Small Town Girl

You don't understand

"You can't do this."

Penny glared at the floor. "He killed May."

Tony rubbed his eyes. "I know, Penny. Let the police handle it."

Penny shook her head. "They won't get him in time."

Tony met her eyes. "Penny. Listen to me. Don't go after him. You're upset. You'll do something you'll regret."

Penny scoffed. "Oh, and you know me that well? You think I can't control myself?"

"Please," Tony said softly. "Think about it."

"I am!" She snapped. "He doesn't deserve to live."

"Penny," Tony stepped closer. "Spidergirl isn't a killer."

Penny pulled her mask down. "Yet."

"Penny, stop. I know you're hurting," Tony tried to reason with her. "But I can't let you do this."

The eyes of the mask seemed to narrow down into slits. "You can't stop me. You never cared."

Tony took a breath. "Penny, I care more than you know. Okay? I love you. You're my kid. I do care, okay?"

"No," she whispered, her tone cold. "If you cared, you would let me do this."

"That is exactly why I can't. Just listen to me, Pen. Please!"

She stared at him for a second longer. "You're not my dad. I don't have to listen to you."

She ducked out the window, and was gone before he could say anything else.

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Weeks passed, and Penny hadn't gone back.

She had found the murderer.

But she had delivered him to the police.

As she had stood there, hand around his throat, she realized that what Tony said was true.

She was no killer.

So she left him on the doorstep on the chief of police, with a note.

But she hadn't gone back.

She was scared.

She had been horrible to the one person who cared about her.

The one person who loved her.

He had taken her in, given her everything she could ask for, had even adopted her.

And she had thrown it in his face.

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"Tony, are you okay?" Rhodey asked gently. "Did something happen to Penny? I haven't seen her in weeks."

Tony ran his hand across his face. "You could say that, yeah. Fri, pull up the footage of the last night Penny was here."

Rhodey watched the fight in silence. "Have you tried to find her?"

Tony sank down onto a chair. "Yeah. I've lost count of how many times I've tried. She took out the tracker. She isn't answering calls. Nothing to trace her."

His friend sighed. "She's a kid. She's a superhero, but she's still a kid. She didn't mean it, Tones."

Tony nodded briefly. "I know. I don't care about what she said. I know she was upset. I just wish she'd come back."

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Penny huddled on the rooftop, rain misting around her.

She shivered, making a mental note to change out the heating coils in the suit. They weren't working very well, and it was freezing.

She was keeping watch over a shipment of drugs that some idiots were trying to sell.

She intended to break it up.

Just as she leaned forward, preparing to jump, her visor lit up, and she heard Karen's soft voice.

"Incoming call from Natasha Romanoff."

Penny sighed. "Answer it."

"Penny? Thank the- where are you? You need to get to Stark towers as soon as possible!"

Penny glanced back at the drug carton. "Look, Nat. I'm in the middle of something, and Mr Stark probably doesn't want to see me."

"Penny," she could hear the worry and concealed panic in Nat's voice. "Tony needs you. He's dying. Bruce said he needs surgery. There's something inside him that is so small that if anyone tried to perform regular surgery, it would kill him. Bruce said the surgery could be performed with the nanotech that Tony developed, but you're the only other person who knows how to work it properly. Please, Penny. They said he might not live out the night if he doesn't get it."

Penny shot out of her hiding place, swinging toward the building in the distance.

"I'm on my way."

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Penny dropped the the outer wall of the tower, gripping on to the wet metal. "Karen, connect to Friday and tell Natasha to open window 63a."

Seconds later, Natasha hurried into sight, her eyes searching the window. They stopped on Penny, and she hurried to open up.

Penny dropped to the floor, pulling off her mask and gloves. "Where is he?" Her voice was firm, but Nat could detect a tinge of panic in the words.

"In here."

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Penny opened the door.

She was met with the surprised faces of Pepper Potts, James Rhodes, and Bruce Banner. Pepper was crying, and Rhodey looked devastated. Bruce was monitoring Tony's vitals.

"Penny?" Pepper started. "What-?"

The teenager walked to the array of machines. "What are his vitals?"

"Penny," Pepper said again. "What are you doing?"

Natasha tapped Peppers shoulder, and whispered something in her ear.

Then both women left.

Penny looked at Bruce. "Where is it? And what exactly happened?"

He tested Tony's pulse. "The aliens did something to him. There was something that they shot him with, and it's slowly destroying the outer tissues of his lungs. If we don't stop it, he won't be able to breathe at all. Hes already lost more blood than is safe."

Penny pulled up the control screen for the nanotech, noticing only a few abnormalities. "Got it."

It was slow going, and she was in there for hours, going through the holoscreens, sealing up the foreign microorganism, and repairing his damaged lungs.

When it was finished, she stumbled backward, sinking into a chair. Her eyes were tired from focusing on the screens for so long, and she hadn't slept the night before.

"He needs to stay on oxygen for now. It'll be a bit difficult, letting him adjust to the new structure, but he'll live."

Bruce squeezed her shoulder. "Get some sleep. I'll call you if anything changes. Your room is in the same place. Nothing has changed, so you can go there. Theres also some extra clothes if you want to get out of your suit."

Penny nodded gratefully. "Thanks."

Pepper and Natasha were still awake, talking quietly among themselves.

Both looked up as Penny opened the door, questioning looks on their faces.

Penny nodded briefly. "He's okay. He'll live."

Pepper relaxed, leaning her head back against the chair. Natasha studied Penny for several seconds. "He misses you. He forgave you a long time ago."

Penny smiled sadly. "Yeah. I'm going to get some sleep. Call me if anything happens."

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I actually updated! Yay!