Where I go stargazing and the book finally gets interesting

-

The joys of sleeping late into the mornings have always been lost to the faster half of the Maximoff family. As early as one o'clock, Penny was awake.

She knew sleep was a lost cause and instead showered and got dressed; blue t-shirt, dark blue sweatpants, the inevitable necklace and still no watch.

Penny automatically moved to the door, and had opened it before she'd realized it should've been locked at 1 am.

With a shrug she stepped into the passage, which was deserted as always. This time Penny had a goal; to go outside and see the stars. It was something she'd often do back at the orphanage if she couldn't sleep. She'd search for constellations, and now she wondered if the ones at the ADAPT base would look familiar.

In the elevator, Penny stared at the buttons. She knew the third floor was off-limits, because that's where the Avengers slept (when they weren't in the Tower, on a mission, or someplace elsewhere (like Asgard)). But the fourth floor wasn't included in the off-limits speech. And seeing as how it was the top floor, maybe she could see the stars from there.

She made up her mind, and pressed the 4. The elevator whisked her up to the highest floor in seconds.

The doors opened, and she stepped into a passage. The ceiling was made of thick glass, and she could see a few stars already. But she was determined to get onto the roof, with no walls around her.

The passage twisted and turned, with dead ends and forks and intersections. After a few minutes of walking, she still hadn't found a way out; the passage curved enough to be a maze.

Maybe it is a maze.

The thought struck her so suddenly that she stopped. There was a small section of relatively straight passage ahead of her, and then a T-shaped intersection.

She moved towards it slowly, wondering whether she'd be able to find her way back to the elevator. She could try retracing her steps, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to remember it all. With a smirk she remembered that she had all the time in the world to find her way back. For now, Penny was going to at least make getting lost worth it.

And then she stopped for the second time, as someone turned into her passage from the intersection ahead.

He had white hair, light blue eyes, and wore a light blue shirt. She recognized him instantly, but it didn't seem to hit her. Who could it be but Pietro Maximoff?

He too had stopped when he saw her, standing as she was, motion- and speech- less.

Penny was sure she had stopped time. One hundred percent sure. The crickets had abruptly silenced, the stars no longer twinkled but looked frozen and cold, and, most definingly, her shadow wasn't moving. (Nor was she, but Pietro's shadow wasn't moving either.)

Yet, in a blur of blue and white, Pietro, a.k.a. Quicksilver, crossed the metres between them and stood before her.

"You are new, yes?"

Penny licked her lips, which had suddenly become dry, and nodded. She tried to think of something to say, but all she could come up with was 'didn't you die in Age of Ultron?'  and somehow that didn't seem like the greatest conversation starter. Not that she trusted her voice at all anyway.

As she began to wish that she'd asked more about the Hall of Heroes concept, she noticed Pietro gazing at her necklace with a confused frown. She realized she'd started fidgeting with it nervously at some point, and quickly stopped.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

"My parents," Penny answered, relieved to find that her voice did work, "at least, I had it with me when I was found at the orphanage."

Pietro nodded slowly, which was probably an accomplishment for him.

"It... it is the symbol of the Maximoff family."

I glanced at the small lightningbolt.

"You..."

"It belonged to my only daughter..." he trailed off, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

There was an awkward silence.

"I'm Pietro," he spoke after a moment.

Penny wanted to say 'I know', but something stopped her.

"Penny."

"Penny Maximoff," he muttered, and she nodded, even though it wasn't really a question.

His blue eyes shot down to her shadow, as if noticing that time was standing still for the first time.

"You are the time stopper?"

Penny started guiltily.

"Uhmm... Yes?"

He nodded again, and Penny wished she knew what to say.

"How did you know?"

"It was a guess," he shrugged, "it is sort of obvious, it is not?"

Penny frowned. She liked to think that she was doing a good job keeping her 'skills' a secret. She looked over his shoulder — his shadow was still several metres back, where he had stood when she stopped time.

"You're unaffected?" Once again a question and a statement at the same time.

"Wanda thinks it has to do with the superspeed," he explained.

"So you've met other time stoppers?"

