I've gotten lots of requests to make my one-shot "Bruises" from Whumptober into a full story, so here it is :) This is independent of the one-shot but follows the same general idea.

Intern

Penny popped the earbuds in her ears, pulling her hoodie up around her head and zipping it up. It was chilly for September, and she hurried out of school, waving to Ned with glove-covered fingers, and hurried down the street toward the subway station. Her scarf was wrapped tightly around her throat, and she struggled to hit the play button on her music app despite the fact that the gloves were supposed to work with touch-screens. Ever since the bite, if the temperature dropped below the fifties, she was freezing...it was something she was still learning to live with.

Her cellphone buzzed as she curled up in the seat in the corner of the subway train, and she pulled it out, using her teeth to pull off one glove to respond to the text from Aunt May after giving up on typing with the gloves on.

May: I'll be home late tonight. Think you can fend for yourself for dinner?

Penny: I have the internship until 6. I'll be fine.

Pulling the glove back on, she leaned her head against the window, staring as they left the tunnel and traveled across town at speeds that made the buildings blur together. Thankfully, no one tried to speak to her that day. Some days she'd have to pretend not to speak English, or pretend she couldn't hear the men over her music. She rarely had too much trouble, though. She'd been riding the subway on her own for years. Tucking her backpack under her arm against the wall of the train, she unzipped just the side, glancing in and checking on the suit for the third time since she'd left school.

It was a Friday, which meant no patrolling. Still, she wanted to make sure she had the suit just in case. She never knew what could happen...it was safer to have it close. It was a rough suit, sure...basically a hoodie, sweatpants, and goggles. But it was all she had. Closing her eyes again, she shivered, tightening her scarf. The subway was colder than normal...it was only 52 degrees outside and they had the air conditioning on in the train.

When the train stopped at her station, Penny jumped up, pulling her backpack on and hurrying out onto the platform with the other people getting off. She had to fight her way through the crowd, up the stairs, and onto the busy New York street, hands stuffed in her pockets, shivering as she hurried towards the tower that dominated the skyline. The wind bit at her, whistling as it made its way through the huge buildings, and she wondered if she had a heavier coat.

Pulling out her pass, she held it up to the side door of the tower, listened for the soft 'beep' and then hurried inside to where it was only slightly warmer. The employee entrance was pretty deserted at this time of day, so she was able to hurry over to the elevator where she held up her pass to the keypad beside the elevator door, then took the elevator down to the intern floor.

The intern floor, only half of which was solely devoted to interns, had a private lab where they all had work stations, and cubicles for all five of them. They all reported to a research and development employee who oversaw their work...the program was brand new, so there were still bugs to be worked out. Usually they worked on research projects, helped with research and development, or solved challenges passed down to them by Mr. Stark himself. Those were the hardest. Also the most fun. Sometimes they got to blow stuff up. Once they had been told to develop their own version of the Iron Man armor.

They were three months into the internship, so they all knew each other pretty well. Penny was the youngest at fourteen, only a sophomore, and the only one from Midtown. Jasika , Lori, and Raj were all seniors, with Milo the only junior, all from various private schools in New York. All of them had applied through their respective school, and Penny hadn't quite been able to believe her eyes when she'd gotten the acceptance letter.

She and May might have jumped around the living room, practically screaming and hugging. This was her chance...her opportunity to get something really impressive on her resume. To get into Stark Industries, the place she'd always wanted to work, ever since Mr. Stark had come on the TV in her living room and said "I am Iron Man."

Of course, she'd applied to the internship before getting her powers, so it was just a tad bit more complicated, but not much. The internship was every Friday, so she had plenty of days to patrol. Taking one off wasn't a big deal, plus she could tell May the truth for once.

"Penny Parker. Just in time." Penny dropped her backpack off at her desk, leaving the scarf on but removing the gloves. She was freezing, plus last nights patrol had led to a couple of nasty bruises that she'd rather not show off lest someone get the wrong idea.

"For…?" She asked, adjusting her scarf and joining Jasika and Raj at one of the tables.

"New assignment. Using any resources in the internship lab, build a robot. Then fight them to the death." Penny laughed as Jasika read dramatically from the folder, glancing over at Lori and Milo who were already working at one of their stations. "We have two weeks. Weren't you in your school's robotics club?"

