It's time for a new story! :) I hope you all enjoy!

Part 1: The Cave

"People live under the earth in a cavelike dwelling. Stretching a long way up toward the daylight is its entrance, toward which the entire cave is gathered. The people have been in this dwelling since childhood, shackled by the legs and neck...Thus they stay in the same place so that there is only one thing for them to look at: whatever they encounter in front of their faces." -Plato, Allegory of the Cave

Prologue

Tony Stark drummed his fingers on the top of the bar, draining the last of his bourbon and gesturing for the bartender to bring him another. Richard was late, and if Richard was going to be late, then Tony was going to drink. Checking his watch, he smothered a yawn and glanced around the packed bar. No one paid him any mind, even though he had only revealed his identity as Iron Man a few months ago. Here in the city, in a bar he'd been coming to for years, he supposed people didn't care too much about superheroes. Or celebrity sightings.

"I'm so sorry!" Tony turned, jumping at the familiar voice, and found Richard Parker hurrying through the busy room, apologizing when he nearly bumped into someone's table, then took a seat beside Tony at the bar. It wasn't his disheveled appearance or the battered briefcase in his hand that caught Tony's attention, though. It was the toddler on his hip, head resting on his shoulder.

"Is that…" Tony started, amused despite himself, and Richard cut him off with a sheepish smile.

"My one-year-old daughter? In a bar? Yeah. I'm so sorry...Mary's sick and I had to pick Penny up from my brother's...she's probably going to fall asleep soon. I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Tony waved him off, regretting his third drink. He wasn't drunk, exactly, but he was more buzzed than he'd like to be in the presence of a toddler. He'd been thinking about giving up drinking, especially after Afghanistan, considering his new profession, but not tonight, he had told himself. Maybe Monday.

The little girl in Richard's arms gripped her father's shirt in her fist, watching him with wide, brown eyes. "Tony, this is Penny. Penny, this is daddy's boss, Tony." The man introduced, gesturing to Tony with his free hand.

"Hi." Feeling like an idiot, Tony lifted his hand and bent his fingers in what he hoped was a child-friendly wave.

Lifting her own hand, the little girl mimicked him, bending her fingers right back at him. "Hi." She murmured, and Tony was surprised when his own turned up into a smile. Since becoming Iron Man, more and more kids had been sending him fan mail and drawings of him in the suit. It was cute. Really. He just hadn't really met any of them yet. He had thought about reviving his father's expo and having some child-friendly displays, but that was an idea for another time. For the moment, he just turned to his friend and employee.

"What are you having? It's on me."

"Um...just water. I've got to stop at the drugstore and get something for Mary, and then I have to get Penny home…" He adjusted the girl in his arms, and she continued to watch Tony with her rapidly-closing eyes.

Tony had known Richard for at least five years, although he wouldn't actually call them friends. Richard Parker had started as an intern right out of grad school, but had quickly risen through the ranks to someone Tony would take notice of, the two of them even working together on one or two projects in the labs. He knew that the man's wife worked for the government and was possibly a spy, and he'd met her a few times at various SI events. This was his first time meeting their daughter, though. He supposed she was cute...he didn't give a ton of thought to kids in general. His father had certainly done a shitty job of raising him, and he'd never thought he'd be able to do much better. Better not to try.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Richard had been the one to call this meeting, going to Tony's private lab and requesting entrance, then asking him to meet the day after at a local bar they'd been to once or twice to get drinks after work. Tony had been a little surprised but had agreed, wondering if the man was angling for a promotion, or if he just needed help with a project. Either way, Tony liked Richard enough to spend time with him after work. He didn't think the man was struggling financially. Tony paid well and Richard was only a promotion or two away from a supervisory position, which paid even better and came with more benefits, like his own lab. He also didn't think Richard was the kind of guy to try and suck up for a promotion. Or a loan.

The other man glanced around as if making sure no one was too close to hear their conversation. "Could we maybe move this to a booth?"

"Um...sure." Tony agreed just as the bartender placed a glass of water in front of Richard. Grabbing his own drink, he followed the man over to a secluded booth in the corner of the bar. The man placed his daughter on the seat next to him, and she leaned her head against her father, eyes closing. It was nearly eight, and Tony wondered what time toddlers went to bed. And what exactly Richard was so worried about.

