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alexandrinav0605 · 2 years ago

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Talking to Strangers

MULTI-CHAPTER 4/? LINK TO A03

The man on the desk look at her with a scold. Penny definitely didn’t look like she belonged there, with her hand-me-down clothes and although being fifteen, she looked thirteen, fourteen at best.

No matter what the man thought, she had a badge and when scanned, all her information appeared.

______________

Two days after one of the most successful therapy session she ever had, mostly because Tyler leave her alone, she came home from school to find two more boys than usual. Her oldest foster sister, Jolene, was the one that told her the situation, but Penny already had an idea of what was going on.

Her first thought was where they were going to sleep.

Foster parents that took more than three children that aren’t siblings are prone to take more.

That is exactly what happened in the new place she was living. Now, two weeks after her arrival, the already overpopulated house was made home to another two kids, siblings. When Penny came, the house already had 5 kids, with her they were made 6, now there were 8.

Another fun fact about the foster parents that take too many kids, is they do it for the money.

Penny admitted that saying that was unfair, not all situations were the same, but most of them had that in common. Mrs. and Mr. Miller, her actual foster parents, were one of those.

Jolene was the one to explain all of the brothers’ backstory. Tom and Robert, six and four, respectively. An abusive drug addict father that ended up killing their mother.

“Lucky that they were at school when it happened” Jolene had said, and Penny couldn’t help but to agree. The last thing those kids needed was to witness their mother’s murder.

Jolene had already given up her bed, and Penny as the second oldest, was quick to follow.

When Penny arrived, there was only one room designated for kids. It was big enough to put six beds, three on each size, and at the time, it was perfect. Now they had a 4 and a 6 year old boys, that needed a bed. Jolene was 17 while Penny was fifteen, they could live without one. The room also had one dresser chest that luckily, had eight drawers, so that was one thing they shouldn’t worry about.

The boys were scared, and Penny could understand it. She and her brother weren’t that young when they ended up on foster care, but she remember when her parents died. Even if she could live wither aunt and uncle, it was a new house and a new country.

Penny wondered what would have happened if her aunt and uncle weren’t there at the time. Aunt May was a consolation as she sometimes spoke in Italian, like her mother used to do. Uncle Ben was so much like her father and always told them stories about him when they were sad. She couldn’t imagine the grieving process without them in the picture.

It was 5 in the afternoon, and she was watching the two brothers play. Suddenly she felt as she couldn’t breathe. Although of the gender and the age difference, she couldn’t help but to compare Tom and Robert to her and her own brother. Alone except for each other.

Unable to stop picturing her twin and her and the other setoff siblings, she leave the room, ignoring Jolene’s worried look.

The other day, her journey to the cemetery was a long one, after all, her foster home was in Manhattan, while All Faiths Cemetery was at Queens. A trip there was out of the question, as she would be back after curfew and dinner.

Suddenly, she remember the conversation with the Avengers that she had yesterday. Penny searched through her backpack, hoping she hadn’t put the new badge on her drawer at the house. A really low probability, but one you couldn’t discard. Much to Penny’s relief the badge was there. With the odds of being thrown out lower, she made her way to Avengers Tower.

______________

The man on the desk look at her with a scold. Penny definitely didn’t look like she belonged there, with her hand-me-down clothes and although being fifteen, she looked thirteen, fourteen at best.

No matter what the man thought, she had a badge and when scanned, all her information appeared. He told her which elevator to take and began to type on his computer.

On the elevator, a female voice spoke.

“Hello, Miss Parker, I am FRIDAY, Tony Stark’s Artificial Intelligence, which floor would you like to go?” Penny thought about it for a while before concluding she didn’t know what the hell she was doing.

“I am looking for Mr. Stark. Or any Avenger” Before the AI could answer, she added “They told me I could come.”

“I am aware of your relationship with the Avengers, I can take you to Mr. Stark’s floor right now.

Penny let out a relief sound. After the initial rush had come down, she thought that maybe it wasn’t one of her best ideas to come here and just ask to see the Avengers, one of the most famous people in New York and people that had many enemies. She wondered how many people came asking to see an Avenger.

When the elevator stopped she come face to face with Tony Stark. He look at her, worry clear on his face. She tried to talk, but the right words just wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

“Is anyone else here?” Even if she trusted the Avengers more than she previously did, that didn’t that she wanted to parade her problems to all of them. Especially not Steve Rogers that although he had apologized, she still didn’t feel right to her. Her feelings had to do, perhaps, with the similarities that the Captain had with a man that belonged to Penny’s past.

“Everyone is on the communal floor, but I can call someone if you are more comfortable?” It was obvious that Tony felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell why.

Penny shook* her head. “I was hoping I could talk to you, and you told me I could come whenever I wanted.”

“I did say that kid, don’t worry.” He gestured to the very expensive sofa and waited until she had sat down before doing it himself. “What do you need?”

“Today two more kids arrived at my foster home.” She paused a little before continuing. “Now we are eight, but that doesn’t matter.” This time when she paused she looked at him expecting an answer.

“Do these kids make you uncomfortable?” That was a good question. Was she uncomfortable? Quick answer was yes, but not in the way he was thinking. Also, was ‘uncomfortable’ the right word? She thought that it wasn’t.

“They are six and four and they scared. They had barely talk to me” She could tell he was confused.

“So, what is the problem?” He seemed kind when asking that, but so did many bad people. Tyler was seen kind by most, maybe annoying, but Penny knew. If her shitty life had taught her something was to not judge a book by its cover. It didn’t matter the cover was nice or bad.

Thinking more, she suddenly felt stupid. She probably was worrying Tony for no reason. Of course, a sibling relationship would remind Penny of hers and her brother’s relationship, they were siblings.

“You know what, it is stupid and shouldn’t have come. You are probably very busy and…” She was already standing up when Tony took her wrist.

