Tony Stark looked at the small girl in front of him; her big brown eyes sparkling as she talked to Wanda and Kate. Both the older girls were laughing at whatever she was doing or saying. Everyone seemed to like the younger Parker sibling, which was no surprise to him considering that everyone liked the teenage boy as well; there was nothing to dislike about the Parkers. Penny was a cute kid: she had big brown, doe eyes like Peter's, a small nose, dimples, and a mess of curly brown hair; she looked exactly like what Tony imagined a female version of Peter would look like. She was a little clingy with her brother, but that was expected considering how her aunt and uncle had treated her in the past and the fact that the two siblings had spent the past eight years apart. When he had first looked into her medical records, he'd been shocked; it threw him for a loop to see how it showed a long list of several Emergency Room and special clinic visits. The list of symptoms and issues had started with cuts and bruises and ended with severe concussions, broken bones and dislocated joints as well as a gall bladder removal and an apendectomy when she was nine. He'd seen some of the bruises the first day she'd arrived at the compound; the lighter ones on her arms and legs that varied in their color and the purplish-blue one that was around her throat. The memory of it looking like finger marks had been burned into his brain; he thought of how Nat had told him about the one's she'd seen on the girl's back. He found it disgusting that someone could do such a thing to someone, let alone a kid, his kid. He paused for a second and smiled a little, he liked the sound of that. Referring to the two siblings as his kids; it felt like a part of something that had been missing in his life for a while was starting to fall into place. He thought about Peter, and how he'd never seen the teen as happy as he'd been in the past couple weeks. The look on his face when he'd been told about her coming to the compound had been nothing to the one on his face when she'd actually gotten there. Even when he was carrying his sleeping sister home the night before during their walk back from the skating rink was different, it was a look on his face that he wished he could keep on the boy's face permanently. Everyone seemed to enjoy having another kid around, especially Natasha, who'd always loved kids. Tony had never seen her so gentle with someone, not even Yelena who was her sister. That wasn't saying that the redhead wasn't gentle with the other teenagers or with Morgan, it was just that this was a little different. The girl seemed to bring out something in everyone she met, it was a type of light or protectiveness for her, something that Peter had managed to do as well, but his little sister seemed to be able to make that effect stronger in those around her. He hadn't seen Pietro so angry at someone in such a long time, like he was when he found out what Penny's family had done to her. He'd never seen Kate get along with someone as quickly as she had with Penny and the same thing with Wanda who usually had a little bit of a harder time getting comfortable with people.
Tony smiled as he watched the thirteen year old interact with everyone, "Peter! Come one! Everyone is hungry" she yelled up the stairs, bouncing slightly on her toes..=
Her smile grew as she saw her brother come downstairs in the blue shirt she picked out for him.
"I'm coming princess. I needed socks," he laughed as he ran down the stairs to his waiting little sister. "Okay, I'm ready." he announced as he ruffled his sister's curly hair.
"Come on then!" Tony yelled at everyone, he didn't fail to notice the slight flinch from the younger girl at the raising of his tone, they definitely needed to work on that...maybe Sam could help.
Tony waited by the door, shooing the teenagers and the redheaded assassin out the door with his hands before having JARVIS lock the building down. Outside, he had the limo waiting for them; everyone slowly piled into the large vehicle.
Tony laughed when he saw Penny's awestruck reaction to the limo, "You okay little Parker?" he asked, chuckling softly to himself.
She nodded her head, "Uh-huh. I've never seen a real limo before...Its-Its so big." she responded as she looked around.
Tony looked over to Peter who was smiling as he watched his sister take everything in. The kid's going to do great here, he thought to himself.
Finally they reached the restaurant where everyone climbed out of the limo and walked into the restaurant.
"Order whatever you want, kids," Tony announced as the waiter had seated them at a private area of the restaurant.
