Irondad | Daddy's Little Spider(-Girl)

Crawling through the vents... (Chapter 2)

Penelope's POV:
Meanwhile, during Tony's POV in Chapter 1:
I was expecting to barely fit inside the vents so I initially crawled when I heard Tony's voice near me, but when I moved far enough away so that I didn't hear him, I could stand up. Like fully. Sure, I wasn't the tallest 4th grader in the world. I was only 4' 10". But to me, a vent that I could just fully stand up in was enormous! Anyway, I had to get back on track. It was getting late so I guess they had dinner out... maybe I could grab a few scraps? Mr. Stark won't mind right? Getting to an AC grate over what I believed is an employee dining room, I see spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread. I couldn't take the bolognese, it'd be too suspicious and Mr. Stark would get mad, so I webbed up some pieces of garlic bread instead.

Just as I webbed the last piece into the grate, a woman walks in. I think Mr. Stark said her name was Mrs. Potts on the field trip. I try to get the piece and my wrist in as quick as I can, and just silently pray I succeeded.

Pepper's POV:
When I walked into the dining room to brief the employees about what was happening tomorrow in terms of meetings and the like, I thought I saw a wrist shoot through the grate and make a piece of garlic bread go through it. Thinking it was another one of Tony's archer friend's pranks, I think nothing of it, but something struck me as odd. That wrist was almost too small to be that of a nearly 40-year-old man like Barton, and besides, wasn't he in prison, or, at the very least, house arrest?

Penelope's POV:
Knowing my cover might be blown if I hung around longer, I quickly fled, silently crawling as to not draw any attention to the vent. When I get to the opening from the outside, I hear somebody drop something and scatter. I wonder who that was. Whoever it was, they made a state of my bag... my Midtown pass had come off it's lanyard, some of my notebooks were bent, and my clothing, something you wish people wouldn't snoop for, were lying on my blanket. Stuffing it all back into the bag, and flattening the notebooks, I sit down, eat some garlic bread and look out for the culprit.

Tony's POV:
Back to the present...
I walk back into the entrance of the tower to see Pepper. She had a look in her eye that meant she knew something. She knew a secret I had before it could even become one. Pepper was good with that look. We go to the penthouse suite because it's more private and I start to avoid confusion. "You know about them, don't you?" Pepper looks confused, then realises what I'm referring to. "That wrist in the vent?" "Oh, so she crawled in the vent. That's why I couldn't find her... look Pep, a homeless person is sleeping near the outside heaters." Instantly a look of sorrow and pity takes form on Pepper's face. "That's not all... they're- I mean she's, please don't ask how I know that, she's around 9 or 10 Pep. A child." If Pepper wasn't crying then, she definitely was now. "We can't just let her starve Tony... she's an elementary school student... she has so much to live for..." Pepper chokes out between crying.

"I know we can't Pep, and I have a plan. Get me a disguise!"