“I can assure you that nothing you are having troubles with is stupid” At her look of disbelief he added. “I once heard that it doesn’t matter that you are drowning of a glass of water, you are still drowning. I promise that I will listen and help as much as I can. It is your decision if you want to.” With that, he let go her wrist, that wasn’t held with any force. Pre- spider bit Penny could have broken free if she wanted.

She pondered at to what to do. Looking at Tony’s eyes she saw something that she hadn’t seen in a very long time. An actual desire to help.

With that she took the decision that would most like it change her whole life.

She trusted Tony Stark.

“They remind me of me and my brother.” She finally began, after sitting on the sofa again. “So scared, yet they have each other.” Penny look down at her lap. “Everything was easier when I had my brother with me.”

Tony remains in silence, waiting for her to continue. When she made it apparent that she wasn’t going to say anything, he began talking.

“When my parents died, I didn’t cope well. I began drinking and smoking, all so I could forget the pain for a while. I was destroying myself.” Penny wondered where this was going. “A year later or so I decided I couldn’t continue that way and it work for a while, until I visited Rhodey’s mom. She is a wonderful lady that would always let me stay at her house on holidays when visiting my dad was too much.”

Tony looked at her, like he was debating on continuing.

“When I was watching both of them interact I couldn’t help but missing my mom. You see my dad could have been a bastard, but my mother, she was an angel. She loved me and I wish I could have said that I loved her more than I did.” He made a pause again. Penny could see it was difficult. “That night I drank so much that I ended up on the hospital.” He look at her directly in her eyes. “It is okay if you miss your brother, kid. It is natural that little things will remind you of him, and I will not say you will ever forget him or that you will stop hurting, but from experience.” He took her hand. “It will hurt less, and when you remember him, you will not cry, you will laugh, happy for the memories you have with him.”

“I don’t feel like I will feel better.”

“This won’t happen tomorrow or in a week. It takes time. Right now, you only see dark, but I assure you there is always light.”

And for the second time in this day, Penny took a decision that will change her life.

She believe Tony Stark.

And she also hugged Tony Stark.

______________

Natasha knew something changed.

She wasn’t sure if it began the day Penny punched Tyler or later, when Tony gave her a badge. The thing was that at the moment, although she could see that Penny was grateful, she didn’t look like she was going to take the offer.

That is why, when Tony came to the communal floor the day after giving Penny her badge, saying the girl had come to the Tower, she was surprised. He didn’t say the reason behind the visit, only that she had already left.

After that day, Penny was a constant in the tower. She was a little more open with them, but mostly Tony. It made Natasha wonder what exactly happened that Thursday that made the young girl trust the man so much. The thing that troubled her the most, in a bad way, was how every positive favor that the girl show Tony was like it was taken from Steve. While Penny wasn’t rude like she was with Tyler, she wasn’t friendly and if Natasha was honest, it confused her more than anything ever had in her lifetime.

She had figured out that Penny Parker was a mystery. She obviously didn’t trust easily. She was still wary with all of them, never talking about anything personal, and watching al of their moves, but she seemed to be more wary of Steve. Never talking with him unless he talked to her directly, and she avoided him in favor of others.

At first, Natasha thought that it had something to do with the recent conflict between Tony and Steve, and as Penny seemed to like Tony, she immediately disliked Steve. Her theory was quickly refuted by Penny forming an unlikely friendship with Bucky.

It seemed that for now, Penny Parker would remain to be a mystery.

#spider man #spiderman #peter parker #penny parker #iron man #tony stark #marvel #MCU #foster care #foster system #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #bucky barnes

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alexandrinav0605 · 2 years ago

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Talking to Strangers

MULTI-CHAPTER 3/? LINK TO A03

Did they ever feel guilty? Did Tyler ever stop to think that he certified an abuser that later killed a child? Did he ever stop to think how his actions indirectly took someone’s brother? Her brother? Apparently not.

______________

TW: Panic Attacks, rape mentions, suicide attempt descriptions.

It has been about a month and a half since the Avengers and Penny meet.

Penny's parents die when she was 5, so in the first part of the chapter she is a little younger than that.

______________

For once, it was a sunny day. Penny and Peter always begged their nanny to take them to the park on days like this. To be fair they also did it when it was raining, but they did it the most on these days.

Their parents were scientists, both of them, which meant they worked a lot, but it also meant that they got to have their nanny?

At times it was sad. Sometimes they only wanted to play with their parents and for them to help them with homework, and not even their nanny was able to put a smile on their faces.

Now, playing in the park with other children, they couldn’t help but to miss them. Most children had at least their mother with them. Penny always felt proud that her mama was one of the only women in the scientific world, and one of the best. Mary always told her that sometimes old, white men felt threatened by her, and the little girl wanted nothing more than to be like her when she grew up.

After playing for a few hours, their nanny called them to go home. When they arrived, the twins saw the familiar white car outside their home; their mother’s car. Both of them released Mrs. Jones’ hands and ran to the house.

When they entered, the twins saw their mother, already wearing her house clothes, sitting on the lounge. They hug her and she immediately returns the hug, while also putting force on lifting them, so they could sit on each side of her.

“Where were you, my beautiful angels?” She spoke in Italian, and her tone was sweet, as it could only be with her twins. Their father found it annoying, as he did not speak it, but they did it anyway. It was a way that made mother and children feel closer and honored their Italian heritage. Penny once asked her mother why her father didn’t bother to learn it if he wanted to understand.

“It is his American stubbornness, darling.” She said, Both Penny and Peter giggled. “I tried to teach him once, but he never accepted.”

“Then he should go,” Peter started.

“And stop complaining.” Penny finished.

“Are you three talking about me again?” The voice was in English, and for most, it sounded annoyed, but the three knew he was joking.

“NO.” Mother and children spoke at the same time, laughing.

“In the park, mama!” The twins spoke at the same time, as usual. Most people found it annoying, even the twins at times, but Mary loved it. She knew they would always be for each other.