He always paid extra to avoid the wandering eyes of the public and to keep away the nosy paparazzi; Wanda never did well with all the flashes of light, it seemed to aggravate her powers. Which never failed to annoy Pietro when he saw that his sister was in pain; Peter never did well with them either, all the bright flashes of light usually caused the boy a pretty nasty headache which ninety percent of the time resulted in a sensory overload. Once again Tony noticed Penny had ordered a small amount of food and a large drink. Over the past week he had noticed that she never ate much, it was always just enough to say that she'd eaten. Usually, he wouldn't be too worried about why she ate so little; if she'd eat a little more, it would've been no shock to him considering she wasn't even five feet tall and barely weighed ninety pounds. He had a feeling that it wasn't because of her size however, JARVIS scanned everyone in the compound and often told him that the thirteen year old was still hungry or that her blood sugar was low because she hadn't eaten enough for it to carry her to the next meal. He assumed that her aunt and uncle, the bastards they were, probably barely fed her, which had been proven true when JARVIS had told him about her conversation with Pietro about how life at her old had been; he also had the feeling that when she was allowed to eat, that they never gave her enough food either, just enough to keep her alive to say they were doing their jobs. When she'd first arrived at the compound, he'd realized that she had not eaten for the entire first day she arrived and for the majority of the day after; that was something that he was going to fix. He was going to make damn sure she knew that she could eat as much as she wanted whenever she wanted, no kid of his was going to starve. He ordered a few extra bowls of fruit, realizing that she seemed to enjoy the grapes and pineapples that came with her breakfast and pushed them towards her, giving her a small nod of his head when she looked up at him quizzingly. She grinned softly at him and slowly picked at the food, but he noticed that it disappeared along with everything on her plate. He felt proud of himself, maybe he was cut out for being a dad to more than one kid. Almost an hour later, Peter pushed himself back from the table and stood up as he started to pick up his phone and wallet to leave.
"Wh-Where are you going Pete?" Penny asked her brother, turning her attention to him.
"Oh..um.. MJ, Ned, and I are hanging out." he replied softly, "They're helping me prepare stuff for Aunt May's funeral....like pictures and the music...Happy's gonna be there too...I'll be back at the compound in a few hours. I gotta finish setting up the instructions and I got to pack the rest of my stuff from the apartment." he replied, a hint of sadness in his reply.
"Oh... Can I help?" she asked.
He shook his head, "No Bri, you're too young to help plan a funeral...I'm too young to be planning a funeral...but there is no one else to do it. I don't want that for you." he replied, gently running his fingers through her loosened pigtails.
She sighed a little, seeming a little dejected, "Oh, okay..." she replied softly.
He smiled softly at her, "I'll see you later, okay Princess?" he finished as he bent over and kissed the top of her head, "I love you Penny."
She smiled at him, "I love you too Petey," she replied, kissing his cheek back before he headed out.
After Peter, left Wanda noticed Penny looked a bit dejected, she felt bad and wanted to make the younger girl feel a little better.
"Hey Peanut," she called, pulling the younger teen's attention away from her thoughts, " Why don't you come shopping with me, Nat, and Kate? We're going to the mall; we'll make it a girls day. What do you say?" she asked
Penny smiled at her and nodded her head, "Okay." she replied.
Nat looked over at Wanda and nodded her head at the older girl; the seventeen year old tended to try and make the younger teens happy; she hated it when they felt bad. She had an affinity for realizing their emotions and their thoughts, thanks to her powers; the powers she used to almost despise, she now used to help her make everyone around her happier. The young woman smiled to herself, she wanted to bring Penny anyways after Peter said he was leaving, she didn't want to leave the younger girl by herself. She knew that they needed to get something for the fall anyways; even though Pepper would definitely want to take the younger girl out with her, she needed somethings now-short sleeves, shorts, and sleeveless clothes wouldn't cut it for a New York autumn, no matter how much layers she put on- she also needed school supplies-all the teens did, and she needed a black dress or something similar to wear to the funeral that was Wednesday. Her gaze softened as she watched the older two girls interact with Penny; she'd noticed that the younger teenager didn't seem to notice the effect she had on people. Everyone was definitely happier when she was around and when they told her that or the fact was brought to her attention, she'd smile softly and laugh it off or look at them like they were lying to her before denying the fact. When they were leaving, Kate pulled Penny over to the side while Tony paid for everyone's food.