"No," Pietro elaborated, "but whenever you stop time, you stop it everywhere. Even wherever I am. I was aware of it before, but there was nothing we could do. Stark came up with some theories, but all we really knew was that I was... unaffected, as you say. And that I had no control over it."

Penny closed her eyes in concentration, and the next moment time resumed.

"Do you know how to get to the roof?" She asked.

"No," Pietro replied, and before she could be disappointed he added, "but I'm sure Jarvis does."

"Of course, Mr Maximoff," JARVIS instantly answered, and Pietro shook his head.

"My name is Pietro, A.I.."

"Of course, Pietro," JARVIS corrected himself, stumbling a little over the foreign pronounciation.

"What?" Penny exclaimed, "Jarvis, you,—"

"First passage to the left, then twice right."

"...are hopeless," Penny finished under her breath. 

Pietro grinned.

"I know where he gets that from."

-

They were alone on the roof, gazing at the stars. To Penny's joy, she was able to recognize a few of the constellations. 

After a while, Pietro spoke up.

"So, do you like it here?"

Penny dragged herself out of her thoughts to answer. 

"I think so," she frowned, "there's just been so much going on I haven't decided yet.'

Pietro smiled.

"Here, there are always things 'going on'. You get used to it."

"That's what everyone says. But even with superspeed everything goes too fast at times."

"You have superspeed?" Pietro raised his eyebrows, "anything else I should know?"

Penny grinned.

"Well, I can't mind-read and hate sitting still. Both of those are actually pretty obvious pointers to superspeed, if my surname is Maximoff. Why does everyone always assume I take after Wanda?"

Pietro shook his head.

"It is because we have never had a girl with superspeed here before. For reasons still unknown to us, some superpowers seem to skip a generation, and even then not all the second-generation children have it. I guess the few girls that actually inherited my superspeed handled themselves so well they never came onto SHIELD or Stark's radars."

There was another pause as Penny tried to locate the Southern Cross among the sea of stars, but she couldn't find it.

"What is the Hall of Heroes concept?"

"The Hall of Heroes concept?" he repeated, and when Penny nodded he shrugged, "I do not know much about it. It is what keeps us alive. Something about saving the world and earning... what is the word..."

He sighed.

"Wanda will know, I will ask her later. Or maybe you should just ask one of the Asgardians."

"Everyone says that," Penny noted, "where are they, anyway?"

"I believe Thor, Sylivia and Loki are attending to Asgardian business... On Asgard. But the twins should be here.'

He hesitated.

"They are here, right? Because if they have run away again... Stark would not be pleased."

"The twins are both in their room, Mr Maximoff," JARVIS noted, "and to give them some credit, they haven't run away for at least a year."

"Jarvis!?" Penny exclaimed, "are you eavesdropping on us? And why do you even have access to the roof?"

"And why will you not call me Pietro?" Pietro complained softly.

"I don't 'eavesdrop', I was simply reacting to the term Stark. Mr Stark is up here often, which is why he ensured he'd have access to me here. And Mr Maximoff, your name is impossible for any decent British person to pronounce."

"Then call me Quicksilver!" Pietro demanded, "and explain to me what this eavesdropping is."

"Eavesdrop," JARVIS began in a robotic tone of voice, "verb. Gerund or present participle: eavesdropping. Definition; secretly listen to a conversation. Origin,-"

"Okay, we get it," Penny held up her hand for him to stop, "while you're at it, could you explain the Hall of Heroes concept to me?"

"I would advise you to ask an Asgardian."

Penny rolled her eyes.

"I was merely jesting," JARVIS continued, "the Hall of Heroes concept is,-"

"Jarvis, who are you talking to?" Tony Stark demanded, climbing onto the roof.

"Miss Penny and Quicksilver, sir."

Pietro grumbled something related to approval, and Tony noticed the two figures on the edge of the roof. 

"What are you doing here?" he asked, even though he thought he knew the answer.

"Couldn't sleep," Pietro answered for the both of them. Penny was once again unsure whether she trusted her voice.

Tony Stark.

THE Tony Stark. 

Is there more than one? Don't think so. Arrrgggg I'm freaking out.

She couldn't help glancing at the glowing blue arc-reactor. She was looking at a legend...

