell?" He spoke in soft, raspy English. His head whipped around the room, seeming to search for something. She clutched the knife in her hand, the one she kept under the balled up sweater she used as a pillow. At first, his eyes didn't find her. His gaze swept the cave, lingering on the heavy metal door that was barred on the outside. And then the camera.

Once more, she thought about making a comment but didn't. 'Say cheese.' She thought, smirking just a little, then scolded herself for being mean. But she'd been angry with Tony Stark. She'd been angry when she'd seen his name on the bombs that terrorists used to murder the people she thought of as hers and she'd been angry when he'd appeared on TV, giving speeches and smiling and drinking his fancy alcohol. There had been days when she'd been helping in that hospital that she'd hated him. But not now. Now he was just another man that had been taken hostage.

Then Mr. Stark saw her, bringing her memories to a halt. The place wasn't big enough for him not to notice her, and the electric lights that flickered along the wall gave off just enough light that he would see her in her trousers and too-large shirt, all of it belted loosely at her waist. She'd lost her shoes at some point in the scuffle, but she didn't really need shoes in this room, a prison that would, in the end she was sure, be her tomb.

"What did you do to me?" he demanded. As if he were in a place to demand anything from her. As if she were in a place to give him anything.

She debated staying silent. Letting him think she didn't speak English. She'd wager good money on him not knowing Farsi. She could try that one. Or even one as common in America as Spanish, even though she only knew enough Spanish to order a churro and ask for the bathroom. Her uncle had promised to teach her more Spanish if she ever went back to America. Her aunt had laughed and said they were definitely going back to America.

They would never go back now.

"They saved your life. I didn't do anything," she told him, sticking with English and keeping her voice soft He glanced back down at his chest, eyes following the wires to the battery. For a second he just stared, and she knew it must be strange. Scary, even, if a man like Tony Stark could be scared. But then he started to unhook himself from the battery. She sighed, knowing that they'd blame her if he died...not to mention the fact that she wouldn't let him kill himself like that. "Don't," she ordered.

"What is this?" he gasped, shaking his head.

"That is an electromagnet and it's hooked up to a car battery." He just stared at her, shaking his head a little. "I've seen injuries like yours in my village. My au…" She hesitated. No reason to tell him anything about herself or her family. "We called them the walking dead. Sometimes it takes days for the shrapnel to pierce the organs...but they always do." Standing up, she kept a close eye on him even though he was tethered to a car battery and obviously disoriented. She doubted he could hurt her, even if he wanted to. And maybe he wouldn't want to. She hoped not, since they'd be sharing a cave cell for the foreseeable future. Moving over to the counter where they'd placed the jar, she grabbed it, then held it up. "A souvenir from your trip," she told him, tossing the jar his way. He caught it easily. "That magnet is keeping the shrapnel from reaching your heart. It's keeping you alive."

The man held up the jar, shaking it a little and glancing back down at the magnet in his chest. She wanted to ask questions again...how did it feel to nearly be killed by the weapons you made? She didn't though. Penny knew how this would work...the less she spoke, the better. Still, he looked terrified. It was strange...he was arguably the most powerful man in the world. The merchant of death.

And there he sat in a dirty cave, hooked up to a car battery that was keeping him alive. Moving over to the jug that had been left the day before, she poured a glass of water. Hesitating for only a second, she moved within reaching distance, holding out the cup. "Water," she told him when he just stared. "Drink."

"Thanks," he muttered, eyes following her when she stepped out of arm's reach. "What about you? How the hell did you end up here?"

"Wrong place, wrong time," she told him simply, grabbing her own glass, then freezing when she heard footsteps. Dropping the glass on the counter, she turned to Tony Stark. "Get up."

"What?"

"Get up!" she ordered again, hurrying over and grabbing his arm, urging him up. He stood, holding the car battery in a shaking hand. "Hurry. Here." She supported him for a second, making sure he was upright, then put her hands on her head. "Hands up, eyes down. Do as I do!" she hissed.

"I…"

"Shut up!" she hissed again, and then the doors were thrown open, the leader stepping into the room surrounded by his posse, all with very large guns.

"Those are my guns. How did…".

She rolled her eyes, then dropped them when the man began to speak. A long speech...one he'd apparently practiced. Penny bit her lip, forcing her mouth shut so she wouldn't say something stupid.

"Hey, I don't speak…" Stark started, but the leader kept going, then turned to Penny.

So this was why he'd kept her alive. She clenched her jaw, keeping her head down.

"Boy!" the man yelled in English.

"Yeah, I don't work for…" she started in a language she knew he'd understand, and then she was on the ground, nose gushing blood, the leader's friend standing over her. "Asshole!" she snapped in French, and then a foot came back, kicking her in the stomach hard enough that she coughed and gasped, doing her best not to scream.

"Stop! He's just a kid!"

Well, at least Stark didn't suspect her. It was almost touching to have him defending her, or it would have been if it didn't hurt so much.

Penny struggled to her feet once it was apparent that they weren't giving her a choice. "Boy," the man demanded again, jerking his chin toward the man at her side.

"Fine. The asshole says, welcome Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America. He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho one." Penny waved a hand as she picked herself up from the floor, wiping absently at the blood she was sure covered the bottom of her face now. She wasn't sure what that meant, but Mr. Stark seemed to. For a second, he looked grim. Then angry.

"I refuse."

"Well, then this is going to suck for all of us," Penny muttered, then translated for the man with the gun. "He says no."

And then they were dragging him out of the room, leaving her alone once more. Curling up on her bed, she made another mark.

There were almost 30 now.

Thank you for reading!

Chapter Text

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing!  My plan is to post a new chapter every day until it's done :)  I hope you are all staying safe!  

It got cold at night, no matter how tightly Penny pulled the thin, useless blanket around herself. It was the only way she knew it was nighttime. The cold. And even then, if she kept a fire going, sometimes she still didn't know. Penny vaguely remembered snow...snow that covered roads and piled up on sidewalks. Walking in it. Playing in it. She remembered it the same way she remembered her parents. Like something hazy and barely there in her brain, something between real life and a dream. Had she really seen snow before, she sometimes wondered. Had she ever had parents? Had she lived anywhere but this godforsaken cave?

Yes, she reminded herself as she crawled out from the blanket and grabbed herself a cup of water. They'd had Tony Stark for hours, and she wondered if she'd ever see him again. And what that would mean for her. Drinking her water, she tried to shake that thought away, but it was no use. Her life was tied to his now. If he hadn't broken...if he'd died...

Then they'd have no more use for her.

She hadn't been sure why they'd wanted her in the first place...why they'd wanted a boy who spoke English and Farsi, German and French. Enough Arabic to get by. Enough Spanish to order a churro. But she got it now. A translator. They had known that they'd need a translator, which meant they'd been planning to kidnap Tony Stark.

Of course, even at thirteen, Penny wasn't stupid. Hopeful, maybe. Afraid, yes. But not stupid. She'd seen enough over the last two years watching these terrorists attack her home to know that the chances of her making it out of this alive were slim to none. She just chose not to dwell on it.

When the men from the ten rings reentered the room with the bang of a door being thrown open and the typical orders to stand back, the Merchant of Death was nowhere in sight. She had assumed the position she knew they liked best with her hands up and her eyes down. Grabbing her arm, they drug her forward, guns pointed at her. Shaking a little, she stumbled forward, trying to keep her face blank so they wouldn't know how afraid she was. Instead, she tried to pay attention to the twists and turns of the corridors. If she managed to get away...if she could just remember the path, maybe she could run.

It was still scary to have them point their huge guns at her, even after so long.

"Boy!" one of the men behind her barked, shoving her forward, and Penny realized she hadn't been paying enough attention and had slowed down.

Boy. It was what they'd called her from the beginning. Since they had grabbed her from the rubble of her village and had dragged her through the desert to these mountains. Boy. With her hair newly short and choppy and her mostly flat chest hidden under purposefully loose clothes, she didn't blame them. It was the look she was going for, after all.

Boy beat the hell out of the alternative. She'd seen what they did to girls.

It was the only thing Penny had said to them as they'd been separating people out. First in Farsi, then Arabic, then English. "I'm a boy. I'm a boy!" The same words her uncle had shouted at her as he'd put his hands on her arms, shaking her right before he would die, the two of them pressed to a wall, hiding as best they could. "You're a boy! Do you hear me? You're a boy!"

Just an hour before, when they'd first heard explosions, he'd grabbed a pair of scissors. Feeling her new sense for incoming danger flare up, Penny had gone along dumbly as he'd had her stand in front of the mirror, and then he had cut her hair short, face so grim and afraid that she hadn't dared question him. Hadn't dared to pull away as her long hair had fallen to the floor.

"Ben…" May had started, probably about to talk him down. To assure him that this time was like any other...but one look from him had silenced her.

Tony Stark was standing at the end of the corridor when they reached the exit, car battery in hand, hair wet, eyes almost vacant. It didn't bring her any joy to see the Merchant of Death like this...she'd kind of thought it would. Instead, she had to fight the urge to touch his arm. To lie and say that it would be okay. She didn't touch him though, just bit her tongue and stumbled when they shoved her forward to stand beside him. The man's eyes shot to her, confused. Worried Afraid. She didn't blame him. She was afraid too. Had been afraid for over a month now with no idea of what they wanted or why they'd taken her. The leader of the ten rings was back….she'd only seen him once or twice before Tony Stark had come along, and he gestured for them to follow. Penny went first, knowing that the billionaire was stumbling along behind. As they stepped out into the sun, she squinted against the brightness, flinching as the hot sand burned her bare feet.

The leader spoke, glancing back at them as they stepped into an open area filled with weapons. Penny thought about running. Just for a second. She might be able to make it. She could climb walls and she was strong now...but that would leave Tony Stark here...alone. Glancing over at the man, sure of what they'd already done to him, she realized that she couldn't just leave him here alone to die.

Their fates were tied together now.

"Boy!" The English word was an order, and a gun whacked her on the back of the head hard enough that she stumbled forward and saw stars. Blinking heavily, she brought a shaky hand up to the spot where they'd hit her, then flinched when it came back bloody. The leader switched to Farsi again, expression cold. "If you can't translate, then what good are you to me?"

