febuwhump day two : fever
warnings: poison and sickness
a/n: okay so yesterday flopped and i actually thought it was a good chapter and this one is bad so at least this one deserves to flop
Penny knew something was wrong.
The entire night her “spidey sense” was acting up, letting her know that there was danger nearby. It was nothing immediate, but it was a nagging feeling that was bothering her. The problem was: Penny couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
The gala Mr. Stark was hosting had an exclusive list of attendees, security guards at every entrance/exit, and cameras hidden in every possible corner.
So, why did she feel like something really bad was going to happen?
“-enny, Penny, you okay, kid?”
Penny shook herself out of her thoughts. “What?”
“You okay?” Mr. Stark asked her, “You seem worried. Care to share?”
Penny didn’t want to distress Mr. Stark for no reason. So, she lied.
“No, I’m fine!” Penny exclaimed, “Just...can’t decide if I want the salmon or the filet mignon.” She held up her menu and pointed at the two options, “What would you recommend, Mr. Stark?”
“Definitely the salmon. Pair it with some Chardonnay. Very classy. And, you’ll love Chardonnay. Just don’t tell your aunt I let you order wine, she’ll murder me.”
“Tony,” Pepper interrupted, “She’s fifteen. Don’t tell her to order wine.”
“It’s one glass, Pep, it’s not like I’m telling her to get drunk.”
“Would they even let me order it?” Penny asked, “I’m not twenty-one.”
“It’s basically like champagne; you can order it, kid. But, only one glass. I’m not that irresponsible.”
He earned a glare from Pepper at that statement. “You shouldn’t be encouraging her to drink wine at all, but fine, just one glass.”
Distracted by their food and drink, Penny completely forgot about how off the party felt. However, after finishing her drink, she started to feel warm, too warm, and her vision was becoming very hazy.
Penny reached out to grab Mr. Stark’s sleeve and gently shook his arm. “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good…” (i’m so sorry,,,,i had to)
Mr. Stark turned to look at her, concern in his eyes. “What’s wrong, Pen?” He put his hand to her forehead, noticing how flush she looked, “She’s burning up!” Mr. Stark said to Pepper; Pepper rushing to get security and to call a doctor, fearing Penny’s sudden illness was because of something sinister. Mr. Stark quickly grabbed a cloth napkin, dipped it in a glass of water, and pressed it to her forehead. “Hold that there,” he helped her out of her chair and put his arm around her shoulders, “You need to lie down.”
Before they could make it out of the room, Penny collapsed.
“Penny!” Mr. Stark fell down beside her and tenderly pulled her into his arms, brushing her hair back out of her face. “Stay with me, kid, you’re gonna be okay.”
Penny felt like she was burning. Her heart was beating so fast she actually thought it was going to burst. She just wanted this to stop.
“I-I don’t know w-w-what’s happening, Mr. S-Stark,” Penny said, her speech slurring, “P-Please make it s-stop.”
Mr. Stark’s gaze softened. It pained him to see Penny hurting so much and not being able to take it away. “I’m trying, honey. A doctor is on the way. I promise this will be over soon.”
An anxious Pepper returned to them a few minutes later; the doctor with her urgently tending to Penny. “Um, Tony, I need to speak with you...privately. I don’t think Penny should hear this right now.”
Tony didn’t want to leave Penny, but he needed to hear what Pepper had to tell him. He figured talking a few feet away would be fine, considering Penny was so out of it she probably wouldn’t hear what they were saying anyway.
“So, I asked a guard to show me the security footage to see if anyone tampered with Penny’s food or drink because I thought maybe she was poisoned, I mean, you can’t just get that sick out of nowhere. You’ll never guess who poisoned her drink. Well, actually, it was technically your drink, but the waiter must have switched them by accident. It was Justin Hammer.”
Tony was shocked. Because one, it was supposed to be his drink that was poisoned and two, Justin Hammer was supposed to be in prison. “But, Hammer is in prison-”
“Happy checked the news. He broke out this morning; he probably figured poisoning you would be some petty act of revenge or something for throwing him in jail. And, the gala was the perfect opportunity.”
Penny being poisoned was his fault.
“Don’t do that, Tony,” Pepper started to say while grabbing hold of his hands, “I know you’re blaming yourself, but it’s not your fault. That drink probably would have killed you. And while this should not have happened to Penny, her metabolism is going to save her, okay? She’s not going to die.”
That calmed Tony a little.
“He hurt my kid, Pep,” Tony glanced over at Penny, lying on the floor, silently suffering because an old enemy decided he still wasn’t done torturing Tony, “I’m going to make him pay.”