“Is there no hug for papa?” This came from the kitchen and a tall man that knelt down as soon as the two balls of energy threw themselves to him.

“Oh, Peter, you are bigger than I remember.” The child in question giggled.

“You haven’t seen me in 2 days, papa!” He answered.

“Two days! It felt like an eternity.” The man then turned to his daughter. “Penny.”

“Penny…”

______________

“Penny!” The shout took her out of her mind, back to the present.

The memory of her family dissolves, and she isn’t in London, she isn’t in her father’s arms. Instead, Penny sees, she is surrounded by the Avengers and Tyler, all looking at her, as if they were expecting something. She grasps that they probably were.

“I am sorry, were you talking to me?” She tries to make it seem like she was ignoring Tyler. He always gets annoyed, and these days annoying Tyler was one of the only joys she has. She had been doing it for the two sessions after Captains atrocious attempt of apology, this was the third.

As expected, Tyler looks at her, annoyance clear of his face, and she can’t help but to get a little smile. “I would be very grateful if you would bother to pay attention, Penelope.” Again, with that. “Remember this isn’t for me, but for you guys, I don’t need it.” This was spoken to the whole group.

“So, you are basically saying that you aren’t a mess, and you are doing this for charity?” And, yes, maybe he didn’t mean to say it like that, but today wasn’t a good day, most weren’t. Penny wasn’t going to take any shit from anyone, much less Tyler. “Because I hate to break it to you Tyler, but this isn’t charity, first of all, they pay you.” Even though that was enough to kill Tyler’s argument, she didn’t stop there. It was a shitty day.

“Second, considering that you, and the shitty organization you worked for are the reason I am this fuck up, I think the fair thing to do is to mix the mess you created.” Her cheeky tone wasn’t lost.

Tyler changed the subject and continued with the session. For Penny, this was perfect, two could play the same game.

The rest of the session was just Penny and Tyler fighting. Not the active fighting, but a little more passive. Tyler would try to include her, and she would ignore him.

By the end, Penny was bored. As funny as it was to annoy Tyler, it was funnier to do it directly. So, with the purpose of finding another way to get on Tyler’s nerves, she listened to the next dynamic’s instructions.

The dynamic was simple, you were supposed to share one thing that you haven’t told anyone. Penny got dejected. Although there were many things she could say that would put Tyler in an uncomfortable position, none of those were something that she wished to share, not with people that were basically strangers. Only Peter had that kind of trust.

The only problem was that not only Penny was getting tired of their little fight, because after all of the Avengers talked, Tyler turned to Penny. Penny looks back at him, with innocence.

“It is your turn, Penny.” He was smiling, but it was fake.

Penny ignored him, picking at nonexistent dirt under her nails. The Avengers watch them carefully, sensing the fight building up. Tony Stark looked ready to intervene, although Penny couldn’t say why. They barely knew each other.

“Listen, Penny, I have been patient with you. Now, will you please participate?” At Penny’s indifference, Tyler got angrier. “We won’t move until you say something.”

Penny shrugs her shoulders in indifference. Tyler now was red from anger. “I understand you are angry with life, but that doesn’t give you the right to treat everyone like shit.” Tyler was mad, but Penny was even more than him.

“I am sorry Tyler, but I don’t treat everyone like shit. I treat you like shit, but surprise, surprise, Tyler, you aren’t everyone!” She shouted the last part and was now standing in front of Tyler. The difference was comical. Penny and Peter had always been short. People always told them that they would eventually grow. Peter never got the chance. The thought got Penny even angrier. “Stop thinking you are the world, Tyler, it’s pathetic.”

“Why does it have to be so hard with you, just say something!” Tyler was also shouting. Penny ignored the panic she felt rising, the same panic she always felt when shouting. She took a few breaths; she wasn’t going to have a panic attack in front of him.

“Why is it so hard for you to take a NO for an answer?!” She was getting desperate. Tyler was still shouting. She couldn’t help but to go back to that night, the night where Peter decided he had enough and confronted their foster parents. That went as well as it was expected.

In the back she could hear Tony Stark trying to make Tyler stop, but she didn’t register that.

That time she decided to be quiet, but now she wasn’t quiet, she was shouting back. Now she was Peter. So, when Tyler made a move to grab her, she went nuts.

“Do not touch me, don’t you dare touch me!” Her screams were desperate, she was desperate. She wanted this to end, she wanted to go back in time, when her biggest worries were when her nanny was going to take her and her brother to the park.

“You want me to participate, Tyler? That’s what you want? Well here it is.” Her tone was sarcastic, but she was in despair. There wasn’t an ounce of logic left. Nothing that could tell her to say something stupid like when she entered preschool or something like that. No, the only thing left was pure panic, so she just spoke. “How about I tell you about the time I cut my veins? Yeah, is that alright? You need more? Okay, that time, when I was with Skip? You know him. Tall, blond, a rapist? Well, a little 15-year-old Penny was so desperate, she grabbed a razor and made 4 long cuts on each of her arms. Her foster father? Nowhere to be seen. How did she survive? By pure luck because she never got medical attention.”

Pure luck was not exactly what happened. Penny and her brother were bitten by a spider when they were 13, they became the Spider Twins for a while, but after May died they quit. They went back for a while before Peter died, but Penny couldn’t continue after his death. It was too painful. The spider gave them healing abilities. They had their limits, your brain being smashed against the wall was one of them, apparently, but the cuts weren’t. She woke up to find her cuts healed and a mess of blood being the only thing remaining of her attempt. She cleaned it up before Skip got home.

Everyone was looking at her in shock. The room was in silence, a contrast with a few seconds ago. Tyler was the one to break it, deciding to continue.

Even Penny was looking at him in shock. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery, still affected by the previous confrontation. When Tyler asked her to sit, she did it.

The session continued, but no one really participated. Tyler left her alone until the end.

“Before we go I want to talk to Penny.” Penny looks at him, distrust clear. She had finally calmed down.