Penny nodded, murmuring an apology. Knowing she would have to bide her time. Turning to Tony Stark, she did as she'd been told, ready to keep her head down and do her best to lay low. "He wants to know what you think." She gestured toward the stacks of guns and bombs covered by tarps and tents, and at the men milling around. Her voice sounded raspy from disuse, and she wondered if she would have forgotten how to talk if they'd kept her in that place alone for much longer.

The man lifted an eyebrow, obviously trying to look unconcerned and failing. He was rich, she remembered. Famous. He would have a lot of practice pretending. Maybe that could work in their favor. "I think he has a lot of my weapons," Stark finally told her.

"No shit," she murmured, ignoring his raised eyebrows and then turning to the leader to translate what the man had said. Then the leader was speaking again, gesturing grandly. This time, she translated as soon as he was done, not wanting to risk another blow to the head.

"Now he says they have everything you need here to make the missile. He wants you to make a list of materials that you'll need to make it. If you start working immediately, when you are done, he'll set you free." She didn't let any of her doubt into her voice. She didn't need to. Tony Stark was one of the smartest men in the world, right?

Smiling and nodding, the man reached out a hand to shake the other man's. "No he won't."

Penny forced a smile, feeling her eyes heat up. They were trapped...doomed. Even he knew it. "No," she agreed. "He won't."

Back in the cave, Tony Stark stumbled over to his bed, dropping down with a weary, painful sigh. She thought about asking if his chest hurt, but it was probably a stupid question. Of course it hurt. And she couldn't exactly apologize for it. She had been so long without talking to other people, she wondered if she'd forgotten how to do it. Or maybe if she let herself open her mouth, she would never stop talking.

On the bed, Tony had his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. Moving over to the counter, she poured two glasses of water, glad that they still gave them water. That they still gave them food. Canned goods were stacked on the floor and fresh bread had come at first...not anymore though. None of it was very good, but she could make do. Figuring that the man was hungry, she opened a can of beans and turned the burner on the old stove, then poured the beans into the pot. The man didn't look up, so she carried a glass of water, starting to touch him, then just sat it on the floor by his feet. "Drink," she told him. Urged him.

Once she'd returned to the stove, she glanced back to find him with the water in hand, taking a long drink. She heated the beans in silence...there were plenty of cans of beans and rice too. Canned fruit. Canned vegetables. It was like they'd just gone into a store and thrown cans into their bags without paying any attention to what exactly they were. She guessed it didn't matter….either way, they'd eat what they could for as long as they could.

As long as Tony Stark decided to build their missile.

The man seemed to be deep in thought, and it wasn't until she poured half of the beans into a rough looking clay bowl and carried it over to him that he spoke. "What, so you're their cook and their translator?" he asked, voice a little bitter.

She flinched a little, stung, but did her best not to show it. She didn't care what Tony Stark thought about her. Really, she didn't. Still, she clenched her jaw, slamming the bowl down on the bed beside him and heading back over to the stove where her own food waited. Carrying it over to her bed, she crawled onto her bunk, curling up with a blanket and wishing she had a TV as she ate. Sometimes, she could hear the soldiers' TV if she was quiet. They watched the news and soap operas and sometimes porn...that's when she put her hands over her ears, face buried in her sweater pillow.

Now, though, there was only silence. And she was fine with that, Penny told herself firmly. Silence was all she'd lived with for a month now. She rarely even dared to speak to herself aloud anymore, too afraid that they'd somehow catch on. That they'd find out that she wasn't a girl and then what? Would they still keep her around? Or would they decide that they could find a better use for her?

"Hey." The man's voice was soft when he finally spoke after several minutes of silence. "Kid?"

She ignored him, eyes stinging. She wasn't going to cry about this...even though she'd been alone for so long and even though she was finally, finally not alone anymore. Her uncle had always been disappointed in Tony Stark. She supposed she would be too.

"Kid." He spoke a little louder, and she finally turned to look at him from across the room, making her eyes cold, even though she doubted he could tell from that far away.

"What?" she asked, unable to stop herself from sounding angry and wishing she were anywhere but here. Wishing she were at home. Or in school. Somewhere where she could be a thirteen-year-old girl again. Where she didn't have to deal with angry captive billionaires and terrorists who wanted her to translate for them and forget about the nearly three months she'd spent in this hellhole, just surviving until this kind of life was almost normal to her...until the cave felt almost familiar.

He stood, battery in hand, and made his way slowly over to where she sat. Penny shrank back, eyes on him, feeling like a cornered dog and wanting more than anything to climb. To get away from him and those men and find a safe corner to hide. He lifted a hand though, the one not holding the battery, like he was surrendering. "Easy, kid. Not going to hurt you." For a moment, she worried he would sit on her bed, but he just stood there awkwardly, swallowing hard and then trying to smile as his eyes darted around the immediate area. There was nothing to look at though, so he finally had to drag his eyes back to her. "I'm sorry. It's been a bad day. Shouldn't have taken that out on you." He pressed his lips together, nodding a little to himself.

A bad day. Her lips twitched. It was an understatement if she'd ever heard one. Then it hit her what had just happened. Tony Stark had just apologized to her, eyes large and earnest, his mouth twisted into a sad half smile. What could she do but forgive him? "It's alright."

He gave a short nod, then, looking a little lost, he went back to his own bed and grabbed the bowl of beans she'd made him, eating them like a starving man. She watched from her bed, cross legged, trying not to stare.

"I can make more," Penny offered, wanting so desperately to have someone to talk to. To have someone in this cave that didn't hate her. That didn't want to hurt her. She was strong and fast and could take him easily, especially with her powers. But she didn't want another enemy. Not when she already had so many here.

"That's okay, kid."

He was so quiet. Penny hadn't expected him to be so quiet, not after the way he'd been on TV so many times. Or from the stories she'd heard about him. She'd expected him to be loud. To take up the whole room. To be larger than life. Instead, he was soft-spoken. Short, only a head taller than her. He looked tired. And she got it. She was tired too. Tired and scared and always wondering how much longer these people were going to keep her alive.

She hesitated to ask any questions of him. Hesitated to speak at all. So instead, she took her bowl to the sink and began to scrub, grateful at least for running water. Tony Stark came up beside her, waiting for her to finish, then placed the battery on the edge of the tiny counter and began to carefully wash his own bowl.

"Have you ever washed your own dishes?" Penny blurted after a moment, deciding to stick to something light for a while. She never had been able to stay quiet for long when in the company of others. He snorted, eyebrows lifted, so she went on. "You're Tony Stark. I just assumed that you had maids to do your dishes."

He smirked and looked sideways at her. "Maids, plural? Just to wash the dishes?"

"I don't know how you rich people live."

He chuckled then, glancing over at her with a wry smile. "What, no maids at your house?"

"I was the maid," she told him, voice just teasing enough that he would know it was a joke.

He nodded with a chuckle. "You said your village...are you from here?"

She pressed her lips together, wary of giving him too much information. Of letting him get too close to the truth. "I've lived here for a long time. With my aunt and uncle." Before he could ask any more questions, she asked him one. "Why were you here?"

"Weapons demonstration," he told her, and she clenched her jaw. The man glanced down at her, eyes growing dark. "I didn't know that they had my weapons."

"They used your weapons to wipe out my village." She spoke softly enough that he might not have heard. He did, though. She could tell by the way his teeth dug into his lip, head shaking just a little, eyes closing. "They'd been attacking us for years...us and the other towns and cities around us. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere alone….they were stealing children. Holding whole cities hostage. And my aunt took me with her to the hospital when I couldn't go to school...taught me how to try and help the people your weapons hurt." There was something accusing in her voice, but she couldn't help it. Not when the man was finally there in front of her.

For a long moment, he was silent. Then he swallowed hard, shaking his head a little. "I didn't know…"

"They're still dead, Mr. Stark. Whether or not you knew," she murmured, no real heat in her voice. She wasn't angry with him. Honestly, she was inclined to believe him. Maybe he hadn't known. But that didn't really matter anymore. "Are you going to do it? Build their weapon?"

The man shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face and leaning on the counter, seeming lost in thought. "What does it matter? I'll be dead in a week," he murmured, shaking his head and walking back over to his own bed. It was early still...or so it seemed. It was hard to tell without windows, but they hadn't been inside for very long.

"Well, this is a very important week for you isn't it, Mr. Stark." She laughed without humor. "And me too, I guess."

He furrowed his eyebrows, staring at her so closely that she wanted to climb up to the ceiling again. The question was plain on his face, and she didn't make him say it.

"They won't keep me around if you're dead. They took me because I speak enough languages to translate for them...they were planning this. But without anyone to translate for…" Penny shrugged, trying not to let herself think of it as she crawled into her own bed. She was tired...she was always hungry and always tired, eyes drooping as she curled up under her blanket.

She could almost hear him thinking as she fell asleep, praying that she didn't have any nightmares.

It was a prayer that was almost never answered.

Thank you for reading!

Chapter Text

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing!  I hope you're all safe, and that you enjoy the new chapter!  

Penny hadn't been sleeping long when the hunger pangs in her stomach woke her. Across the room at the huge black oven, Mr. Stark was stirring something. It smelled like...beans. Probably vegetables too. Maybe fruit. She started to sit up, but her head spun, and she found herself back on the bed, watching the man through tired, hazy eyes. The aroma wafted over, making her stomach growl, demanding things she rarely was able to give it. She'd been so careful with the food, not wanting to run out, but now there were two of them.

What would they do if they ran out of food? She had to eat more after the spider bite, and she walked a fine line every day between trying to eat enough to keep her body functioning and making sure not to consume too much of the limited food she had been given.

Mr. Stark glanced over at her from the stove, although she didn't know how well he could see her in the dim lighting. Behind him, a fire was going, and she wondered if it was evening yet. What had the man been doing while she'd been sleeping? She almost always slept during the hottest part of the day, or what felt like the hottest part of the afternoon, her body refusing to function for a full day when she wasn't feeding it enough. But now she'd have to be more careful.