"Oh...yeah. But I dropped out to make room for the internship. I can help if you promise to look over my code."

Jasika readily agreed, and the two hurried off to work, Raj breaking off to start his own project.

Collaboration was highly encouraged among Tony Stark's interns. That had been one of the first things that their intern supervisor, Chad, who spent most of his time working in his own lab, had said. There were plenty of group projects and lots of opportunities to work together. Grabbing her own folder, Penny skimmed the materials then hurried over to the closet where most of the supplies could be found. Grabbing armfuls of boxes, they carried their supplies to the tables in the lab and began to work.

The afternoon flew by as they worked, rock music blaring in the background. There was a stereo in one corner where they could play music, and in the other corner was a refrigerator filled with snacks and drinks that they were all welcome to partake in. No matter how much they ate, it was always fully stocked by the next time they met. By the end of the afternoon, Penny had finished her plans and had a pretty good idea of what she was going to do.

At six, they all headed out, the other four heading to the parking garage where they kept their cars, while Penny headed up to the main floor. It was supposed to rain later and Penny really wanted to get home before it started pouring.

"Excuse me! Hey, you!" Penny paused, turning to find a young woman dressed in heels and a pencil skirt staring at her, juggling two coffee carriers with four cups each, what looked like six plastic bags, and a clipboard.

"Oh...um...sorry." Penny turned, adjusting her scarf.

"Geez, temp." The woman snapped. "Pay attention. Where were you even going?"

The girl frowned, glancing at the side door which was her ticket to getting home before the downpour. "Um...home?"

"Home? Don't you read your email?"

She shook her head. "What?"

"The meeting!" The woman stepped into her personal space, pushing both of the coffee carriers into her arms, then loaded her down with the bags too. It wasn't exactly heavy...she did have super strength after all. But it was awkward to try and carry everything at once.

"I...I don't…" Penny tried, struggling to balance everything.

"Miss Potts is waiting for these in conference room A."

"What?" Penny asked, feeling like she'd stumbled into a nightmare. Like she was in a play but couldn't remember any of her lines.

"Seriously? Look, take the elevator…". She led Penny over by the elbow, swiped her own pass and hit the button to floor 82...the level that required Avenger level access. "Conference room A. I said all this in the email! The meeting is starting in less than five minutes, so you'd better hurry."

"Wait...I'm not…". And then the elevator doors were closing. "Shit."

The doors opened to floor 82, and Penny took a hesitant step out into the hallway. There were no doors in the immediate vicinity…no signs or arrows. Groaning, she took a careful step to the right, doing her best not to jostle the coffees. They were hot...she could tell just from brushing up against one with her arm. But walking all the way to the edge of the hall, she didn't see any doors. There were keypads set into the wall...but no doors.

She heard footsteps then, and her heart leapt into her throat. She wasn't even supposed to be up here! But she needed to get this stuff dropped off! There was some kind of big meeting going on and they needed this stuff and somehow, that was now her responsibility. She hurried in the direction of the footsteps, pausing when she turned the corner and nearly ran right into someone. "I'm so sorry!" She cried, jumping back and staring up at an unfamiliar face. Well...mostly unfamiliar. She might have seen him somewhere. Regardless, he stared down at her in confusion and some suspicion. Deciding to just bite the bullet, she spoke in a rush.

"Excuse me...um….sir? Can you please help me?"

"Sure, kid. What do you need?" He asked, eyes straying down to the bags hanging from her arms.

"The lady down in the lobby told me to take this up to conference room A and she told me that I had to hurry and that the meeting started in five minutes but I think she thought I was someone else because I don't think I'm even supposed to be up here but I didn't want to just leave this stuff…". She trailed off and the man smiled a little.

"Do you work here, kid?"

"Yes...I mean...I'm an intern. Down in research and development mostly…". He nodded.

"Alright. Hand me that." He reached out, taking one of the carriers that held four coffee cups.

"Oh...you don't have to…"

"Don't worry about it. Come on. I'll show you where the conference room is."

"Thank you so much, sir." He smiled a little.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Oh. Um...Penny, sir. Penny Parker."

"It's nice to meet you Penny. I'm Clint." And, placing his hand on the keypad, he revealed a door that suddenly appeared in the wall, pulling it open with his free hand. "Sorry I'm late but I found the coffee...and some kid." Feeling her face flush, she took a step into the room, breath catching as her eyes went around the table.