"I'll get you ice cream too Little P," she whispered, smiling at her.
"Okay," she said, smiling a little more to herself, making Kate grin brightly.
When they reached the car Nat called Penny over, "Sweetheart?"
"Yes ma'am Miss Nat?" she replied.
Natasha smiled softly at her, "We'll leave the compound at about noon, so we can get lunch in the food court before we go shopping. Okay?"
The younger girl nodded, "Okay, Miss Nat." she replied.
The redhead didn't bother correcting her like she usually did when she called her Miss Nat, she figured that when she was ready that she'd just refer to her as Nat; she wasn't going to push the girl to do something she wasn't comfortable with.
When everyone got back to the compound they all split off to their own separate ways. Pietro went off the training room and track area to work with his powers; he'd been trying to break his record in how far and how fast he could run in a minute so he could brag to Peter about it later. Wanda and Kate took Penny upstairs, disappearing to Wanda's room since it was the cleaner room out of the older two girl's. Natasha was about to go upstairs to find the three teenagers when she heard Tony's voice calling out to her.
JARVIS patched Tony through on the AI's speaker, "Romanoff," he called, "can you come to the lab? I need you for something."
When Natasha walked into the lab Tony pulled out a large file and set it on the table, letting it fall down with a thud.
She eyed the think manilla folder, and traced the different papers with her thumb, "What is that Tony?" she asked, pulling her attention away from it.
"Little Parker's Medical history," he replied coolly, "Its a whole damn book red. Reads like a rap sheet of broken and fractured bones, dislocated shoulders, fingers, ankles, any damn thing you think of moving out of socket or joint, she's done it. Deep cuts that required stitches, concussions and pictures and pictures of bruises. Some required her in the hospital overnight, others for a few days. She's had five surgeries since she was six years old?" he announced, the end of his voice picking up as if he was asking himself if he was correct.
She shook her head, "Wow..." she breathed, "No I didn't." she responded, she was slightly shocked at the sight of the thick file in front of her; she'd expected a heavy file, but not on that looked like it could make a couple volumes of books.
The billionaire in front of her growled, "Yeah." he replied, anger laced in his tone, "They removed her appendix because it ruptured from and I quote, "blunt force trauma from a fall down the stairs"." he replied, "You know how hard you have to his someone to rupture their appendix?" he asked.
The redhead nodded, she'd learned the amount of force needed to cause different types of bodily harm during her time at the redroom.
"She doesn't have a gall bladder either..." he let out another growl and squeezed the bridge of his nose before opening his eyes again and running his hand through his hair, "They had eight years of medical history that shows abuse. Hell it proves abuse was happening and they did nothing to help her or even try to stop it." He pulled out another file of pictures, pulling a few of them out, "See this mark on her arm?" he asked, pointing out a dark colored bruise that was on the arm of a younger, slightly scrawnier version of the teenager they now knew, " It's from her cousin; he fucking helped his parents do it. A kid helped his parents abuse a kid...I got these pictures from old teachers, who didn't bother to report things but managed to get documentation. One I talked to said every time she brought up her concern, they said that it was just two cousins horse playing or that Little Parker was just really clumsy. She said that every time she brought up the accusation from Penny that they'd get offended and spout some story about her just wanting attention because her parents died and her brother was separated from her, then they'd practically force her to agree with them." He slammed the picture back down on the table, "If I can do it, the whole family is going to jail Romanoff. The whole damn bunch." he spat, venom in his voice. "I don't care if the kid is seventeen, he helped and knowingly did it. If I can't put him away, you bet for damn sure that I'm getting a restraining order against him, I don't want him anywhere near my kid." he replied.
