Disclaimer: Nope, just a fanfiction writer. I would be a man, if I owned it, wouldn't I? So nope.
Story: Penelope Parker had a habit of picking up strays and attracting the wrong kind of men.
Set after various episodes.
Spoilers: Probably.
Warnings: Cursing and violence for now…hm, just in case since I'm usually writing it, bit of crazy humor, perverted humor, morbid or sarcastic humor, and maybe some sexual situations…
Pairings: Features Fem!Peter/Various Others, (main) Fem!Peter/Flint Marko (Sandman), Fem!Peter/Norman Osborn, Fem!Peter/Dr. Connors, Fem!Peter/Kraven
Love in Hopeless Places
Chapter Ten: Silent Echoes
The cold metal glided against the tips of her fingers as she walked along the corridor. It was quiet and unnerving, but there was a tranquility too.
"So my brother's toy is here," a condescending voice drawled, obviously sneering at her presence and interrupting her sense of the tranquility.
She turned and watched The Grandmaster warily. She didn't answer him, keeping her face (even underneath her mask) expressionless.
"Say, I've got an idea," The Grandmaster said, suddenly sounding cheerful. "Why don't we play a game?"
"I don't play games," Penny said immediately, even if it was a bit of a lie.
"Come now, don't be so boring," he said slyly, sidling over.
"I don't," she said shortly, tensing up. "Especially with sore losers like you." 'Or sore winners,' she mused, remembering the usual with him.
"How mean," he said dryly. "It'll be fun, Spidergirl. Let's just play 'Which brother is best?' I'm curious to know which of us will you come to like better!"
"That one's easy," she started even drier than him. "Taneleer obviously."
That took The Grandmaster aback. "So you know my brother's name, do you? And yet that's unsurprising that he would share his name with his favorite toy."
"I'm not a toy," Penny rolled her eyes.
He waved dismissively at her. "Nonetheless, I'm bored. Taneleer refuses to play any game with me, and I've been stuck on his ship ever since you callously cheated in that last game of ours."
Penny mumbled something and turned from him, continuing on her way, letting her fingertips glide against the metal of the spaceship again. The Grandmaster's mocking laughter echoed from behind her.
"Run along, little toy! Go on! Find Taneleer and go to amuse him!"
She kept walking away, ignoring him.
"I'm not a toy," Penny mumbled.
A few corridors later led her to a larger space, where obviously The Collector kept his collection of things he'd gathered over the vast number of years he's been alive.
"Hello, Spidergirl," she heard him and she turned with a small smile at the ancient being.
"Hi, Taneleer," she greeted and kept still as he examined her head to toe from his spot.
"You are tense," he observed. "You must've run into my brother," he said knowingly.
She grimaced. "Is he always so aggravating?"
"You met him last time," The Collector answered in amusement. "I've lived with that for millennia."
Penny didn't want to talk about The Grandmaster anymore, so she glanced around and started to walk. The Collector elegantly walked beside her, a certain distance kept (and sometimes crossed when she daringly stepped closer and he shyly flinched before leaning closer into her space as well).
"Why the visit?" she asked curiously, keeping her eyes maintained on the curiosities around her.
"Perhaps I just grew tired of having just my brother around."
She laughed loudly, which echoed in the chamber (it brought a smile to his face that she missed).
"I'll bet," she agreed. Her eyes trained on a withering strain of…red rope-like matter. She took a step towards it, but The Collector's hand snatched her shoulder and kept her from going up against the glass.
"That is what is called the Aether. It is a very dangerous but powerful weapon that was given to me by the Asgardians after they recaptured it during an incident."
She wondered what incident, but he didn't elaborate so she didn't push. For now –there was only so long she could contain her curiosity before she became nosy after all.
"And that?' she pointed to a glowing cube thing.
"The Tesseract."
Her eyes widened and she stared at it in awe and a little bit of fear, though she wondered at its presence there, considering last she heard it was supposed to be on Asgard. She still remembered the alien invasion of New York all those years ago. That thing had caused so much destruction…
"Come. I believe I will have something that will interest you," The Collector took her shoulder again and turned her, directing her towards another area. They stopped in front of a bright crimson gem that Penny could feel was powerful, its natural red tint and shine drawing her closer.
"It's called the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak," The Collector interrupted her, voice soft and alluring. "It's very powerful and can grant one indestructibility. The gem is said to contain a 'Crimson Cosmos,' an entire dimension where time does not pass."
That was incredible. Penny eyed it, wondering what having such a dimension could do for her and her team. They could do some crazy Dragon Ball Z stuff, training there for all sorts of 'nonexistent' time, and come out to find no actual time had passed at all for them on Earth.
"And over here, I have…" The Collector, like a gentleman on Earth, arranged her hand around the crook of his elbow and began to lead her around, showing off his collection and telling her about them.
"Do I count as a collector's item?" she joked later, referring to her title of being his favorite possession of his heroes, doubling it with the Earth term (and triple puns intended, thank you very much!).
"You are not a toy or an item," he said simply and she glanced at him in surprise. "I 'collected' you and the other heroes before because I admire all of you and am fascinated by the likes of you….especially you, Spidergirl. But I do not think I can ever truly 'collect' you…Penny. Even without the promise I gave you to never collect on Earth again."
She smiled warmly at him. Having an Elder of the universe be so fascinated and fond of her was kind of strange but awesome. It felt nice too though.