What if she had a nightmare? What if she screamed in her sleep? She didn't think she ever had, but what if she did now?

"Are you sick?" The man's voice startled her a little, even though she was staring at her. "You felt hot."

She shrugged, trying to push herself up again, succeeding this time. He'd touched her...too close, the alarm in the back of her brain warned. He'd gotten too close. And if he found out...if he let it slip somehow...Penny pushed that thought away. She couldn't let herself worry about that and all the other things. "I'm fine. Are you the cook now?"

He smirked a little, shaking his head. "Sure. I'll be the cook for a while. Can't promise I'll make anything edible." Pouring beans and vegetables into the bowls, he carried one over to her, handing it over with a fork stuck inside.

"Let me guess, you had maids for that too?"

He chuckled outright, pouring some of the food into a bowl. "Let's just say I didn't do a lot of cooking."

"It's pretty hard to mess up beans." She shrugged, succeeding in pushing herself upright this time, then heading over to the stove and taking the bowl he held out. "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"It's just Tony," he corrected, gesturing for her to eat as he ladled his own food. She did, practically inhaling the food without much thought about the taste. "You're not eating enough." She knew he meant it as a question rather than a general statement, but she didn't have an answer for him. He pressed on despite her silence. "Why not?"

Penny decided to tell the truth without saying anything about her weird powers or the spider bite. "Rationing. I didn't know how long I was going to be here."

"Not for much longer."

She lifted her eyebrows, wondering if the conversation was about to get as dark as she suspected. Then again, she couldn't really blame him for not wanting to cooperate with terrorists. But there was something in his eyes...a determination that hadn't been there before.

"Those men...who exactly are they?" he asked, apparently shifting gears and jerking his chin toward the locked door.

"Your most loyal customers," she informed him, taking another bite and wishing that the half cold food would multiply in her bowl. "They call themselves the Ten Rings. They're terrorists."

"I didn't know." It wasn't the first time he'd said those words, but this time there was something else in them. Something almost pleading. "I had no idea that terrorists were using the weapons I designed."

She looked up at Tony Stark, putting her fork down for a moment. "So, now you know." she shrugged one shoulder as she parroted her uncle, words he'd said to her so many times when she'd done something bad...when she'd pleaded her own ignorance. Her dead uncle...the man that had cut her hair and saved her life.

"You're a boy! You're a boy!" Hands gripping her shoulders hard enough to bruise. His voice desperate as he barked at her in French. "You have to tell them you're a boy!"

She pushed thoughts of her uncle down, blinking hard and turning back to the billionaire trapped in the cave with her. "What are you going to do about it?"

He gave her a long look, then put his own bowl in his lap. "I'm going to get us out of here. And then, I'm going to make sure they never get their hands on one of my weapons again."

She smiled sadly, swirling her fork around her food. Were all billionaires this sure of themselves? Yes, she thought with a roll of her eyes. They probably were. Tony Stark really thought he was going to get them out of this after, what, two days? One of which he'd spent being tortured. Still, Penny decided to bite. "And how are you going to do that?"

He tapped his chest, a finger touching the electromagnet. "First, I need to get rid of this."

When they were done eating, he had her call the men back in, the two of them assuming the usual position. The terrorist leader waited for Tony to speak, and when he did, Penny was quick to translate.

"He says he'll do it. And he has a list for you."

The man across from them, the one whose name she'd never learned, gave a satisfied grin.

Men swarmed around as Tony listed the things they would need and she did her best to translate, shaking her head and giving him hopeless looks when she couldn't figure out how. Tony was patient, though, despite the leader giving her irritated looks. She had to fight the urge to snap at that man. To remind him that he'd dragged her into this. Then again, she tried to remember the alternative. What might have happened to her had he not.

When the terrorists finally left them, heading off to fetch Tony's impressive list of requests, he took a seat on his cot, his battery resting against his hip, and she sat on her own, resting her head on the wall and staring straight ahead, listening to the men on the other side of that door that held them captive. She could make out bits and pieces of conversation, but no one sounded suspicious of him. No one sounded like them might come in here and demand explanations.

"So...how many languages do you speak?" Tony asked her after a moment, breaking her concentration. She didn't mind. It had been so long since she'd had someone to talk to, she thought that she could talk for hours now.

"A lot. But not enough for this place," she told him with a shrug. He turned to her, a small smile on his face. She was almost surprised to see him look so kind. Like he actually cared what he was saying. Wearing only a tank top and the same pants he'd arrived in, hair sweaty and mussed, he looked like just a regular man rather than the billionaire he was. "They seem to speak everything here. I speak English, Farsi, German, French, a little Arabic and a little Spanish."

Tony whistled, lifting his eyebrows, and she was unable to help the flush of pride in her chest. "That's impressive. How did you learn so many languages?"

"My uncle was a translator. He taught me." Her voice had turned soft and sad but she pushed it down again. She couldn't think about her uncle...about what it had felt like to be safe with her family.

"You're a boy! You have to tell them you're a boy!"

"What do I call you, anyway?"

She glanced up at him, then back down at her own lap. Penny was surprised it had taken so long to ask, but she supposed they'd been a little busy.

"Boy is fine," she told him simply, knowing he wouldn't accept that and feeling her stomach clench in worry. He didn't need to know her name. Besides, a voice in the back of her mind whispered, there was no point in letting him get too close. Why bother? They'd be dead soon anyway. Penny sighed, wiping a hand over her face. She was tired. And her head ached. It was hot in that stuffy room that she was sick to death of, but her options for alternate entertainment were somewhat limited.

"You know my name," Mr. Stark reminded her.

A corner of her mouth lifted at the meager offering. "Everyone knows your name, Mr. Stark."

"Tony," the man corrected once more.

"Tony," Penny allowed. He kept staring at her and she gave a soft sigh, deciding to throw him a bone. "Pen."

"Pen?" he repeated, voice dubious.

"Yep," she told him, voice flat.

"As in the thing that's mightier than the sword?"

Penny surprised herself with a short laugh. "Sure, Shakespeare."

He smiled. "Is it short for something?"

"Just Pen," she insisted. "It's either Pen or Boy. Take your pick."

There was a pause, and Tony's voice was softer when he spoke again. "How old are you, Pen?"

"Almost fifteen," she lied. Fourteen was young, but it was marginally better than thirteen.

Still, the man swore under his breath. "Fourteen," he repeated, shaking his head. She knew he thought she was a kid. But she didn't feel like a kid. Not anymore. "How long have you been here?"

She hesitated, then stood, gesturing for him to join her. Pulling out the bed, she pointed to the marks. Six groups of five, plus two more. For a long time, he just stared at them, then at her.

"A month?"

"Yeah." She worried that he would ask more about that...about how it had been, living alone for so long.

"Do you have a family?" he asked instead.

She tried not to think of May and Ben as she shook her head. "Not anymore. You?"

Tony sighed, then gave her a brief, sad smile. "No." He hesitated. "So...where are you from? Originally?"

"New York."

His eyebrows lifted. "Me too."

Penny smiled. "I know, Tony."

He chuckled a little, eyes crinkling at the corners before he went serious again. "Where will you go? After…"

She felt her eyes fill but blinked the tears back. It was something she'd tried so hard not to think about. "I really don't think that's going to be a problem."

"Kid…". She waited. Waited for assurance or some kind of hope. Instead, he rested a hesitant hand on her shoulder. "We should take a break. Eat something. We're going to need to keep up our strength."

Penny wanted to shake her head. Wanted to insist that she was fine. But she was so hungry her stomach hurt, so she nodded, following him over to the stack of cans where they would pick out their dinner.

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Chapter Text

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing!  I appreciate it so much and I hope you're all doing okay!

Once their materials were delivered via men with machine guns slung across their backs, Tony and Penny got started. Tony chatted with her as they worked, explaining to her in a low voice what they were doing. An arc reactor, he explained. Once he'd gone through the basics, she caught on pretty quickly. "This thing...it could power your heart for...for a thousand lifetimes, " she whispered, leaning in to get a good look.  

He grinned, looking up from his work and scooting over a little to give her room to get a better look. "Or something really big for...ten minutes? Give or take."

She tilted her head in confusion, but he didn't elaborate, just went back to his work. She served as an extra set of hands when he needed them, rarely putting forth her own ideas despite how much the subject interested her.  This was Tony Stark, one of the smartest men in the world.  And as much as her uncle had disapproved of him and as much she had difficulty trusting him, it was still pretty cool to see him work.  As he worked and Penny watched, she tried to hold back information about her own life without him noticing, which was difficult as he kept asking questions.

"So...you seem pretty smart for a fourteen-year-old." Tony only glanced up for a second, but his smile was genuine, if not tense.  He always seemed kind of tense  Then again, that made sense, seeing as though they were being held captive.  By terrorists.  In a cave. "Apart from the whole multilingual thing. You have any interest in science?"

"Oh...um...I mean, kind of. My aunt taught me a lot of medical stuff and I'd read textbooks but…" She shrugged. "I haven't really gone to school lately, since, you know…my aunt thought it was too dangerous with the attacks and all that."  Penny stared down at her clasped hands, biting down on her lip.

"Yeah? That must have been rough. When we're back in the states, I'll make sure you get back in school, okay? Promise."

Penny thought about her mutation...about the spider in the lab and the powers she'd tried to hide and had succeeded in hiding, but only because her aunt and uncle had been killed before they'd found her out. How would she ever hide those things if she went to a foster family? How would she hide her increased appetite and the strength and the senses when she was surrounded by people, all of them watching her? Because she would go into foster care. Of course she would. She didn't have any more family. They were all gone now.

"Pen?" Tony was looking at her and she flushed. "You alright, bud?"

Bud. Right. That was another thing she'd have to reveal to him at some point...if they survived. "Yeah." She forced the word out, nodding. "Sorry just...thinking."

"We're going to get out of here. I've got a plan."

He hadn't told her the plan yet, but she was sure he would. She hoped he would. And she hoped it would work. But really, what were the odds?

"Seriously. It's a good plan." Tony was still smiling, hopeful, and she made herself smile back.