At the head, facing her, was Pepper Potts. The Pepper Potts. As in, her boss's boss's boss's boss's boss. Heck, there may need to be more rungs in that ladder! Standing beside the window was Tony Stark who had just turned away from his conversations with Steve Rogers. Captain America and Iron Man were staring at her from the window of a secret conference room on a floor she wasn't even allowed to be on.

Thor and Doctor Banner were sitting at the table, both looking curious, while the man with her handed a cup of coffee to a woman she didn't recognize but could guess was the Black Widow. Wanda Maximoff sat next to a man in a sweater she'd never seen before. And Falcon, whose name was Sam something...her brain refused to tell her at the moment, was beside Wanda at the table.

They all just stared at her for a moment, their expressions mostly amused, and she wondered if she could ever walk into that building again...if she could ever show her face in New York after this.

Then Captain America was hurrying forward, reaching out to take the coffee away from her. "Here. Let me help you with that." And that snapped her right out of her trance.

"Oh! No, I'm so sorry, I can…". She started to pull away when one of them finally tipped, pouring steaming coffee over her arm. She gritted her teeth, flinching as boiling coffee covered her arm, the fabric not doing much to save her arm. "I'm so sorry...sir I didn't…"

"Okay." His voice dropped a little and he took the carrier away from her, placing it gently on the table. "It's okay. You're not in trouble. Just set some of this down."

Mr. Stark approached as Captain America and the other guy, Clint started taking the bags away, placing them on the table with loud thumps. They must have been heavy, Penny thought as her arm burned. "Kid. Come here." Mr. Stark ordered, and, wondering if this was the day she lost her internship and got exiled from the country, she followed, face red, eyes hot.

He led her through a door that led to a little kitchen, and she stood hesitantly in the doorway until he motioned for her to join him at the sink. "Here." He soaked a cloth in cool water and she stood frozen until he finally looked up at her face. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Penny." She whispered, and he nodded, lips turning up into a smile.

"Penny Parker, youngest intern to ever be accepted to my program."

"This was the first year of the program." She pointed out with a watery smile. He chuckled, gesturing for her to hold her arm out. She did, and he carefully pulled the wet sleeve back to reveal her arm...and for a second, she saw him freeze.

The red place on her arm wasn't too bad. Just a minor burn from the coffee. But encircling her writer was a still-purple bruise from the night before. Thankfully she didn't have to take off her sweater and reveal the other bruises that she knew went up her arms.

He didn't say anything, just pressed the cloth to her arm, then let her take over holding it.

Iron Man had just touched her arm.

"So, wanna tell me what brings a research and development intern up to the Avengers floor?"

"I'm so sorry…"

He waved a hand. "It's fine, kid. You aren't in trouble. I'm just wondering how you got up here."

"Oh. Um...so I was leaving and this lady was carrying all this stuff and she yelled at me and asked why I hadn't checked my email and where I was going and I think she thought I was a temp because that's what she called me and she gave me all this stuff and put me on the elevator and told me to bring this to conference room A." He lifted an eyebrow, shaking his head and chuckling.

"Well, I'm glad you turned out to be an intern and not a corporate spy." Mr. Stark nodded to her arm. "You okay?"

"Yeah. It was just kind of hot...I'm fine." He nodded slowly, eyes searching hers.

"What did you think of the robot challenge?" She grinned a little.

"It's fun."

"Good. I'm going to have to pop down to see the death match." He took the cloth then, and watched as she pulled her sleeve back down. "Are you cold?" He asked, incredulous, gesturing to her scarf.

"Um...yeah, usually." She admitted, sheepish, and he hummed, clapping his hands.

"Alright, intern Penny. Let's get you back to the appropriate floor."

"Right. I'm so sorry, sir."

"Not your fault, kid. I'll have Pepper talk to her assistants. We've had a mixup or two with the temp agency." They stepped back into the conference room, and Penny kept her head down. "Alright. Head back to the elevator. Friday will take you to the right floor. Thanks for bringing the coffee."

"Yes...of course, sir. Um...thank you." And with that, she hurried out of the room, wondering why she had thanked him. Maybe for not firing her or throwing her out the window.

The next Wednesday she got a handwritten note of apology from Pepper Potts that thanked her for filling in on such short notice.

She might have framed it.

Thank you for reading!