Tony waited as Richard opened his briefcase, pulling out a manilla folder, then placed it on the sticky table, resting his hand on top of it. "I…" Richard glanced down at his daughter, placing a hand on her hair that someone had pulled back into a braid, then folding his hands on the table. "Tony, I didn't know who else to turn to." He all but whispered, leaning in, and Tony followed suit.

"Okay, look, whatever you need…" Tony started, a little worried, but Richard shook his head.

"Don't...don't promise anything. Not yet. Just let me explain first."

"Okay." Tony gestured for him to go on, and finally, after draining half of his water, he did. "I was contacted by someone from Oscorp. An old friend. He and I have known each other since high school, and he...he sent me this."

"Should I be worried about you defecting?" Tony tried to lighten the mood, but Richard only gave a weak smile.

"Hardly. Even if your labs weren't better…" Richard ran a hand over his face, looking suddenly exhausted. "My friend...he wouldn't lie about this. None of it. He wouldn't make this up. I don't know what he wanted me to do with this but…I have to do something."

"Okay…"

Richard opened his mouth to speak again, but he seemed to give up, and instead pushed the folder over to Tony. In the seat beside him, Penny stirred, yawning and whining a little. "I know, baby." He murmured, turning to the girl. "We'll go home soon, I promise."

Tony stared at the manilla folder, then opened the front cover, heard dropping and bile rising in his throat as soon as he saw the top picture. It was a boy, maybe ten, laying in a bathtub full of ice, hands cuffed to a pipe above his head. The boy's lips were blue, one eye surrounded by a purple bruise. On the bottom of the picture was the number 093.

He flipped to the second picture. It was a girl, younger...probably six or seven, strapped to a table. The picture was taken from above, and beyond the table, he could see a white counter and the edge of a white coat. She was covered in bruises, eyes wide and glassy, blood trailing from her open mouth, an IV tube running from her inner elbow to an IV pole at her side. 081 was the number at the bottom of the picture.

The third picture was another boy, probably a young teenager, with singe marks covering his head. Blood ran from his nose, and his eyes stared at nothing. He lay on the same table as the second girl. 075.

There were five more pictures, and Tony looked at every one, trying to take in the numbers and not the children. But there was no helping it. They were all children, the oldest no older than sixteen, the youngest maybe four. That boy was the hardest to look at...Tony tried to look only at his number. Tried to search the rest of the picture for clues, but all he could see was the white counter and part of a white coat. "Oscorp is experimenting on children." Tony's voice was flat and Richard nodded.

"That's what I think. I took it to Mary, and she tried to speak to her supervisor but he won't…" Richard shook his head. "I don't know. He won't even look into it. It's almost like…". He closed his eyes, jaw clenching for a moment, then he lowered his voice. "She made it sound like they...like they already knew. Like they know and they don't care."

Tony narrowed his eyes, forcing his gaze away from the little boy in the photo and back to Richard, then closing the folder. He couldn't bear to look at it anymore.

"She's going to try again...she'll take the photos to someone higher up and try to get someone to listen. But...just in case, she said I should tell someone else. And since you've recently come out of the closet as a superhero..."

"Just in case?" Tony repeated, ignoring the joke, but Richard shook his head, giving him a little smile.

"She's paranoid. I guess it comes with the line of work she's in. Still…I thought maybe you might have some pull. Somewhere."

Tony nodded, placing both hands on the folder. "I'll see what I can do." He would. Or...he would mean to. And then he'd find out that his arc reactor was killing him. His inquiries would be ignored and he'd have JARVIS scour the internet and he would set up an alert for any children that went missing under suspicious circumstances, and an alert for anything involving Osborn. Nothing would come of it.

And then, a month later, while Richard and Mary were on a trip to London for a family vacation, their plane would go down, and although their bodies would be found in the wreckage, the body of Penelope Parker would never be found. Tony would send divers and submarines and expert after expert. He would go himself in the suit despite the fact that it was killing him. Nut her body would never be recovered in the ocean. There would be evidence that their plane had been shot down, and a year later, after pushing too hard for answers, Richard's brother Ben and his wife May would be found dead in the remains of their apartment after a fire that would take out their entire building.