Tony tried to intervene, but Rogers stopped him. “I don’t think that is a good idea, Tyler.”

That Captain Rogers was the one to stop Tyler, said how fuck up this was. Tyler didn’t care.

“I just wanted to talk to you, because I think you need some advice.” Penny thought she needed shit from him. “Earlier you called me pathetic, but you want to know what’s pathetic?” Penny didn’t, but he didn’t listen. “That you are still not over your dead brother.” “I beg your pardon?” “I mean, it’s been a year and yet you still have his ashes on your back like a child. Now that’s pathetic.” He looked behind, to the Avengers, laughing, like he expected them to laugh with him. The reality was that the Avengers looked scandalized. Wanda Maximoff’s eyes were a little red and a thunder was heard close.

Penny could only see red. In a blink of an eye, Tyler was on the floor, grabbing his jaw in pain. Penny looked around, wondering who had done it, but everyone was looking at her. She had done it.

Guilt began to flow through her body. When she was Spider-Girl, she had always prided herself of never using her powers to harm those who were different. Now, in a moment of heat, she had punched someone. She could have killed him. She knew better than this.

Looking at Tyler, she knew she wouldn’t go unpunished.

______________

Wanda Maximoff has always considered herself a very unlucky person.

Her parents died when she was a child, leaving her and her brother orphans. They joined a racist organization trying to avenge them, and then ended up working with the man they always thought guilty of their deaths. Before Ultron, she counted herself lucky that she still had her brother.

Until she didn’t.

Looking at the girl in front of her, Wanda couldn’t help but to find similarities. The difference was that the girl was younger, much younger. Wanda also thought that something else happened. They already knew that the man, Mr. Preachy, was responsible for her brother’s death, but she mentioned another man. Skip Wescott. Penny never talked about him again, so she didn’t know what happened.

Despite the differences, she still feels for the girl. That’s why when Tyler said what he said, she saw red. In all of the previous fights, things never escalated. It was amusing. The last fight, however, was different. Wanda wasn’t an expert, but she recognized the beginning of a panic attack. She didn’t know what triggered it, her best bet was the shouting. Neither her nor Tyler had screamed in their previous fights. She also knew that her confession was partly because Penny wanted Tyler to stop.

Wanda also thought that Tyler was useless.

The girl confessed a suicide attempt and he brushed off. What kind of councilor was he?

Just like all the others, especially Stark, which surprised her (even if she understood her parents’ death wasn’t his fault, she was wary around him). She tried to defend the girl, but they didn’t have time. In a second Tyler was on the floor. She wanted to laugh, but she was shocked. Penny looked as shocked as her, she even seemed in distress.

Wanda understood that this was going to cost a lot to Penny, no matter if Tyler deserved it.

______________

She knew since it happened, that her display of temper was going to cost her. And it did.

She was relocated. According to Tyler, he had been generous, even if he had made the most insensible comment she had ever heard, as he didn’t press charges. Penny wanted to see him get over someone’s death after witnessing it personally. That didn’t matter, they decided to move her, and now here she was, in a house with another 5 kids. Those were the worst, after the murderers and the rapists, many mouths to feed, many beds in need and not nearly enough money.

Penny was used to being hungry. Since her aunt died, she and her brother had been fighting for extra food. They got jobs and bought snacks that had many calories, but that were cheap. They hide those. Now that she was relocated, she would need to find another job because the one she used to have was way too far.

As soon as they gave her the permission to leave, she disappeared through the door, a destination in mind. The weight of the container that held her brother’s ashes was a constant reminder of what she lost to these people.

Did they ever feel guilty?

Did Tyler ever stop to think that he certified an abuser that later killed a child? Did he ever stop to think how his actions indirectly took someone’s brother? Her brother?

Apparently not. After walking a long ride on the public transport, she finally reached her destination.

All Faiths Cemetery

When her parents died, she was only 5, but Penny could remember the day like it was yesterday. Even if Penny’s family had never been short on money, the move put a dent in the family’s account, (there is also the fact that her mother refused to put in a cent, as she was so against the moving), this caused Penny's parents to choose a more economic way of travel. They got various connections, one of those in a Canadian city called St. John’s. That is where everything went wrong. The pilot lost control of the plane, and it crashed. Her father got the bad luck of being sitting right where a part of the plane impaled him. Her mother’s seat belt failed and in the crash her body began to bounce around the plane. The survivors were the ones to tell this, one of the flight attendants survived along with the co-pilot.

According to the officials that came to tell the news, they were lucky it didn’t fall into the ocean, because at least now they had the bodies.

Her mother wanted to be buried in England, but there was a problem. Her aunt and uncle weren’t the wealthiest people. They didn’t want children and although Penny and Peter inherited all of their possessions, those were frozen until the twins got to a legal age, 18 in Britain's case.

So, her mother was buried here, in an American cemetery along with her husband. Years later Uncle Ben would join, and some months would pass before Aunt May joined too.

Penny visited as much as she could, and she brought Peter. His father was a Christian, her mother had an interesting view on religion, her father would call her a Protestant. She used to say the people would have the afterlife they believed in. Either way, Penny didn’t believe nothing of them was left on their corpses, or ashes, but it made her feel better.

She does what she always did. She puts her brother in front of their graves and talks to all of them. Sometimes she felt the wind flying towards her, like it was a hug.

It was ridiculous, but it made her feel better.

______________

Steve Rogers will admit he used to find Penelope Parker annoying.

It could be his military training or simple personality, but the girl’s disregard for authority irritated him. Later he found out it was completely justified, but not before committing some mistakes, mistakes Penny wasn’t slow to put in their place. After the incident, the Avengers couldn’t believe Tyler. Tony tried to advocate for her, but it was in vain. The next session Penny didn’t appear, and Tyler began without her. When asked he simply said she had been relocated. In the tower, later that day, Bruce told them that therewas a possibility of Penny being sent to a communal house for problem children, and that it was also possible for her not to come to therapy again.