"Okay." Still, she didn't let herself believe him. Not yet. He was a genius, sure. And he was nice. He'd asked her all about the computer she'd built from parts she'd found at thrift shops and in the dumpster, and had even acted impressed as if he hadn't built his first robot while in the crib. But he was also just a normal man. A rich one, sure, but he wasn't enhanced like her. Didn't know the languages like her. Sure, he was better at building things, better at creating new technology, but even with their skills together, what could they do? They weren't bullet proof.

He never asked her anything else about her family. The man must have realized that it would have been too painful for her. And talking too much made Penny nervous. Her voice wasn't quite deep enough to food people into thinking she was a boy for long, or so she feared, and she knew she caught him giving her strange looks sometimes...like she was a puzzle he couldn't solve. Which was good. She didn't want him to solve her. Didn't even want him to try. Not that he would hurt her. By the third day of work, she trusted him not to hurt her. Besides, he didn't have a gun, so she could take him pretty easily, with or without her little kitchen knife. But if he let something slip, she'd be dead. Worse than dead, she thought, swallowing hard at the thought.

Her uncle had taken a chance. Being a boy might not have saved her. But he'd given her a shot. How much longer would his lie buy her?

Tony began work on his plan on day four, picking up two pieces of paper and sketching out a design she couldn't decipher.  It looked almost like a missile, but as soon as he'd finished what looked like half of it, he grabbed another piece of paper and started sketching something else.  Her head spun from hunger so, since she'd put it off for too long, she headed over to the stack of cans and poured herself some fruit.  By the time she was done eating, he had grabbed a hammer and was slamming it down over and over on a sheet of metal, sweat pouring down his back.  A steady clank, clank, clank filled the cave and hurt her ears, but it was better than the silence.  The thing he was making could be a missile, she thought as she watched him work, eyes darting to where she knew the cameras were. But it wasn't. After a while of just watching, she jumped up, moving over to his side, making sure to keep out of the way.

"What is it?" she asked, figuring it was time they discussed the elusive plan.

The man thought for a moment, then stilled the hammer. In his chest, a bright blue circle shone through his dark t-shirt. She figured it had bothered him, such a bright light in the dark cave, but she loved it. At night, when she would usually dwell on thoughts of her family or the events that had led to her coming here, now she stared at the blue circle, tracing it with her eyes from across the room until she drifted to sleep.

"We need a suit. Something bulletproof.  A weapon. I've been building weapons for years, but nothing like this. It can be powered by the arc reactor."

"A suit. Like...a robot suit?"

"Yup."

"Like...transformers?" she asked, eyebrows raised, and he barked out a laugh.

"Well, it won't be alive, and it won't double as a car, but sure. We'll go with that."

"Can I help?" Penny didn't know why the words came out of her mouth. Of course he didn't need her help. He had no idea how strong she was...Tony thought she was a scrawny little boy in ragged, bad-smelling clothes who'd been stuck in a cave for a month without enough food. Because why wouldn't he? But to her surprise, his eyes softened a little, and he held out the hammer.

"Sure. Let me show you." And he did. He showed her exactly where to hit to flatten out the metal and shape it the way he needed and then, to her amusement, jumped back when the hammer made a satisfying clank against the sheet of metal. "Woah...damn, kid. You been working out the whole time you've been here?" It was said as a joke, but there was something serious in his eyes, and she knew that he would be on to her sooner rather than later.

Still, she waited another day to tell him. Another day of taking turns pounding metal and combining wires and coding things she wasn't advanced enough to understand. She had visions of learning though. Of standing at his side as he taught her all these things. Surely he wouldn't mind teaching a girl. The world was different from her tiny village where the people hadn't exactly disapproved of her hobbies...but it had been strange to them. She didn't know many grown men there who knew enough about computers to teach her, much less any girls her age. You had to go into the cities to find that, but Ben's posting hadn't been that close to a big city. Instead, he had been close to the hospital where May had worked, working there occasionally himself. He would travel into the cities every few days, though.

Sometimes he would take her.

"I lived with my aunt and uncle," Penny told him the next day as they twisted wires and connected them to a circuit board. Part of the suit was already assembled, hidden away in a corner, and the decoy, a heap of metal that looked sort of like an unfinished missile, sat in the middle of the room where they worked, right beside the fire. "My parents died when I was little, and we moved here pretty soon after."

Tony glanced up at her words, nodding a little as if to show he was listening, but didn't interrupt.

"My uncle would take me to the city sometimes. He...he was a translator for lots of government people, but he lived in our village so my aunt could be close to the hospital. They needed a lot of help. One day, I went with him to the city...it was two months before they came to our village. He had to go to a big science facility...mostly robotics, and he knew I would be interested, so he let me come along. I think it was owned by uh...Norman Osborn? Do you know him?"

"Yeah," Tony said with an almost smile, but it looked more wry than amused. "We've met."

"Right. I forgot you billionaires probably all know each other."

Tony snorted, amused this time. "Yeah, we all have yearly billionaire meetings and talk about what to do when the people finally decide to eat the rich."

Penny laughed, trying to make sure she did it quietly. Under her breath. Laughing and screaming were dead giveaways, she was sure. "Right. So this must have been between billionaire meetings because he was giving my uncle and me a tour. But then they started talking about cars and I got bored…" She shrugged, flushing. "So I wondered off. There was this room, and the door was propped open, so I went in and...well, I didn't realize it at first but...it was full of spiders. In cages. Except...one got out."

He'd stopped working, and now he crossed his arms, obviously trying to understand the point of this sudden story.

"It bit me."

"What kind of spider."

"Um...the radioactive kind." And then she watched the gears click into place. Watched his eyes widen. "We went home because I told my uncle I wasn't feeling well. Then I got really sick. My aunt took me to the hospital but they didn't have the technology to figure out...well...I don't know if there is technology that can figure this out. But then they said I had radiation poisoning. My uncle tried to contact Norman Osborn but he was already out of the country and then, a week later, I woke up and I was fine."

"Fine?"

"Well...different. But fine."

Tony nodded, lips pressed together, and she knew he wanted to ask questions, so she tried to answer them before he could. She didn't think he'd go around telling people. Who was there to tell, anyway? The terrorists holding them captive? The half-built robot suit?

"I was stronger. A lot stronger. And faster. I could…" She swallowed, knowing this made her sound like a freak. "Stick to things. Climb walls."

"Climb walls." He repeated it in a whisper, eyes wide and curious, but not unkind. Not curious like he wanted to see her do a trick, as if she were an animal in the circus. Curious like he was impressed. And concerned.

"Yeah. I stick to things...when I want to. I don't really get how it works. I never did much research on spiders. But, uh...I healed a lot faster too. When I got a cut or bruise or something, it healed in a few hours." She tried to give a nonchalant shrug but she could tell from his eyes that he wasn't buying it.

"Did your aunt and uncle know?"

Penny shook her head.

"Does anyone?"

"Just you." She gave a tiny smile and he reached out, a hand landing on her shoulder and giving a quick squeeze.

"Your secret's safe, kid. Promise."

She believed him. And for a moment, she thought about telling him her other secret. He wouldn't tell anyone, she was sure. But if he let anything slip...anything at all…

She remembered the smoke and the screaming...remembered what they'd done to girls. Remembered her uncle's hands on her shoulders.

Hands squeezing her shoulders and the sounds of screams filling her ears.  You're a boy!

Penny kept her mouth shut. One secret was enough for now.

As Tony continued to work, he told her about his house in Malibu and his virtual assistant, JARVIS. He told her about his assistant, Pepper, and his best friend James Rhodes. He promised to show her his lab and introduce her to his bots. He talked about his inventions and the places he'd been and somehow seemed to know that all of these things soothes her.

They went through food more quickly, Tony reasoning that there was no need to waste it as he handed her larger and larger portions of canned fruit and beans and noodles. She ate them, feeling guilty, and slept in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day. He never stopped working though. Never even seemed to pause. But he did urge her to rest when she started to feel tired, the heat and the ever present hunger pressing in from all sides. He was nice, she realized. A nice person. And she struggled to reconcile that thought with the ones she'd had of him before...with the man in the news stories.

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Chapter Text

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The days passed. Penny only knew that because they stopped when they were tired and answered questions, translated by her, when the men came into their prison and demanded they do so. She and Tony always stood, hands up, heads down, and she made sure to translate every word perfectly, keeping her voice low and respectful. She couldn't risk drawing any attention to them. Couldn't risk making them suspicious. They seemed to be checking on them more and more as time went on, and pretty soon, Penny had another fifteen marks etched into the wall. A month and a half. She'd been in that cave for a month and a half. At least, as far as she could tell. They were all guesses anyway, based off of when it got colder, or when she slept for a long time.

Tony must have noticed that she got cold more often, because he made sure to keep a fire going when the temperature dropped, tending it between building his suit and pretending to build a missile. Penny helped as much as she could, getting more and more familiar with the plans he was working from. Anytime she wandered over, offering her help, he showed himself willing to teach her. He almost seemed happy to do so, although she thought maybe that was because she was his only option for company.

There were forty six marks on the wall on the day that the door was thrown open, three men moving inside, with more standing guard, huge guns pointed at them as always. Penny and Tony jumped to their feet from where they'd been working on the pretend missile, thankfully, their hands up, but they were quickly separated, with Tony being shoved off to the side, and the leader glaring at her. He was talking then, speaking so quickly that she had trouble focusing at first. The leader picked up the top page of the plans sitting on the table then, and Penny kept her eyes down, teeth digging into her bottom lip. Had he guessed that there were two sets? Did they know that Tony wasn't really working on a missile?

They'd come in before, checking over Tony's progress, but something was different this time. Something felt off. Like they were angry. Why would they be angry, though? Had they caught them working on the robot suit? Did they know that they were going to escape. They had always made sure to keep their voices down...but now...now something bad was going to happen. Penny felt her hair stand on end, senses warning her just like they had the day they'd killed everyone in her village. The way they had when she'd been thrown into this room.

Were they out of time? She glanced over at Tony but the man just stared at the man holding the plans, his eyes hard, face almost blank.

"Why have you failed me?" he asked finally, seeming calm, but she knew better. She knew that he wouldn't hesitate to kill her. That he would never even think twice, much less regret it.

