The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Forty

Kate slid down the door in Penny's room. She looked around the room, taking everything in; she found herself doing that often these past few days. The coat the thirteen year old had discarded two days ago still lay in its place. Her backpack was sitting in the chair at her desk; her phone on her dresser where Peter had placed it. The girl's vanilla scented shampoo vaguely lingered in scent around the room. Kate took in a deep breath and sighed heavily. She missed the younger teen, she was one of her best friends. The compound felt less lively without her. Her and Morgan's giggles couldn't be heard anymore. Her soft voice was missing from breakfast; it was missing from everything. Lucky seemed to miss her too; the dog spent most of his time on her bed, whining for the young brunette. They couldn't find her, there was no sign of her anywhere. Tony had been up for almost seventy hours at the moment. He was sitting in his lab, staring around at several screens; scouring every place he could think of for his daughter. No one could manage to get him out. Everyone was handling it differently. Nat and Clint were looking around the parts of town where the criminal element usually stayed. They were looking for clues to where Loki would have taken her. The Norse god had taken her friend; and any bit of awe she found for the god was gone. Thor had come moments after she found out about her being gone; he claimed that Loki had escaped and he was on earth. Wanda and Dr. Strange were trying different locator spells to find either of the two. They both were consistently coming up with nothing. Steve and Bucky had to leave for a mission earlier that morning. Tony had managed to get ahold of Director Fury the morning after Penny went missing. The not knowing was killing her; the silence was suffocating. She felt useless, she didn't know what to do and she hated it. Pietro was acting normal, like nothing changed. But she could see the anger in his eyes and how tensely he was carrying himself, she knew he was putting on an act. He was pretending he was okay, so that Peter would be okay and to try and keep any sliver of hope he had. Peter himself was spiraling; she could see it. He continued on at school, but it was like it was nothing but a blip on his radar. He didn't answer as many questions in class, for the most part he didn't talk at all. He was also missing his snacks and eating less at meals. He was barely able to do his homework and he was patrolling constantly. He was looking for her, he put all his energy into looking for his little sister. Kate knew it was because she was the only other Parker left in this world and he'd never forgive himself if anything happened to her; he didn't want to be alone. She didn't blame him but she was worried for the younger teen. Everyone was. And yet, here she was doing nothing. She was going through the motions but was falling apart on the inside. She wiped her face, angrily scrubbing the tears that were slipping down her cheeks away. Lucky finally slipped out from under the bed and slowly walked over to her. He nuzzled her hand with his nose and she moved her arm. She pulled him close to her, burying her face into his fers as tears continued to steam down her face.

"I know Luck...but we'll find her....w-we have to find her..." she mumbled into his fur.

Pietro slammed the door of his locker after changing back into his clothes. He clenched his shaking hand into a fist, trying his best to reign in his temper. She was still missing, it had been five days.

Robbie looked over at him, "Are you doing okay man?" he asked.

"I'm fine." the teen replied, his tone hard.

The other boy shook his head, he knew what was on the taller boy's mind, "Have you heard anything?" he asked.

The ash-blond shook his head, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." he replied.

"Have you guys called the cops yet? They could help if you let them."

"We're not going to fuzz Robbie." Pietro hissed, "We can't." he ran a stressed hand through his shaggy hair, a habit he'd picked up from Peter when stressed.