For the moment, though, Tony meant his promise and Richard believed him. "Do you mind watching her for just a second? I'm gonna…" Richard gestured to the bathroom and Tony nodded.

"Oh...uh, yeah. Sure."

Richard stood, and after a moment's hesitation, Tony moved over to the other side of the booth, sitting down beside the girl that watched her father disappear into the crowd of people. "So, uh...hi."

"Da." She responded, repeating it when he only stared at her.

"Oh. Right. Uh, your dad will be right back. He's just gotta take a…" Tony censored himself at the last moment, then felt like an idiot when his brain landed on appropriate words. "Um...go potty."

The girl tilted her head, then reached out and grabbed his shirt. It was the middle of October, and she wore a little sweater with sleeves that covered her hands despite her constant struggle to pull them back up. "Up." She ordered, tugging again, and he sighed, giving in.

"Fine, you little tyrant." He hoisted the girl up from under her arms and placed her on his lap. She didn't want to sit, though. Instead, she stood up facing him, feet braced on his thighs and tried to balance. "Penny, right? Here. Let me fix this." He grabbed her sleeve and folded it up to her wrist, well aware that he was the only person with a child in this room full of alcohol and the occasional waft of cigarette smoke. Once he was done with her sleeves, she graced him with a smile, her bright, chocolate-colored eyes meeting his, and for a moment, he felt like his heart stopped. He'd never been so close to a child, or...he hadn't in years. Not since he'd been little himself. She reached out, patting his face and giggling when she ran her fingers over his goatee, then brought a hand to her own face as if to check for hair there.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't…" He started, then flinched when she got a hold of his beard at the bottom of his chin and tugged, tears coming to his eyes. "Ouch!"

Penny let go immediately, eyes wide and frightened, and he rubbed a hand over his chin. "Oww." She repeated hesitantly, lips trembling, and some instinct made him tuck some of her hair behind her ear and touch her nose with his finger, just managing at the last moment to refrain from saying 'boop.'

"It's okay. Don't pull. I need that beard. It's part of my image."

"No." She repeated solemnly. "No pull." Then she reached out again, touching his face, but gently this time, like one would teach a child to pet a cat.

"Yeah, there you go." he snorted. Her answering smile was worth the pain, and for just a second, he got it. He got why people had kids and why they found them cute and why they'd do anything for them. This little girl on his lap trusted him and looked up at him simply because she was little and he was big and she had no idea what the world would someday do to her...that the world wasn't always a kind place. And Tony could see why some people would give their lives to protect their children.

Richard came back then, wiping his hands on his pants, and he smiled when he saw Penny standing on Tony's lap. "Thanks."

"Sure. She's a cute kid."

The man smiled, reaching his arms out for his daughter who practically jumped into them, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Yeah, you ought to see her when you tell her she can't have another j-u-i-c-e p-o-p."

"Juice!" Penny cried, turning to her father with wide eyes and patting his shoulder. The man laughed.

"See? And she already knows how to spell."

"She's smart." Tony agreed. And he wasn't just saying that. She seemed like a smart kid. A sweet kid. Maybe he'd been wrong about children. It was a thought he dismissed immediately, reminding himself that this was no time to get distracted. He needed to focus...to focus on his friend and then on figuring out what exactly Norman was up to.

"Maybe in twenty years, she'll come to you for a job."

Tony held out a hand, smiling warmly at both the man and his daughter. He was still feeling light and just a little buzzed, but the pictures and the conversation had done plenty to sober him up. So his next words were totally sincere. "If she's half as smart as her father, she's got a future at Stark Industries for sure."

Richard shook Tony's hand, his own smile bright and loving as he squeezed his daughter in a hug. "She's going to be way smarter than her dad, aren't you Pen?"

"Juice!" She cried, and the man rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, your majesty. Thanks again, Tony. I'll see you at work tomorrow?"

It was assumed that they wouldn't speak about this at work. Tony didn't know it, but they'd never get the chance to speak about it again."Bright and early." Tony agreed. "Bye, Penny."

"Bye!" She called, voice too soft to carry far in the room packed with People, but Tony heard her. He lifted a hand, bending his fingers in a wave once more, and with a beaming smile, she returned it.

He wouldn't see her again for twelve years.

Thank you for reading!