"We're working, diligently," Penny told him, glancing to the side as his two companions moved to flank her and he wandered over to the fire that Tony had just lit an hour or so ago, if her ability to judge time hadn't been completely shot. Her voice was almost pleading but she didn't care. "He's trying very hard. It's very complicated. He had to draw up the plans...alone...I try to help but…"

The leader gave an almost laugh, cutting her off. "You think I'm a fool?" he demanded, turning to glare down at her. "I'll get the truth." He nodded to himself as Tony stood flanked by three of their captors, eyes darting between the leader and the men surrounding them.

"What? Kid, what's going on? What does he want?"

What did he want? That was a good question. Whatever it was, she was sure she wasn't going to like it.

The leader ignored Tony's question, picking up a pair of tongs from the side of the fire. Moving deliberately, he picked up a red-hot coal and examined it for a moment. Penny felt herself break out in a cold sweat.

Tony's panic seemed to go up a notch and he pulled against the hands holding him in place. "Pen? What's the matter? What's going on?"

"We're both working!" she cried as the man approached, studying her as clinically as May had studied her own suturing work, the man on either side of her grabbing her upper arms with bruising grips.

"Open your mouth."

"He's building your weapon! He's...he's working! Every day, he's working to build it!" Hands on her shoulders pushed her to her knees, and she let them. She wasn't bullet proof...what choice did she have? She could fight, but she'd only last a few seconds before their bullets ripped her apart. So she knelt. "He's working! He's almost finished! The weapon...it's nearly finished! We've both been working!" she cried, trying even then to keep herself from screaming...from letting her voice get too high pitched.

"Do you think I'm a fool," he asked, sounding almost amused and taking another step, holding out the tongs.

"Please!" she begged, not letting herself scream...but the coal was coming closer and closer to her mouth and Tony was demanding to know what was going on and hot tears filled her eyes as she started to fight against the hands holding her. She could feel the heat of the coal on her lips but she'd never tell...she'd never tell what they were doing. No matter what. She wouldn't do that to Tony."

"I need him!" Everyone stopped, the leader and her captors turning to face Tony who had both hands up, his voice soft and almost nonchalant. He shrugged, gesturing to Penny. "I need him. He's a good assistant."

Penny repeated the words in Farsi, voice rasp, lips trembling, and the leader studied Tony for a long moment. Then, without fanfare, he tossed the coal back into the fire, dropping the metal tongs on the floor with a soft clank.

"You have until tomorrow."

Penny dropped to her hands and knees when they released her, gasping for air, lips trembling. She was stronger than this, she told herself sharply. Strong enough to get up. But her breath came in wavering gasps and she felt tears sting her eyes as the door slammed, leaving the two of them alone once more. Staring at the dirt floor, she felt her arms shake and nearly give out. Then Tony was kneeling beside her and she flinched on instinct. It wasn't good to let people close. They'd figure out what she really was...they find out that she'd fooled them. These men with guns, they'd never forgive that.

But Tony wasn't like them. Tony wouldn't hurt her.

"Hey," he murmured, voice surprisingly soft. "You're alright."

She nodded, as if that was remotely true, but even as she clamped her lips shut, a whimper escaped. A hand landed on her shoulder, squeezing gently, and then the man was putting his arm around her. She stiffened, eyes shut tight, teeth digging into her lip. "You're alright, Pen. It's okay, buddy."

The man guided her face to his shoulder, and she let him, still able to feel the heat from the coal they'd put against her lips, almost touching them. "I'm sorry...sorry," she whispered, shaking her head and trying to calm down. To pull the frayed edges of herself back together. She'd been here for so long. "I'm going to die here." The words escaped without any conscious decision on her part, but she knew as soon as she said them that they were true.

She felt Tony shake his head, and he pulled her a little closer. "No you aren't. No way." The man's voice was surprisingly fierce all of a sudden, the arm around her shoulders tightening. He was holding her and she worried that he'd be able to tell...that he'd realize she'd been lying to him too. But he just rubbed her back, giving her a quick hug, then he pulled away, his hands resting on her shoulders, face deadly serious. "We're going to get out. I'm going to get us out. Okay?"

She hesitated, then nodded, watching him stand letting him pull her to her feet. "He...he said...we have until tomorrow," Penny told him in a wavering voice, trying to get herself together.

Tony nodded, lips pressing together in a straight line as he crossed his arms. Thinking. Then he gave her a quick smile, full of fake confidence as an arm shot out and he ruffled her hair. "Alright. Then we'd better get to work. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it."

They worked then, faster than they'd ever worked before, giving up on the illusion that they were working on the missile in the center of the room. As they put the suit together, he whispered the rest of the plan. Finish the suit. Get in it. Wait for them to come in. Get out.

"Get out?" Penny repeated as she blinked exhaustion out of her eyes, eating canned fruit with one hand and trying to finish up some wiring with the other.

Tony didn't even glance up as he spoke. "You remember the way?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Tell me."

They'd gone through this three times already, but she repeated it anyway. In their weeks together, she had never seen him this serious. This focused. "41 steps straight ahead. 16 steps from the door. Fork right, 33 steps. Turn right."

"You got it. Then we're free. This thing should give us at least a few miles of flight. That'll be enough of a head start."

"Then what?"

"Then...then we walk."

It wasn't the best plan. Honestly, she wasn't sure he'd fully thought through that last part. But, she reminded herself as she worked, the pads of her fingers covered in blisters from the tiny wires and bits of medal, it was better than any plan she'd ever had. This was Tony Stark. The smartest man in the world. Right? So...so it would work. It had to work. And if it didn't...well, they'd be dead. But she'd figured her death was coming for a long time now.

Penny was the one to do most of the heavy lifting, forgetting about trying to hide her abilities from the cameras and their captors. Tony set up the computer and Penny started work to fit the thing together. Every minute that passed meant they were running out of time, so they worked in near silence, slipping past one another and working together as if they'd been doing it their whole lives. He put together the weapons in the hand of the robot, figuring that would be the easiest way, and Penny finished hooking up the wires, then helped him get the monitor set up.

And then she was helping him into the suit, placing the padding around his shoulders and easing it over his arms. Under the black tank top, the blue light shone, illuminating their corner of the cave. Would it be enough? Would this get them out? Over his hands went thick black gloves, and a thick piece of matching black padding went around his neck.

Then it was time for the suit...the huge metal chest plate and the bottom half coming together, a circle cut out of the center to show the bright blue light of his arc reactor.

She tightened bolts as he said it again. " 41 straight head. 16 steps from the door. Fork right, 33 steps. Turn right."

They were going to see them. She knew it and he knew it as he flexed his hands and the suit did the same. The wall they were behind blocked the camera but she knew that they would guess...they would know that something was wrong.

And then there were footsteps.

"Tony?"

"What?"

She didn't stop working, knowing that if he had a chance, she had to give it to him. Just like Ben had done for her.

"Pen?"

"They're coming."

He swore under his breath and she worked faster, tightening bolts and making adjustments. Ben had given her a chance. Now she would give it to Tony.

"Boy!" The voice came from the door and she glanced up, watching the faces of the soldiers through the little slot in the door. "Boy!" And then more words...words she didn't know.

"Say something," he urged in a whisper, looking oddly calm. This was it. This was their chance.

"They're speaking Hungarian!" she snapped, feeling her heart start to race. They didn't have enough time!

"Say something in Hungarian."

"Do you remember that being on the list? I don't speak Hungarian!"

They continued shouting for her and she grasped for words, searching her mind and coming up with nothing. So she went with the next best thing...French. "Go away! We're working very hard!" Then, muttering a quick 'fuck off' under her breath, she tried to finish up as quickly as she could.

As soon as they opened the door, it was over. The timer would start….Mr. Stark had rigged something up to give them a little more time...a fighting chance. But as soon as they opened that door the timer would start and they'd have to move and her heart was racing in her chest. So was his. She could hear it. What if they ran out of time? What if...

And then there was an explosion. Penny hid her face behind the suit, wincing at the heat as Tony lifted a metal arm as if to shield her. He turned his head and flinched away from the heat, and for a moment her ears rung, a high pitched ringing quickly being replaced by the sound of footsteps. Yelling.

They were out of time. This was it.

She peered around the corner, eyes widening when she saw the empty hallway...the door blown off its hinges and the bodies of soldiers. "Shit...it worked."

"Come on, kid. Power source," Tony murmurd, and she nodded, hurrying over to the computer.

"Okay...okay...tell me!"

"Function 11. Tell me when you see that progress bar."

Penny stared at the screen, heart racing so quickly that it hurt. "Yeah...I…"

"Talk to me, Pen. Come on...tell me when you see it."

"I have it...I see it!" She forced herself to focus, shaking her head to clear it off the images of all those bodies...of the certainty that at any moment, there would be more soldiers and bullets that would put an end to this desperate escape plan.

"Press Control I. Then Enter."

She nodded, following his instructions with shaky hands. "Got it."

"Now come over here and button me up."

She did, marveling at his calmness...at the way he just waited as she tripped over her own feet. This was it. This was her chance to get out.

And then there were more footsteps. "They're coming...Tony…"

"Easy, kid. Just finish up. You've got this. It's going to be fine."

As soon as she was finished, she turned back to the computer screen, watching the progress bar blink. There wasn't enough time.

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" Tony was quiet. Serious. But she was watching the progress bar and he didn't have enough time.

He needed a chance. She had to give him a chance. Just like Ben had given her a chance.

"Hey," she interrupted his soft instructions, turning and giving him a weak smile as she made her choice. "I'm going to go buy you some time." She kept the smile in place, moving toward the entrance. Toward the sunlight. Maybe she'd get to see sunlight again.

Tony's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No...stick to the plan!"

Reaching down, she picked up a discarded machine gun, the metal cold and heavy in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she faced him for what she thought might be the last time. And that was okay. She was giving him a chance. Maybe he'd be better than before. Maybe he'd be great. But if she didn't give him that chance, he'd never get out of this cave.