Even if most of New York didn't appreciate her, it was way more cool to have someone like The Collector be so appreciative of her.
He watched Penny from a distance, letting her childishly run around the large space in his control room. She swung around, jumped high, twirled like those little Earthen ballerinas…But he paid the most attention to her expressive face, her mask discarded and held tightly in his hand. He was almost tempted to ask her if he could keep it for his collection, even if there was no true value to it except for himself.
Taneleer was an old being and he had seen many things in his lifetime, long that it was. But Penny somehow was and wasn't something new to him –she did feel like a bright spot in his life, something fresh and lively that scattered the monotony of things for him.
She was his favorite hero. That he didn't deny, and he acknowledged that when the Contest of Champions happened, he made no attempt to hide that or downplay it. Spidergirl was and will always be his favorite –a particular attachment that he accrued to her from a distance, and could only grow and cement itself as he played his brother's game with her and eventually alongside her. That she so helped him overcome his feelings of inferiority against his brother, made him believe in himself and his ability to win…how could he not favor her beyond and above all else?
Of course he would be biased and she would have his favor.
She spoke to him of bonds. Special relationships that were treasured amongst loved ones. He hadn't known it, not with his brother, but she'd inspired him and made him want to know those kinds of bonds. To have those kinds of bonds.
Looking back, he had already unknowingly had one with Penny.
Penny who was kind and sweet, honorable as Spidergirl, good friend and loving to those whom she would always extend a hand to. His heart swelled for some reason, and he acknowledged she had become his prime focus in this universe.
A collection of collections, and the most precious and most valuable thing to him was actually a person. A human at that. But Penny wasn't an ordinary human, and he had come to adore her and want to be in her presence all the time. A constant ache persisted in him, a near impossible to identify feeling that encompassed him whenever he was around her or thought about her.
But a distance he kept, because he had always kept his most precious things at a distance. To protect them, keep them in perfect condition…to always admire from afar…
His brother had always ruined everything by touching. He hadn't wanted to be the same way, and had learned to keep all the things he collected in a safe distance to protect them and never break them. A broken Penny was out of the question, especially now that his brother seemed to start to feel eager to 'play' with her…
"You okay?" he heard Penny ask him and he saw that she was done playing around, smiling brightly at him as her face was flushed from exertion and sweat had matted her hair to her face.
"Content," he answered. "I feel content and at ease."
"Good. Now come on!" Her hand slipped into one of his, the warmth of it seeping into his ageless skin. When she squeezed his hand, he felt his heart speed up and he wondered silently at that.
He allowed her to pull him away from his spot, dragging him to wherever she wished, as he was willing to do as she bid whenever and wherever.
He wanted to keep a distance, but she wasn't one to let him (and he truthfully didn't want to).
And so the halls of his ships had a silence that would be imprinted with her from now on, he would now believe…
"Sooo…where's Penny?" Kid Arachnid –Miles –asked the others. Amadeus, seeing shrugs in return, wondered if he should speak up.
Mr. Osborn had straightened up unnoticeably, but Amadeus had managed to catch it. Flint also perked up, but by then Amadeus (and others) had put him –in concerns to Penny –as a given. Even Dr. Connors seemed to be watching carefully.
Lunch hour, when Penny was missing, always seemed to be such an event.
"Haven't seen her around today," Scarlet Spider –Ben, Aunt May had named him –spoke carefully. "Anyone?"
A choruses of "no's" answered him, and Amadeus continued the debate within his head. Though honestly, who could have missed The Collector's ship hovering nearby early that morning? Sure, it wasn't around now, but it had clearly been hovering in plain sight as it waited for Penny.
"She left early this morning," Amadeus reluctantly admitted. At the stares, he felt himself grow nervous and even sweat a little. "No one saw?"
"No," Ben said sharply, an undertone of protectiveness being heard through the roughness of his voice.
While having his teammates' stares on him was undoubtedly stressful, it was the narrowed-eyed gazes coming from the three adults that had him wanting to run away.
"Early this morning, The Collector's ship appeared. Not long after that, Penny went on it and it disappeared. I heard around that she was visiting The Collector and would be back. Later probably."
Man, this was so troublesome. Penny owed him. She had better set aside time for him and they could go bowling or something, make up for Amadeus always having to deal with stuff like this…
"The Collector?" Nova asked incredulously. "Seriously?"
"Well, she is his favorite hero," Power Man answered hesitantly.
"She is?" Flint asked in confusion.
"Oh yeah," White Tiger replied with a laugh. "Remember the whole Contest of Champions? He hadn't hid that fact from anyone. He's pretty biased towards her."
Nova clutched his hands at his helmet. "B-but! This is The Collector! Old, ageless, Elder of the universe! Does no one else find that strange and awe-worthy?"
"Not saying I don't," Amadeus shrugged, picking up his tray. "But it is Penny."
He picked up his juice too, finished it off, and threw away his trash before he walked away from the room full of heroes who'd broken out into chatter.
Penny definitely owed him some hang-out time.
Started 6/10/16 – Completed 6/10/16
A/n: Yay! The Collector's done. Hope everyone liked this one and please remember to review!
Anon Reviews:
1. Guest 1: Aw yeah! He kissed her, hehehe!
2. Guest 2: Haha, yes! MJ's aiming to be the ultimate shipper alright!
3. Guest 3: Well, if you're requesting Venom, I can do something with it~
4. Leska: Yes, The Collector finally! As for writing Thanos, yeah that would be interesting ;D