That’s why when they arrived at the meeting, early for once, they were happy to find Penny there, already seated.

They quickly asked her what had happened. She seemed touched that they were worried but asked them not to do it anymore.

Not the first time I was relocated, definitely not the last time.

They told her that they supported her, and as already agreed, Tony gave her a badge. With it, Tony said, she can access the Tower whenever she needs to. Penny then gave them one of the most real smiles Steve had ever seen her give to anyone. She genuinely thanked them.

Before they could talk more, Tyler entered, and all of Penny’s body got tense. Tyler ignores her for the rest of the meeting after one attempt of participation, but Penny’s wary eyes never leave him, as she expected him to jump at her. With a tiny movement, Steve got her attention, and smiled at her, as she did earlier, she returned his smile.

Steve realized that even if they began with the wrong foot, they could form a friendship.

#spiderman #spider man #peter parker #penny parker #female peter parker #Iron Man #tony stark #marvel #MCU #Steve Rogers #natasha romanoff #Bucky Barnes #thor #sam wilson #bruce banner #foster care #foster system #child abuse #Group Therapy

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alexandrinav0605 · 2 years ago

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Writing Masterlist

Hi! I’m Alex, a girl with the broken dream of being a writer.

If a fic has a main romantic couple it will be specified. All works published on AO3.

MCU

Talking to Strangers: one | two | three | four | five *WIP*

Done

Warning -Sequel to “Done”-

Just Like You

Battle

OTHER LINKS

Future Projects

AO3 Profile

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alexandrinav0605 · 2 years ago

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Battle

ONE-SHOT LINK AO3

When he found a 5-year-old on his front porch with a heavy British accent and a folder in her hand that said that she was his daughter, he didn’t believe it. When Mary came, by the time Penny was 11, he realized something. These 6 years he had taken care of his daughter, Mary saw him as nothing more than a babysitter.

Tony Stark loves his daughter, and she loves him. What will happen when after six years, Penny's long lost mother appears wanting her daughter back.

______________

Tony Stark was tired of his daughter’s mom's bullshit.

When he found a 5-year-old on his front porch with a heavy British accent and a folder in her hand that said that she was his daughter, he didn’t believe it. Even though the exams in the folder could be fake, there wasn’t any way to deny it, the girl looked just like him, but in a female way.

It was weird at the beginning; Penny was borderline depressed over her mother basically abandoning her, and she was smart, so she knew the reason her mother stopped loving her, as the toddler put it. Tony found the story months later, and he couldn’t believe it. What mother hates their child for being something they can’t control? He knew many mutant children were abandoned, but still.

With time, they grew close. Penny was just as smart as he was and even smarter than he was at her age. The girl was a little genius. He couldn’t understand how Mary could leave her. Then it happened…

When Mary came, by the time Penny was 11, he realized something. These 6 years he had taken care of his daughter, Mary saw him as nothing more than a babysitter. That’s when he told her that he wouldn’t renounce custody of Penny, and that he would fight if he had to. She didn’t take it kindly, but that was her problem. No judge would grant her custody, Tony had video evidence of Penny being left at his house without even knocking, but Mary didn’t give up, so the battle began.

On the first hearing she tried to use his past addiction and his absence during the first five years of Penny’s life. His lawyer then gave proof of him being sober since the moment he knew about Penny and said that he couldn’t be present in Penny’s life when the mother didn’t even bother to tell him. Just like that, every argument Mary gave was destroyed by Tony’s lawyers. In the end the judge favoured Tony's side. Tony could go back to his daughter, and he allowed Mary to visit. He was happy.

That wouldn’t last long.

______________

Mary Fitzpatrick had to admit that all this was out of spite. She knew no sane judge would give her custody of Penny and, if she was honest with herself, she didn’t want it. Mary hated her daughter’s father and she wanted to see him suffer.

At the beginning she hoped to make an easy win, considering Tony’s past, but her past was even darker. After her second loss, she decided to call for help. If she played wisely, she would have what she wanted.

There was no way Director Fury would give her the resources to make Tony Stark mad. He could say anything he wanted, but SHIELD still needed Stark’s help, both in the hero stuff and the technology. Her plan was simple, Fury knew she had a daughter she left for work but didn’t know about the father. With that she just had to ask for the money to bribe the judge and do it before Fury found out that the man he is helping defeat in court is Tony Stark. The only way it could fail is if he decided to look deep into it, but besides that everything was all right.

“Listen Director, I had to leave my daughter for SHIELD and now the father doesn’t want to let me see her.” The lie came out easy. If she felt guilty or not, that's another subject.

“All I’m asking is for you to help me get my daughter back. I left quickly and they see it as neglect. The judge won’t let me get custody of her, not without a bonus.” She finished and looked at Fury, waiting for an answer.

In the end he agreed, ordered a few agents to do the job and dismissed her.

Everything was going well.

______________

Everything was going not well.

Tony knew the moment he stepped in that something was wrong. For starters, the smug grin on Mary’s face. Then he saw something, the little nod from the judge to Mary. In that moment he knew Mary had bribed the judge.

“She did it.” He thought, as the judge made the verdict. She had won, he had one week to say goodbye to his little girl, his little spider. Visitation would be allowed only if Mary wanted, and he could see she wouldn’t have the same consideration he had. He barely felt when the judge dismissed them. He did feel Rhodey’s arms, making stand up. He saw how Rhodey tried to hold the tears, trying to be strong with Pepper and Happy for him. That didn’t matter, he was destroyed. Mary was beside him talking.

“What a little money can do is amazing, isn’t it Stark? Fury was more than happy to help when I explained the situation to him.” Her audacity made Tony’s blood boil. How dare she? And Fury? Had he been a part of this? It didn’t matter, he was going to make everyone pay.

Pepper, Rhodey and Happy guide him to the car. Already inside, the car didn’t move. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen.