"Pen, don't," he pleaded, reaching out for her. "Listen, we need to stick to…"

"It's Penny," she interrupted, throat hot from fear and sadness and so many other things.

He shook his head, blinking several times and squinting his eyes at her. "Penny…" he repeated, voice faint.

She gave a tiny, almost manic laugh. "Yeah...it's been an honor, Mr. Stark." And then she turned before she could change her mind, racing into the cave and pulling the trigger, her whole body jerking as the gun filled the cave with sparks of light and bullets.

Thank you for reading!

Chapter Text

Thank you so much to all of my readers and reviewers!  I appreciate you so much <3

The sound of gunfire and explosions. Screaming. Men shouting in a handful of languages.

Pain.

That was all Penny knew for what felt like a long time. She was laying down. She was in the shade. She was cold. Why was she cold?

Pain. A steady, heartbeat pain that drowned out every other thing happening around her. Something had happened, she knew. Something bad. She hoped that Tony was okay, but at the moment, all she knew was the pain and the shouting and she thought, as she lay slumped against something, that maybe she'd see Ben and May again. And her parents. And maybe that would be good. It wasn't like she had anyone else left. What kind of life did she have ahead of her now? Foster care in a country she hadn't lived in in years? How would she ever keep her secret then?

The yelling got closer and through the pain she wondered if it was someone coming to finish her off. The thought scared her more than she'd thought it would. Hadn't she accepted this? Hadn't she come to the conclusion that the best thing she could do was give Tony a chance, just like Ben had done for her? Wasn't that the selfless thing to do? The kinder thing? Tony had potential. He could still be good. There was time.

"Pen! Penny!" The voice that called out to her was choked, and a hand touched her cheek. It was too cold and too large to be a human hand, and Penny flinched a little, shuddering at the feel of it. Something had happened. Trying to put it all in order, Penny cast her mind back. She'd grabbed a gun. She'd shot it into the air, not hitting any of the men...she wasn't a killer. Just trying to keep them back. Just wanting to be a distraction for long enough for Tony to get out. And it had worked! But then...then there had been pain.

Right. She'd been shot. She'd just wanted to lean against the pile of sandbags for a minute...just a few seconds. To rest her eyes and let her healing do some of the work as she waited for Tony to catch up. Or to die. If she was being honest...maybe she had been waiting to die. It had never seemed all that possible that she would survive this. Her healing was fast, she knew, but she hadn't been eating enough in weeks. Wouldn't that slow it down?

"Pen?"

When she opened her eyes, there was Tony, dressed in the bulky metal suit, eyes wide and pleading, a tiny smile appearing when she looked at him.

"Pen? Kid?" he demanded, shaking her a little. She nodded. Yeah. She was Pen. And Kid. Boy. Penny. She was all of them. "Talk to me, kid."

"Hey, Tony."

He seemed to deflate then, a tight smile lighting up his face, eyes softening despite her hoarse voice, thick with pain. "Hey yourself, kid. Come on. We've gotta get out of here. We've gotta stick to the plan."

He had waited for her. Or had come back for her. He was still determined to get her out. Penny smiled, pushing herself up and then freezing, gasping at the pain in her side. Yep...that was a bullet wound. They'd gotten her at least twice. Letting herself drop once more, she pressed a hand to her side, teeth gritted against a scream. Then again, she thought, she could scream in front of him if she wanted now. He knew. It was a weight off of her shoulders, but also a little worrying, making anxiety tighten like a ball in her stomach. He knew. Would he be angry?

She wondered how she could have time to worry about that with everything going on.

"Woah…" His hands hovered uselessly over her, jaw tight, looking helpless.

"Just...um...give me a second?" She gasped the words through gritted teeth, sobs fighting to get out. She wouldn't let them. Wouldn't cry. Wouldn't freak him out.

"Yeah...of course, yeah…" Tony glanced at the mouth of the cave where the sunlight poured in. They were so close. Almost there. She hadn't seen the sun in what felt like years but was closer to two weeks if the tally marks on the wall were any indication. He kept looking over at the opening and she knew she was holding him back...that he needed to go and she was in no shape to get up.

Penny tried for a smile. "You have to go."

His eyes went flat then, lips pursed as he shook his head. "No way. Absolutely not. Not without you."

"Tony...I can't…"

"You said you stick to things, right?" he asked suddenly.

It took Penny a moment to catch his meaning...to put his words together in her mind. Stick to things. She could stick to things. Spider bite. That had given her superpowers and she could feel blood soaking her side and she was cold. "Yeah," she slurred.

"Alright. I want you to hold on to the back of the suit. Can you do that?" He spoke so slowly...so carefully, and she thought about it for a moment.

"I...yeah." This wasn't right. Why wouldn't he just leave her? "Tony...it's okay. You can just go..."

Tony shook his head. "No way, kid. Not gonna happen. Now come on. We have to go. Now." He turned, crouching a little like a dad waiting to give his kid a piggyback ride. She forced herself upright, grabbing the back of the suit and adhering to it, hands automatically sticking, and when he stood, the man gave an incredulous laugh. "And you can stay stuck?"

"Yeah…" The world was going fuzzy, and she dropped her head against the back of his metal suit. Why couldn't he just let her go. It made no sense that this man would be so determined to save her. He was a billionaire. The Merchant of Death. Why would he care so much about some random teenage girl who had lied to him about nearly everything about herself since they'd met? Sure, she thought as he stepped into the light, they'd been friendly. But anyone working together in the same room for so long would have been. Now he'd built himself a way out of there. And he was determined to take her with him.

Penny could hear bullets...could feel them clanging against Tony's metal suit. She heard him speak and heard the sound of fire. Still, she clung to the back of the suit, head spinning, eyes shut and refusing to reopen. She wondered if her fingers would still stick if she died. If her lifeless body would be stuck forever to this metal suit. Would he care? He was rich...he could build another one. He could go back to his life and forget all about the girl who'd lied to him...who'd tried to help but who had probably just gotten in his way. He'd been kind to her, though. She thought about that kindness as they moved...no...flew.

They were flying.

And then they were dropping, the suit losing altitude so quickly that her stomach flipped. Tony seemed to struggle against it...how long had they been in the air? Regardless, they were falling and falling and then Penny heard herself scream when they crashed into the sand, her fingers letting go of the suit as she rolled a few feet away. The pain made the world go black for a moment, hand dropping limply from where it had been lifted to press against her side.

Once more, it was Tony's voice that woke her.

When she opened her eyes, the sun was beating down on her face. It felt nice, but she knew that wouldn't be the case for long. The sun would kill them...would burn their skin and dehydrate them and then they'd be two more skeletons in this endless desert, food for lizards and snakes and whatever else lived out here in all the nothingness. But there was more, she knew. Life and beauty and people lived in this place.

Just nowhere nearby.

She missed her village suddenly. The people she'd thought of as her own. Her aunt and uncle. Would she be with them soon?

"Kid? Kid, you okay?" Penny blinked in the sunlight, and when he spoke again, he sounded frantic. "Penny? Kid, talk to me! Are you okay!"

"It worked," she rasped, wishing she'd thought to get another drink of water before leaving the cave. Or, even better, bringing some water with them. Not that she'd been swimming in free time over the last twelve hours. Still...she kicked herself for not planning better.

"Of course it worked, Pen. I built it." Something shaded her, and she realized with a start that it was him. He knelt over her, a tentative hand pulling her shirt up, then pressing something to her side. Penny gasped, flinching away, but he kept pressure. "I know, kid. But we've got to stop the bleeding." He muttered his words as if he couldn't quite focus on her and it was so hot...so, so hot with sand burning her back and the sun baking the rest of her. She had been so cold, but now she was hot. Painfully hot. "Come on...come on…" He swore again, shaking his head and pressing down harder. "It's not...it's not stopping...shit...kid? Hey! Look at me!"

A hand swatted her face and she flinched, trying to open her eyes again. It sort of worked...she squinted at him in the harsh sunlight. "Tony?"

"That's me, kid. Listen, help's on the way, okay? I got this friend, Rhodey...remember, I told you about him?"

Penny nodded. "Yeah...you said he...was...air force…"

"That's right. He's in the air force and he's going to rescue us. We'll be on a plane back to the states before you can say...no, no, no! Eyes open! Come on! You've got to stay with me!"

Penny realized that her eyes had closed once more and she jerked awake again, trying to nod. "Okay." Her voice was slurring and she wasn't sure why.

He huffed out a desperate laugh, shaking his head. "Yeah, okay. Come on, we need to get you up."

"Up," she repeated, groaning when he pulled her to her feet.

"Alright, kid. We're going to walk."

"Don't want to," Penny groaned, stumbling despite his arm wound tightly around her shoulders. "You should just go…"

"Give it up, kid. I'm not going anywhere without you." There was a pause as she took this information in, feeling as though she were moving through water as she walked beside him, feet tripping over themselves. "Hey, so uh...Penny, huh?" He asked, and she wondered how long they'd have to walk...how long until she could close her eyes and sleep. The world spun and the sand blurred until all she could do was force her legs to move forward along with Tony's, head too heavy to keep up.

"Huh?"

"Why were you pretending to be a boy? Not that it's a big deal...or, uh...do you want to, uh...look, no judgements, kid. If you'd rather me keep calling you Pen…"

"My uncle…" Penny rasped, giving up on opening her eyes as they moved forward. "He said...said…'you're a boy.' He knew what they would...would do to me…" One of her legs gave out and Tony tightened the arm wrapped around her, hauling her forward. Tears filled her eyes, and she bit back a gasp of pain, finally losing the battle as the tears spilled over.

"I'm sorry, kid," he murmured, and then something came to rest on her head, draping over her shoulders and shielding her from the sun. "There...that ought to help."

They were walking. And walking. His arm was sweaty around her and her knees kept buckling but they kept walking and walking and walking, him keeping up a steady stream of chatter. "We're going to be safe soon, Pen. Don't worry. I'm going to get you some water, and then I'm getting us both American cheeseburgers. What do you think? Do you like cheeseburgers?" She couldn't make herself answer, but he kept talking anyway. "Or maybe you're a chicken nugget person. Either way. Everyone loves fries, right? And a coke. 32 ounces. Like, more soda than any person needs to drink at any time. Hell, I'll buy you two. Six. As many as you want. And you can stay with me until we find you a real home, okay? I promise. I've got a house in Malibu on the ocean...its beautiful kid. Right on the beach. You ever been to the beach? Can you swim? I'll teach you if you want. Two month beach vacation so we can recover from this shit, then I'll get you back in school. Find a nice family...one that we can trust to tell about your, uh...condition?"