A legend, just like Nick Fury, Pepper Potts, Phil Coulson, Quicksilver...

 Tony turned his gaze to her, and she found herself subconsciously licking her lips again.

If I do that every time I meet one of the Avengers I'm going to be doing that about... 14 times? Unless I meet several at the same time, and depending on whether you count Rhodes and Pepper as Avengers. Annnnnd I'm officially freaking out. Whyyyy?!?!?

"Who are you?"

"Penny," she answered, trying not to whisper.

"Tony Stark," he introduced himself, and this time she couldn't help it.

"I know. Everyone does."

"Well, you're a world famous genuis, billionaire playboy and philantrophist or you're not."

With a polite smile, Penny forced herself to turn back to the stars, and Tony sat down on the other side of Pietro, dangling his legs over the edge of the fourth floor.

"Why are you out here?" Pietro asked the billionaire, and Tony grinned.

"Same reason as you — Couldn't sleep."

Penny watched as a couple of clouds shifted to block the stars. They looked dark, but neither Avenger commented on it so she decided not to either.

"You're one of the new kids, right?"

Tony's question made Penny jump a little.

I really have to stop getting so lost in thought.

"Yes, along with Diana Stark and Daniel Parker."

"A Parker?" Tony raised an eyebrow, "too bad Peter's not around to see it."

"He's not here?" Penny enquired, and both Pietro and Tony shook their heads. 

"He kind of went vigilante and works alone a lot. He joins us for missions sometimes and will visit the ADAPT base if he feels like it, but he wasn't with us this time."

It began to drizzle slightly, and the clouds were covering the sky.

"Should we go inside?" Penny inquired as she spotted a flash of lightning, but Tony shook his head.

"It's only a little lightning," he declared, "but you can go inside if you want to."

Penny stayed where she was, determined not to give ground before either hero. Besides, they were both taller than her anyway.

They were quiet, and the rumbling of thunder could be heard in the distance, louder each time. Pietro shifted uneasily, while Tony stayed motionless. But something about his appearance told Penny that he was just as uneasy as they were.

Out of nowhere, a flash of lightning streaked downwards, almost touching the field in front of them. Almost simultaneously a clap of thunder echoed through the air, and heavy rain began pouring down.

Pietro dragged Tony inside and Penny dashed after him, and seconds later they were staring at the lightshow through a glass wall at the edge of the fourth floor.

"I told you so," Penny commented.

Tony snorted.

"You didn't go inside either."

Pietro was quiet, his eyes closed.

"Wanda says everyone is fine," he spoke a moment later, "they are gathered in the TV room on the second floor."

"There's a..." Penny began, but trailed off, shaking her head.

"Of course there is. Shall we join them?"

They moved away from the glass wall and back into the maze of passages. Tony led the way, while Penny glanced up every few metres to see the pouring rain on the glass roof.

"Immortality," Pietro declared as they reached the elevator, "the word was immortality."

"What?" Tony asked, pushing a few buttons in the elevator.

"Wouldn't it be safer to use the stairs?" Penny suggested cautiously, "due to lightning storms and stuff?"

Tony hesitated only a split-second.

"Nah, we'll be fine. Right Jarvis?"

"There is a 40% chance that the elevator will malfunction, sir," JARVIS replied helpfully.

"See?" Tony smiled, and the elevator doors closed, "We'll be fine."

"If you say so..." Penny muttered dubiously, "the odds are barely in our favour."

She directed her next question to Pietro.

"What were you saying?"

"Immortality," Pietro repeated, "you asked about the Hall of Heroes, and I could not remember the word... never mind."

"The Hall of Heroes concept?" Tony chipped in, "Just ask an Asgardian... if you see one."

They arrived at the second floor, and walked to the TV room.

As they entered, Pepper put Nutmeg off her lap and hugged Tony. Rocky, seated cross-legged on the floor in between Sarah and Bucky, grinned in relief as he spotted Penny. Wanda smiled warmly at Pietro, but the effect was slightly lost to him, as he was glaring daggers at Vision, who was floating beside her.

Pietro and Penny found themselves spots on the floor, and Tony sank into an armchair.

"So," Clint, from the back of the room, spoke up, "now what?"