For Tony, being relatedly alone was enough to break. It was slow, his eyes began to fill with tears, he started trembling, and finally sobs started to come out of his mouth. He tried to hold them, but gave up, the pain was too much. Tears wouldn’t stop falling from his eyes. Never in his life had he felt this vulnerable. Pepper tried to hold him, tried to show her support.

“God, my little girl, she took away my little girl.” He looked at Rhodey.

“She gave money to the judge, that bastard let himself be bought. And Fury knew, the fucking pirate knew, he gave her the money.” Everyone was watching him, just as devastated as Tony.

“He is gonna pay for it.”

That was right, but for now, he was going to spend his last days with Penny.

______________

When her papa, aunt, and uncles arrived at the tower, she knew her mother had won.

Firstly, her papa had been crying a lot, it was obvious. Second, he had hugged her like there was no tomorrow, which there probably wasn’t.

“She won, didn’t she?” There was no need for him to answer that, but he nodded anyway.

“Everything will be all right, bambina. I will fix this.” She didn’t question it, she trusted him.

Her last week at the Tower was spent doing everything with her papa. The only time they separated was when they went to the bathroom. She slept in his room because she had nightmares. It was just like when she was little, when he would let her crawl into his bed after a bad dream. For moments she would allow herself to think that nothing was wrong, that she would stay with her papa forever. She knew her father was sad too, so they were sad together.

When the moment of her departure came, she wasn’t ready. She knew her mother wouldn’t allow her to contact her father, and he knew that too, apparently. Tony gave her a new phone that she was supposed to hide from her mother, he told her to call whenever she needed. At first, she thought her father was a little paranoid. Her mother wasn’t going to destroy her phone, was she? The answer to that question was yes, because she did, in front of her father, to deliver a message. She said her last goodbyes to her father, Aunt Pepper, Uncles Happy and Rhodey before leaving with her mother directly to the airport. Her father was going to fix this, he promised, and her papa never broke a promise.

If she saw tears falling out of her papa's eyes, she didn´t point it out, her own were falling after all.

______________

Tony felt that it was impossible to concentrate in the next Avengers meeting. Fury was talking and talking, but all he could think about was how he couldn’t see his daughter anymore because of eyepatch. He exploded when he started talking about Stark Technology and SHIELD.

“I’m gonna have to stop you there, eye patch, because Stark Industries will not be doing any agreements with SHIELD anymore.” Tony sounded unconcerned for all the others, but for Rhodey, who was sitting at his side, he sounded like the mad papa bear he was.

“Stark, what are you talking about? You can’t just decide that.” Obviously, it had to be Cap who talked. Tony didn’t really blame him. For everyone who didn’t know the whole story, which was just Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, his lawyer and Tony himself, this decision sounded like a tantrum on Tony’s part, but it wasn’t. Tony had every right to be mad.

“Oh, but I can, Rogers, this is my company, after all. I decide with whom I make deals and if we don’t continue those deals.” Because of course it was his decision, that he sometimes just didn’t care was another thing.

“Calm down, Steve, Pepper will clear this out.” Okay, that hurt a little, but was understandable. Pepper did manage the company, and their relationship, but she agreed with him. She is just as ready to punish Fury as he is. He told them that, without the punishing part.

Fury stopped everyone from commenting.

“Can we know what prompted this decision, Stark?” He was calm, but Tony knew he was mad. Stark Tech was especially important for SHIELD business.

“Does the name Mary Fitzpatrick make any bell ring, Fury?” And of course, the bell rang, the realization immediate. So was Natasha’s, who looked at him shocked. Obviously, she was, no one on the team knew about Penny. She probably knew of Fury’s favor towards Mary.

“Stark…” Tony had never seen Fury so nervous, he screwed up, and he knew it. He would lose an important investor.

“No, listen to me, Stark Industries will no longer have a contract with SHIELD, Stark Industries will not make any deals with SHIELD. The only thing I will talk about with any of you morons, is about Avengers’ business and count yourselves lucky I did not decide to make it worse.” Tony looked at Fury with all the hate he had for the man.

“You know what you did, and if you think that I will ever forget it or that this “tantrum” will pass you are completely wrong. Don’t try to do anything to fix this, there’s nothing you can do,” he then whispered to Fury, making it impossible for the others to hear. “Don’t fire her.” And with that he left the conference room.

______________

The next years were bearable. With the secret phone Penny was able to communicate with her father whenever her mother wasn’t around, which was most of the time. She wouldn’t lie, sometimes it was nice to not have your parents restricting you to things like curfews and other things, but it was lonely. She missed her life in New York, even if London was familiar and, at least to her, a better place to live compared to NY, she wanted her father back. It had only been 4 years, she was 16 now, yet of those 16 years she had only spent 7 with her dad, to her that seemed unfair.

She rarely saw her mother, as Mary insisted she called her, and when she saw her, all she heard were complaints. How she ruined her life, how she should have terminated the pregnancy and many other hurtful comments towards Penny. One of those times, Penny was in a mood. It had been 6 months since she came to London, and she simply wasn’t having a good day, and Mary was making it worse. So, when Mary began her hateful speech, Penny snapped.

“If you hated me so much, why couldn’t you leave me with dad? Why couldn’t you let us live our lives? We were so happy before you appeared. Honestly, Pepper was a much better mom than you ever were.”

Yes, that probably wasn’t her best moment or her best idea. Normally, she could take it, but it was a bad day. What she didn’t expect was for Mary to look at her, raise her hand and slap her so hard that she fell on the floor. Never in her life had she been hit. Her father had never used physical methods as punishment when she was little. It was weird when he scolded her, and when he did, he couldn’t go for long before he felt bad. Pepper then proceeded to scold him for being so soft with her.

She felt betrayed. She wanted to go back in time, be at the Tower or at the Malibu Mansion. She wanted to be able to go to her dad’s room where she could sleep if she was afraid. Her dad was always there for her and until then it had not really sunk in how far he was and how he really was gone.