She heard him hesitate, and then he went on, sounding more hesitant. "Or...or maybe you can just stay with me. I mean...hell, I've got room. Plenty of money to buy you whatever you need. And, uh...I can send you to a good school. I mean, I'm not really father material but...I mean, you already know me. As far as foster parents go, I've got a leg up, right?"

Penny wasn't sure what made her say the words, but they came out regardless. "Tony?"

"Yeah, kiddo?" He sounded relieved and she didn't know why.

"I...I think you'd...make a...a great dad." And then the world around her faded to black before she could hear his answer, knees giving out as she crumpled.

From then on, the world was strange and far away, filled with sounds of Tony calling out to her. Begging her to...to something. All she knew was that her side hurt so badly and her head ached and her mouth felt like sandpaper. Penny tried to remember a time that she'd been this thirsty and failed. Maybe this was it. Maybe she was going to see her family again. That would be okay, right?

"Kid...Pen? Penny!" A hand on her shoulder shook her hard but she couldn't respond. Couldn't open her eyes or squeeze the hand that slipped into hers or flinch when something wet landed on her cheek. "Come on...please...come on, kid. I...I got you out! We're free, Pen. You're...you're free. Please!" Something else dripped onto her cheek and she wondered if it was raining. Did it rain out here? Surely it did.

A hand cupped her cheek, something resting on her forehead for a long time, but the world only came in bits and pieces so she didn't know how long they sat there together. Didn't know how long it seemed to rain in tiny spurts, a few drops landing on her cheek in groups, then again. And again. Tony's soft voice pleading with her and with the universe and with God. Did Tony Stark believe in God?

And then there was another voice...one she didn't recognize. "Tony! What the hell? Who is this?"

"She needs help. Now!"

"Is that blood?" For a moment, it was all clear again. The pain and Tony and his hand gripping hers. But then the world was fading once more.

"She helped...they shot...she's…"

"Fluids…"

"Enhanced…"

"...alright...Penny...hang on...please!"

Penny had no idea what any of that meant, but she decided that it didn't matter. So she let herself drift into darkness as the sun disappeared and something pricked her in the crook of her elbow.

Thank you for reading!

Chapter Text

So I started writing this fic at least a year ago, maybe two, and I figured that no one would have any real interest in this story.  Your response has been so amazingly kind and I just want to say that I appreciate all of you so much.  I hope that this fic helped you guys forget about the situation we've all found ourselves in, even if just for a little while.  Stay safe, everyone.

The After

There was a steady, constant beeping to Penny's left, and she twitched her fingers, trying to get her body to move away from it. She felt heavy, like her body didn't want to listen to her, and she cast her mind back, trying to remember why...to figure out what had happened. There had been the cave for so long, and May and Ben before that. Was she dead? Was Ben here? The bed she was in was so comfortable...she wasn't cold or hungry...and the last thing she remembered was the hot desert sun. Tony Stark pulling her to her feet and the two of them stumbling along, the sand burning her bare feet.

And that she'd been shot.

So she was dead. It wasn't all that unexpected, really. But if she was dead, why was something beeping? Surely if she'd made it into a favorable afterlife, there would be no annoying sounds to distract her from...harps and stuff. Right? But her eyelids were lead and she had no idea how to fix that, so she just listened to it for a while, trying to accept the things she couldn't change.

If she was dead, why wasn't Ben with her? Where was May? And her parents? And that dog she'd had a few years ago. She'd loved that dog...surely beloved pets got an afterlife. Penny couldn't hear any voices, though. Only the beeping. And her own sigh at the beeping. Did people sigh in heaven? This had to be heaven, right? Or was it purgatory? She wasn't Catholic, so she wasn't super clear on the specifics, but purgatory would surely be worse.

She hadn't done anything bad enough to warrant Hell, surely. Hadn't she tried to save Tony? Had it worked? Had he made it out. She hoped he had...she desperately hoped that Tony Stark got a chance to be better.

The approaching footsteps startled her out of her thoughts, and even though she couldn't open her eyes, she could still hear perfectly fine as a doorknob turned. The footsteps came closer, and then there was rustling beside her. Paper? Did someone have paper? The robot suit plans? Mark I, Tony had called it, explaining that all future iterations would have increasing numbers. Was Tony working on the robot suit?

No. He'd built the suit. He'd done it...he'd gotten them out and they'd been walking, Penny reminded herself. They'd been walking through the desert and she'd been so hot and...she'd been hurt. A gunshot wound. Gunshot wounds. Plural. She'd bought him time and had paid dearly, but it had all been worth it. Was Tony okay? Was he hurt too? Was she still hurt? How quickly could she heal from a gunshot wound. Or had the bullet hit something vital? Which brought her back to the whole 'afterlife' theory.

"Penny? Can you hear me?" a woman asked, her voice soothing and soft, and Penny twitched a finger. "Penny, my name is Doctor Helen Cho. You are currently in a private hospital in Malibu. Tony Stark hired me to care for you. Can you squeeze my hand if you can hear me?" A cool, slim hand slipped into hers, and Penny forced her fingers to twitch around it. "We're weaning you off the pain medication."

Even as she said the words, Penny was able to move her hand a little more, squeezing both the hand that held Dr. Helen Cho's and the other, eyes squeezing together tightly then relaxing. She was so tired, but she fought it. Fought to open her eyes.

"That's...remarkable."

And that's when Penny remembered her enhancement. Did this doctor know about her? Had Tony told her? Maybe he'd had to...but what if she told someone else? The beeping beside her sped up, and the hand in hers squeezed a little. "Penny? I'm a doctor. I was hired by Tony Stark, and I'm not going to tell anyone about your enhancement. I'm the only one that knows, and I've signed at least two non disclosure agreements. Don't worry. Your secret is safe. All you need to worry about is getting better."

Getting better. Tony. Non disclosure agreements. All of these things swirled around her mind but she found it more and more difficult to focus.

"I gave you another dose of pain medicine. This one should…but it's lower...not as long…"

And then Penny was awake. Eyes shooting open, she sat bolt upright. Turning toward where Helen Cho had been, she was surprised to find...no one. Nothing. An empty hospital room with a chair in the corner and a pitcher of water on a table beside her. She glanced down at her arm, tracing the tubing from the IV to a bag hanging beside her bed. It was a nice hospital room...or maybe she'd just been in the cave for so long that any hospital room looked nice. Hell, any room at all.

Tugging a little on the arm attached to the needle, she was glad to see that it gave her enough slack in the tube that she could get up on legs that felt mostly stable and pour herself a cup of water that she downed. Then another. Pretty soon she'd drank most of the pitcher and was wondering how to request more when she heard footsteps. Jumping at the approaching sound, she took a moment to be thankful that she was wearing pajamas and not a gown, then decided to stay where she was. It wasn't like anyone had forbidden her from getting out of bed. At least, not that she remembered.

As the footsteps approached, she heard an exasperated woman's voice. "Tony, she's still unconscious. We're weaning her off of some very strong pain medication, and she'll probably be in bed for...Tony…"

"I just want to see her. She's only fourteen, Doctor. I don't want her to wake up alone."

"Actually I pulled her records and she's thirteen..." The woman's words trailed as the door was pushed open, and Tony Stark, with hair slicked back and his signature goatee cut in sharp lines, dressed in an actual suit and tie, came to a sudden halt. She lifted an eyebrow, eyes lingering on the tie, and, after a long, silent moment, he crossed his arms, lifting an eyebrow of his own.

"Are there any more lies you want to clear up, Miss Parker?"

She mimicked his position, pretending to think for a moment. "I don't really speak Arabic very well," she admitted, as if it were a great confession, nodding as she gave the floor an ashamed look. "I mean, if you drop me in a city I could order food and ask for help, but that's about…"

Before she'd even finished, his face had softened into a smile, and he let out a chuckle, crossing the room in a few large strides to put his arms around her. To her own surprise, she found herself throwing her arms around him as well, face pressed to his shoulder as he gave her a gentle hug, both of them careful of the IV. They'd hadn't done this before, not really. Sure, he'd comforted her the day before they'd left...when a hot coal had nearly been shoved down her throat. But not like this. He hadn't hugged her with an expression of pure relief like this, a hand cupping the back of her head.

It was nice. But for some reason it made her think of a conversation she couldn't quite remember...something she'd said in the desert about...her dad? Someone's dad?

"How long have you been awake?" Dr. Cho asked, her voice somewhat incredulous as she pulled Penny out of her own thoughts.

"Like, five minutes," Penny told the fabric covering Tony's shoulder. "Can I get some more water?"

She felt more than heard Tony laugh, his hand patting her back before he pulled away. He looked different outside the cave. Softer. More relaxed. It made sense, she supposed, and she was glad to see that he hadn't forgotten all about her. Despite pulling away, he stayed close, his sharp eyes looking her up and down as if checking for injuries that might have somehow been missed.

"Of course." Doctor Cho gave a quick nod, seeming to collect herself. "I'll have someone bring you a new pitcher, and something to eat. But first, I need to look you over. Which means I need Tony to wait outside." She gave him a pointed look and he lifted his hands in surrender.

"You got it, Doc. I'll be right outside, Pen." He promised, giving her a quick smile before stepping outside. Dr. Cho seemed to be trying to shake something off as Penny moved to sit on the bed, feet dangling. She could tell that the woman had questions, and she already seemed to know about Penny's mutation. Right...that piece of the puzzle came together as soon as the thought hit her. Dr. Cho had said something about Tony debriefing her on Penny's enhancement. Mutation. Whatever. It was another conversation that Penny didn't quite remember. But if Tony trusted Dr. Cho, Penny guessed she would too. Someone would have had to been told if they were going to help her. Any doctor would have noticed her quick healing. So Penny would trust her for the moment. "Do you work for Tony?" Penny asked after a moment of silence between them, hoping to break the ice a little. The doctor blinked, the nodded, approaching and throwing a glance back at the closed door.