Natasha nodded, giving him a small smile when he referred to the thirteen year old as his kid; she remained silent as he continued his rant.
"They think I'm just going to give her back without a fight, they got another thing coming. If they want her they'll have to come through me and every damn lawyer money can buy." his voice broke, "the first incident was a broken arm at five years old. She turned five weeks after her dad died, Peter's told me about the party that May and Ben threw for her before those bastards took her away. That means the abuse could've started weeks, hell days after they got custody. Why get her in the first place, if they're going to treat her like she wasn't even human!" he yelled.
Natasha decided it was time to cool the man down before he did something he'd regret, "Tony..." she started.
He cut her off, "No. I don't care Nat." he replied, "Little Parker deserved better, she deserves better." he repeated, emphasizing the word 'deserves', "Sh-she's just a kid." he replied, his voice growing hoarse from the ranting he'd done.
She put her hand on his arm, trying to calm the billionaire before JARVIS gave the warning that the billionaire's heart rate was exponentially high at the moment due to stress and that his heart was undergoing strain, "I know Tony....if anyone can fix it or help her, it's you. Like you said, she's your kid."
He paused slightly, shooting her a crooked, yet stressed smile, "I did say that didn't I?"
She chuckled and nodded, "I figured it was only a matter of time, you've been calling Peter your kid for almost two years now."
He nodded, slightly lost in thought.
They finished discussing what they were going to do, it took them almost an hour to iron out the details. Tony would get all the evidence together: the medical records, the photos, child services reports from the few doctors and teachers who decided to do something about what was going on, filed a report, and anything that could help them put the Davis's away. He had convinced Nat to get Penny to tell her a little more about what they did, hoping that the younger girl would open up a little more about what had happened to her before she came to the compound; he asked the redhead to write it out or get the younger girl to write it out and sign it on record. They both wanted to make sure that the Davises never got close enough to touch Penny again. After they'd finished Nat decided on changing the topic.
"When are the others getting here Tony?" she asked, finally managing to get the man to change topics, the vein in his forehead that was bulging, was slowly starting to shrink; it was a sign that her tactic was working.
"Well, Cap gets here next Wednesday." he replied, typing out on a keyboard as he pulled up the team's schedules; he was the second in command of the group after Steve, "Barnes and Wilson get in on Tuesday some time, Rhodey is out for another month on that mission. I don't know about Thor or Danvers, we'll have to get Fury to get ahold of them, because God knows I'm not close enough yet to managing to make a device that can contact them from somewhere in the universe, especially one that the man child of a god can't destroy in seconds." he replied, referring to Thor's large, clumsy ways as a man child; the god had managed to break every technological device that Tony had ever gave him when he was trying to get it to work, eventually the billionaire had given up on making the man tech-savy since he seemed to break everything he touched.
"Okay," she replied, nodding her head.
"J says here that the wizard and Brucie won't be in for a few weeks at least. Strange is at one of the sanctums in London and you're precious Bruce is still doing his work in Cambodia." he replied, slightly teasing the redhead who had feelings for the dark-haired scientist, "Oh and Pep and Morgan get back from the business trip at five o'clock."
She turned to leave the lab, "Thank's Stark." she replied.
He reached out to stop her but quickly pulled his hand back as he remembered the last time he'd tried to grab the redhead as she was leaving. He'd ended up on the floor and she had pinned him to the floor, he decided he'd rather call out to her, "What about Clint?" he asked.
She turned back around to face him, "He's bringing Laura and the kids to the funeral on Wednesday, he'll probably stop by early so he can see Katie first; you know how much he loves his kids." she replied.
He nodded, "Alright then." he replied, slowly turning his attention to something that was on a table behind him.
The redhead rolled her green eyes at the man and his slightly short attention span and walked out of the lab, aiming to find the three teenage girls.