She ran from her house. Later she would wonder why Mary didn’t follow, after all it was dark outside, but she realized she simply didn’t care. She stopped running when she reached the park that was 10 blocks away from her house. There were 2 parks that were closer, but she didn’t want her mother to find her, not that she tried, so she probably ran 10 blocks for nothing. Even considering that, the running was therapeutic. She just stood there for a moment debating between the grass and the swings, before heading for the swings. It was all alone, not even addicts were in sight.

After she had calmed down a little, she took out her phone. It wasn’t the one her mother bought her 6 months ago, the one that was constantly checked in order to avoid any communication with someone from New York or that could contact her father. No, that was the phone her dad had given her, when she was packing. It felt like a century ago, another life. A life where she was happy, a loved niece, but mostly, a loved daughter. Today wasn't a call day, and even if it were, she couldn’t call him at this hour.

Part of her was telling her it was ridiculous; in NY it was even earlier than in London and her father barely got any hours of sleep. With her gone, he probably never slept. Her Aunt and Uncles probably tried to make him, but the reality was that only Penny managed to make him sleep. Maybe he was sleeping, and she didn’t want to interrupt the little sleep he could get, but he did tell her to call him whenever she needed.

And she needed him now.

She called, it rang one time and he answered. They talk a lot. They also cried a lot. It was hard, even if she hasn’t spent most of her life with him, but with her mother, being apart was heart-breaking. They needed each other; they were each other's stake.

It was nice talking to someone that really understands her. For Penny, school was boring, and her dad got that, he got her.

And so, they talked.

Without them noticing in London it was 2:00 am, and they needed to hang up. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Penny hid the phone on her and began walking the 10 blocks home in silence. She was feeling better, but she knew nothing would be alright until she was with her dad, wherever the place was.

When she got home, it was dark, she heard the light snoring coming from her mother’s room, and she felt sad. It was around 10:00 that they fought, and she didn’t even worry a little. For a moment she considered just running, but she knew that would only cause problems for her dad, so she put on her pajamas and went to sleep.

Like that moment, there were many. Penny’s relationship with her mother was nothing but awful. They hated each other, deeply. Penny just couldn’t bring herself to forgive that woman and Mary couldn’t forgive Penny for being born. Yes, it didn’t make sense, but the day something that Mary did made sense, was the day Penny hated her dad, so never.

Right now, there was a battle going on in the living room. After years of separation and fighting, the judge had finally given full custody to Tony. Naturally, that made Mary go mad. The problem was that when Mary got made with Tony, Penny was the one affected. Thankfully, Penny was immune to her mom’s tactics. Mary had gone from shouting and cursing her to crying and weeping about how much she was going to miss her. After telling her to cut it out she ran to the same park from 4 years ago. It hadn’t changed, but now it was full of kids playing with their parents.

For a moment Penny felt bitter, she never got to enjoy the last years of her childhood, she was a teenager now. She quickly pushed away those thoughts; she was going back, and she needed to call her dad.

As always, the phone rang one time and he answered it.

“I can assume that Mary already told you.” The cheerful voice of her father came from the other side of the line.

“Between screaming and crying, yes, she told me. You know how dramatic she gets.” Her response was as cheerful as his, it was a happy day after all.

“I can’t believe she told you. I wanted to tell you.” Her response was a laugh, her father could also be dramatic at times. “But that doesn’t matter, what does is that you are going to live with me, and you won’t have to see her ever again.”

“That is a relief.” And it was, if Mary wanted Penny to love her, she could begin respecting her. “How are we gonna do this?”

Her father was going to fly from NY to London to pick her up next Friday with Rhodey, Pepper and Happy. From there they would stay for a week before heading back to NY. In her father’s words, “this family needs some vacations”. She couldn’t agree more with him.

Friday couldn’t come fast enough.

______________

Tony had almost lost hope about this day coming. He couldn’t find enough evidence concerning Mary’s bribe, (that wasn’t illegally obtained) and the fight was hard. Apparently, Mary could sue him all she wanted, 3 times total, but he couldn’t manage for the case to go to court. With Penny in England, the matter was from two countries, three if you counted Italy. Mary has British and Italian citizenships, while he had American and Italian citizenships, Penny got all of them. Now it was all a disaster, but he managed to do it. After years, Tony managed to get the case reopened and from then it was pretty straight forward. Mary didn’t have Fury’s support anymore, so a bribe, which was the only way she could win, was out of the question.

Thinking back now, it was all worth it. Nothing could go wrong.

If it wasn’t for nosy Rogers and his nosy group.

______________

He honestly thought that the Avengers were going to disappear. The “Civil War”, as the media calls it, was disastrous. The Rogues were on the loose for months until Tony managed to get them pardoned. That he helped them didn’t mean he liked them. For starters since his fight with Fury nothing was the same. He and Steve got into a shouting match. Most of the team support Cap, except Natasha. She was the only one that knew why he broke ties with Fury, being honest he didn’t tell her, but she was smart. Maybe Fury told her more deeply, but he didn’t care.

Back to the nosy Avengers, right now they were trying to get Tony to go to a group bounding or something.

“I already told you, Rogers, I have things to do.” And he did, his flight was supposed to depart in 30 minutes.

“You really think that we buy that, Tony? It is always the same. You make excuses that don’t really exist.” Okay, that was true. Tony always found an excuse to avoid going, but this time was real.

They argued for 15 more minutes, and Tony wasn’t having it. He needed to go now.

“I am supposed to be on my plane in 10, Rogers. If you want to do your precious team bonding, we can do it in the plane, but I recommend you pack for a week in less than 5 minutes because I am not sending you back until I do what I must do.” To be fair, Tony thought that he would back down and let him go, so when dear Cap agreed and ordered everyone to pack and meet them in 5, he was surprised.