"He heard I was the best and he offered me anything I wanted to come and help you."

"What did you want?"

The doctor lifted an eyebrow. "I told him he could owe me one," she said with a little smile, gesturing for Penny to move her arm so that she could lift up her pajama shirt. "I had to remove two bullets, and another grazed you. By the time you came in, you'd lost a lot of blood...enough that it might have killed a non enhanced person."

"Are there other enhanced people?" Penny suddenly wondered. It wasn't something she'd ever heard of, apart from Captain America, but he was long gone. Lost to the ocean. Never found.

"I've heard rumors. Tony said that you had a run in with a spider?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I've never heard of an enhanced person gaining any sort of abilities that way, but I have heard of people born with them."

"Mutants? Like...real mutants?"

"Yes." Dr. Cho pressed on her side and Penny winced, trying to focus instead on their conversation.

"Do you know any?"

"I know one. He runs a school for mutant children."

That thought stopped Penny in her tracks. Would Tony want to send her to a place like that? Even if she wasn't a real mutant...hadn't been born like this, who cared about differences like that. It wouldn't be so bad, she reminded herself. Better than a cave in Afghanistan, being held captive by terrorists. Thoughts of the cave came to her in flashes and she blinked them away, forcing her brain back to the present. She had no time to break down about that. Not now, she told herself sternly. She was free now. That wasn't something she had to think about ever again.

Where she went now, she'd be fine. She'd survive. She'd wanted to give Tony a chance and now she had. She'd just have to wait and see what he did with it.

Once Dr. Cho had rebandaged her mostly healed side, she moved over to the opposite chair and took a seat, hands clasped in her lap. "We were able to pull up all of your records, including the proof of your US citizenship. Tony's having you a new passport made as well. Were we correct that you have no remaining family members?"

"Yeah." Penny nodded, dropping her eyes. It felt like her fault, somehow. How had she managed to lose everyone before turning fourteen?

"Alright. Tony wanted to talk to you about everything as soon as you're feeling better. His house is in Malibu, less than an hour away from here. He's working on making arrangements for you."

"Arrangements?" Penny asked, hoping to get a heads up before she actually had to face him.

"Yes. He had a press conference this yesterday morning and he's been meeting with lawyers...it's why he wasn't here. He's been by your side every other minute. I was...well, anyway, he's been talking to the social worker assigned to your case, and I believe everything is nearly finished."

"Finished?" Penny prompted, dying to have an actual answer to the question weighing on her. Anything would be good, she kept reminding herself. Tony owed her nothing, and anything he did for her would be amazing. Maybe he knew a kind family. They'd never be her family but it would be better than nothing. A school of other kids with cool powers would be fun. At least she'd never have to hide. Fighting back tears, she reminded herself of this over and over. Anything would be better than that cave.

"Yes. He'll be able to give you the details himself, but he's had his assistant order everything you'd need. I think the room is nearly ready, so by the time you're discharged…"

"What room?" she finally demanded, unable to wait anymore. "Where am I going?"

"Oh...I'm sorry, I thought you already...Tony's house in Malibu. He's been working with the social worker to have you temporarily placed in his home. It won't be permanent until you can all talk with the social worker and discuss things. And the worker will keep in touch. He's had...trouble in the past. With his public image. But I think things will work out." Her smile softened when Penny dropped her head back against the wall, the relief running sharply through her. "He was never going to let you go without a home, Penny." Dr. Cho stood, moving over to the bed and placing a hand on her shoulder. Penny almost burst into tears at the motion, so unused to any kindness like this anymore from anyone other than Tony.

Almost two months. Maybe actually two months. Keeping track of the days had been so hard when all she'd done was try and sleep for long as possible. And now she was free and Tony was really going to take her in...it was a lot.

It was too much.

"I don't know Tony very well," Dr. Cho admitted after a moment. "We haven't exactly had much time to get to know one another. But I know him by reputation."

Penny wanted to interrupt...to insist that it wasn't all true...or that it wasn't the whole story. Tony Stark was something else besides a possible alcoholic and playboy billionaire. He was something more than that.

"When he contacted me, I was expecting...something else. But he cares about you. Quite a bit. From what I've seen, he would never let you go somewhere that you weren't safe. And I believe he thinks the safest place for you is with him."

It was, Penny wanted to say. Because, in some strange twist of fate, Tony Stark was the only person she had left. And she didn't know how she would have coped with losing him.

Dr. Cho had just reached for a clipboard beside Penny's bed when there was a knock on the door. The doctor lifted an eyebrow, turning briefly to Penny before crossing her arms. "Yes?"

"It's me? Is everyone decent?"

Penny snorted and Dr. Cho softened, shaking her head a little and smiling to herself. "Come on in, Tony." The door swung open, and Tony stepped inside with a bag in one hand, a big cup in the other. Dr. Cho stared at it, then shook her head. "Tony, she really needs…"

"She was held captive by terrorists for almost two months, Doctor, and I promised her an American cheeseburger."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Penny felt her mouth begin to water. Tony carried it over, placing it on the tray beside her bed along with the cup. "I went with good old regular coke, but if you…" Tony broke off with a laugh when she grabbed the soda and took a huge drink, closing her eyes at the taste and the rush of sugar. "I'm going to take that to mean you approve."

"Oh god that tastes so good…" Penny muttered, then opened the bag, throwing out a quick 'thank you' before biting into the burger.

"Don't choke yourself, kid. You can have all the burgers you want. Hell, I'll buy Burger King if you want."

"Okay," she said through a mouth full of fries, and he chuckled as he made his way over to Dr. Cho, taking a look at the clipboard in her hand. The doctor sighed and handed it over, giving him a look.

"You have heard of HIPPA, right?"

"Yeah, sure…" he spoke under his breath as he read, but Penny didn't care. He could look at whatever he wanted because never in her life had anything tasted as good as that cheeseburger.

Once Dr. Cho had left, Tony drummed his hands on his leg, seeming to debate with himself for a moment before speaking. "So...you probably have some questions."

Penny shrugged. Now that she wasn't starving anymore, she felt just a little shy. Just a little worried. Sure, Dr. Cho had made her feel better, but what if the doctor had been wrong? What if Tony didn't actually want her to live with him? What if he didn't want that kind of responsibility?

"Well," Tony went on, "I thought I'd, uh...lay everything out. And then, we can...we can go from there. Sound good?"

"Um...yeah."

"Right. So...I talked to my lawyers and the social worker...apparently you automatically get a social worker if you're a minor with no living family. And I filled out some paperwork...and my lawyers filled out some paperwork. Anyway, you can...if you want, you can stay with me. If you want to go somewhere else that's fine...I get that. I know you don't...um, you can just let me know and we'll find you a family that we can trust. But in the mean time I've got a room ready for you. And I know you're from New York so...so we can always go back there. If you want. I've got a tower there and it has a nice penthouse. Not exactly beachfront but what can you do?" He laughed under his breath, shaking his head. "Anyway, as soon as you're cleared to leave you can see the house. And I'll introduce you to Pepper."

"Tony?" Penny asked when he finally stopped talking. He looked up, hands shoved in his pockets, looking surprisingly vulnerable for a billionaire. "Can I...I mean, how long can I stay? With you?"

He smiled then, his eyes meeting hers before he moved over to her bed, taking a seat beside her. "Long as you like, kiddo."

Penny felt a weight lift off her shoulders, and she leaned against him just a little. Instead of pushing her away like some part of her had worried he would, Tony lifted his arm as though it were the most natural thing in the world, throwing it around her shoulders and squeezing her to his side.

"I don't really have any experience...I mean...hell, Pen, my dad was...bad. Not that I'm saying I'll be…" He trailed off, shaking his head once more. "I might suck at this, Penny. I mean...hell, it's a pretty safe bet that I'm going to screw this up."

"I think you're doing fine."

He squeezed her again, the side of his resting against the top of hers, and Penny closed her eyes, taking it in. "There something I wanted to show you."

"Yeah?"

"Here." He pulled out his phone, tapping a few buttons, then holding it up so that she could see. Penny stared at the slightly grainy video of Tony sitting on a stage, a cheeseburger in one hand, one arm in a sling. Had he hurt his arm? He seemed okay now…

The room was full of reporters, but everyone sat on the floor, and Tony spoke softly as though talking to friends. On the screen, Tony stared earnestly out at the people as a man she didn't recognize hovered nearby. "I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability. I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up."

Penny frowned, turning, to Tony, but he just gestured for her to pay attention as he continued to speak despite the other man on the screen that seemed to be confused. Or maybe upset...it was hard to tell.

"Which is why I am shutting down the weapons creating division of Stark Industries. Effective immediately."

The crowd erupted in questions and flashes of cameras, while the man on the screen jumped to his feet, followed by Tony who moved more slowly. Penny turned back to Tonny, eyes wide, only to find him smiling at her. "What do you think?"

"You...you aren't going to make weapons anymore?"

He shook his head. "You were right. The weapons I was making...I didn't know that they were being sold to terrorists. And I'm going to find out how that happened. But from now on...I'm done making things that can be used to hurt innocent people. You asked me what I was going to do about it…" He gestured to the phone, then turned off the screen, placing it on the bed beside him. "That's what I'm going to do with it."

Penny just stared at him, eyes wide. He'd actually done it. He'd shut down the weapons division of his company...the biggest part of what they did.

"Well...what do you think, kid?"

"I think you're a really good person." The words felt inadequate, somehow, but they were all she had. Tony squeezed her shoulder, giving a soft smile, something in his expression telling her that he understood what she meant...what she wanted to say but couldn't figure out how.  

"I'm going to try, kiddo. I really am. Now, you ready to see if Helen will let you out of here so I can show you the house?"

And, pushing away thoughts of the cave and the terrorists, of her uncle's last words to her and the people she'd loved that were gone now, Penny nodded, ready to forget everything and move forward. "Yeah. I am."

The End

Thank you for reading.