Put it on Rogers to ruin his incredibly happy day.

So, there he was, with Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey, as planned, and as not planned, with Rogers, Wilson, Romanoff, Barton, Barnes, and Bruce, who was literally dragged here by the others.

“Where are we going?” Tony answered with the truth, he was already tired only thinking that he will have to endure a 7-hour flight with them. “And what are you going to do in London?” That was none of his business and Tony told him that.

They spend the rest of the flight in silence.

----------------

Steve could understand why Tony wouldn’t trust them. He just wanted to fix that, so when Tony offered to take them with him, he quickly packed his stuff. Now he was regretting it. Maybe he should leave Tony and let him come to them. Anyways, they were already in London, driving to Lord knows where. Pepper, Rhodey, Tony and Happy seem to know where they are going.

Happy, who for once wasn’t driving, probably because he found it hard to drive from the other side, seemed nervous. The others did too, just not as much as Happy, that normally was stoic, which made Steve wonder what they were doing.

They arrived at a nice neighbourhood. There were children playing on the streets and in the park. When they finally stopped, they did it in front of a two-story house. Compared with the others this one seems almost forgotten. It wasn’t ugly, but it lacked the feeling of a home. For a moment he wondered if it was Tony’s, and he barely came, as it seemed abandoned. Steve was going to ask when he saw the moving boxes in front of the house. In big, almost unnecessarily, black letters, the word 'FITZPATRICK' was written.

“Fitzpatrick?” It sounded familiar, but he could remember when he had heard it.

Recognition flashed through Natasha’s face, as if she knew something, which she probably did. She turned her face so she could see Tony.

“Really? Her? Why do you want to see her, Tony?” She knew something. Steve was going to ask when Tony interrupted him.

“I don’t want to see her. I will just pick someone up.” Someone? Who was so important that Tony came all the way to London in order to pick them up?

“No way.” Natasha apparently knew who that someone was. Again, before Steve could ask what the hell was going on, someone interrupted him.

“Come on, Tones, you waited enough.” That was Rhodey. Steve couldn’t be more confused. What had Tony waited for? Who were they picking up? Who was Fitzpatrick? Bruce had an idea.

“Fitzpatrick? Like in Mary Fitzpatrick? Wasn’t Fitzpatrick someone you mentioned that time you fought with Fury?” Now it was coming back to Steve.

Tony didn’t answer any of the questions. He looked at Pepper and she gave him a smile and an encouraging push. Apparently, that was enough to do whatever he wanted to do because he climbed down from the car with Happy, Rhodey and Pepper behind. They didn’t ask the others to stay so they also exited the car.

Before Tony could knock, a teenager came out. She seemed around 15 and had a strange look on her face. Steve thought that it could be because they were the Avengers, but she had barely looked at them, just Tony. She looked familiar, and Steve was hating how he found everything, yet he never knew what it was. He was confused, and he wasn’t the only one.

Then it happened.

“Papa.” The girl murmured, as if she couldn’t believe it. Before Steve could process the word that came out of her mouth, the girl had thrown herself to Tony’s arms. He hugged her, hard, like he was expecting her to turn into dust. Both of them were crying. After a moment they separated, she then turned to Pepper, Rhodey and Happy. She hugged all of them, and they also let some tears fall.

The others were shocked, because that girl just called Tony “papa”, and they have never seen their teammate crying that much. The only one that seemed to be no surprised was Natasha, as always.

Before they asked themselves, Tony answered all their doubts. “Guys, this is my daughter, her name is Penny.” he was smiling, but then he looked at them seriously. “If any of you do anything to her, I will personally kill you.”

No one laughed, it didn’t seem like a joke.

Then they heard a snore. They turned to a door and there was a woman. She seemed bitter, and disgusted.

“Fitzpatrick.” Tony acknowledged her. “I would say that it is a pleasure to see you, but it really isn’t.” The girl, Penny, laughed. Now that Steve knew that truth, he noticed how similar she was to Tony. Apparently, they also had the same sense of humor.

Who Steve thought was Mary, ignored him, looking, and talking to Penny. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your mother, Penelope?” She had an accent and to Steve she seemed like a bitch.

Penny didn’t seem comfortable with her. Steve wondered if the fact that Penny seemed to love her father so much, but apparently lived with her, was the reason for the obvious fracture in their relationship.

Regardless of that, Penny walked to her, just as Happy began carrying the many bags to the car.

Penny’s voice was cold when she said, “You were the worst mother I could have asked for.” Mary didn’t take that kindly; it was obvious by her body language.

“And you are an ungrateful brat.” Tony took a step when the comment was spoken, but Penny stopped him.

“Whatever makes you sleep at night, Mary.” So, it was Mary. “I wish you had let us live peacefully. I just want to know why you did it.” To Steve, it seemed that Penny had many things to say, even if he didn’t know the whole story. “You didn’t want me, why did you have to fight for me?”

Mary didn’t answer. While the two women look at each other, Tony moves closer to them.

“Mary asked SHIELD for a loan to bribe a judge,” Oh, boy, Steve knew where this was going. “The judge,” Tony continued. “Of the custody battle. Fury didn’t know the custody was against me when she asked for it, but I was so mad. I didn’t realize until it was too late for me to give him something.” Tony the custody was against me laughed, ironically. “I would have given him everything I had if I could make it possible for me to take back these 4 years.”

Steve now understood everything, why Tony fought with Fury, why Natasha knew, why even Pepper supported him. He could see the 3 three of them loved Penny.

Penny came back, a little sad, but she smiled when she looked at her father.

“Are you ready, Bambina?” Steve had never seen Tony this happy. “I know you said you would give me a tour, but the jet lag is killing us.” She snorted.

“You are getting old.” She said teasingly.

Tony acted offended. In the end all of them got in the car, Penny never leaving her father’s side, in the direction of the hotel.

______________

And with his daughter in his arms, Tony couldn’t think of anything else he needed.

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