Whumptober day 22...friendly fire. I didn't love this one, but, you know. Lots of prompts, they can't all be winners, etc. I hope you enjoy despite the fact that it's more plotty than whumpy.
Friendly Fire
Mr. Stark called it a training exercise. He'd brought it up about a week ago, telling her that he wanted her to meet the team. It had been a long, hard road, but Mr. Stark had finally gotten the Accords amended, and the rogue Avengers had been pardoned. She'd been keeping up with it in the news, and they'd even been studying the Accords in school. She hadn't talked to Mr. Stark about them yet. Honestly, she didn't know how she felt about the Accords either. She agreed with Mr. Stark that the countries of the world should have the right to ask the Avengers not to come into their country...especially considering how dangerous it could be when the Avengers fought, even when they were trying to help.
Penny didn't know how to feel about these guys. They'd turned on her mentor. Betrayed him. Left him for dead and abandoned him. Sure, the Accords hadn't been the best idea, but they could have worked together. Been a team. Instead, they'd turned on him. Now he wanted to fight with them again? She didn't trust them. "I don't know, Mr. Stark." She'd murmured as the two of them had worked in his lab.
"What? I'm giving you a chance to meet the Avengers, Pen!" He'd grinned, putting his tablet down. "And I know you have a crush on Thor. He'll be there." She'd blushed, glaring over from her seat. Mr. Stark had chuckled. "I'm just kidding, Pen. Why don't you want to meet them?"
"It's not that…"
"Come on. Cap wants to get the team back together...do some training exercises. Try to get us used to working together again. You're part of the team."
"I'm not an Avenger." She'd reminded him.
"Not yet," He had allowed. "But you will be. And you can always help us out sometimes." He had turned in his chair, elbows resting on his knees. "What's going on, kid?" She had shrugged. "Penny?" Sighing, she'd put down her own tablet, turning to face him.
"I just...I don't get why you want to work with them again after what they did." Mr. Stark had sighed, reaching out and gripping her shoulder.
"Look, kid, you don't have to meet them if you don't want to. I'm not going to force you. But Pen...I want you on my team. You're going to be one of the greats, and training with the Avengers will only make you better. I want you as well prepared for this superhero thing as possible."
"They hurt you." She had told him simply, dropping her eyes, and he scooted closer, leaning in.
"Kid…"
"I don't trust them." She had insisted.
"Penny." She had looked up at him again. "I get that. Really...I do. We haven't always been a very good team. But now...look, I think something's coming Pen. I think...someday soon, it's going to be all hands on deck. And when that time comes, we're going to need to be a team. So...maybe we can all learn to trust each other again. Maybe...I don't know, kiddo. Really...I don't. But I think we're doing the right thing. And the team wants to meet you."
So she had finally agreed, and they'd set a date and time...an appointment which she was now on her way to in the back seat of Happy's car. "So...do you know Captain America?" She wondered. Happy shot her a loot.
"We lived in the same building for years, kid. Of course, I know him." She sighed, dropping her head back against the headrest. They drove for a while in silence, then he looked at her in the rearview mirror again. "Don't be nervous, kid. We all know what you can do."
What she could do. Sure, she was really strong and she could heal from bumps and bruises faster than most people, but that didn't mean she fit in with these people. She was a child to them...barely 16. They wouldn't take her seriously. And she didn't really blame them.
She entered the compound, dressed in her jeans and t-shirt that had Stark Industries printed on the front...the one Mr. Stark had given her to help sell the internship. It was already worn and comfortable, and in her backpack was her suit. She headed straight for the living scares just as Mr. Stark had asked her to, and found the man sitting at the kitchen counter, one of his fancy bottles waters in hand. "Hey, Pen." He jumped off the stool, tossing her the water. She caught it easily.
"Are they here yet?" She asked, jaw tight. He nodded, then tossed her a bag that had been sitting beside the counter.
"Down in the training room. I told them we were just waiting on you. They're all warming up. Go ahead and get changed into that and we'll head down."
"My suit?" She asked. He watched her hands fidget with the cap of her water for a moment.
"That's a training suit. We're not really suiting up right now...thought it might...well, we thought it would be more casual." He gestured to the bag again, and she carried it into her room, pulling out the new outfit.
It was a dark blue suit, not the same material as her usual one. Much darker. Almost black. In slight contrasting gray was a large spider that covered her chest and torso. It didn't have the built-in shoes like her other suit either...he'd given her new boots. Black with red spiders on the sides.
Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she stared at herself in the mirror. There was no mask. They were going to see her face. Know who she was. But Mr. Stark trusted them, at least somewhat, and she trusted Mr. Stark.
She stepped out of her room and headed back into the living room. Mr. Stark was waiting, and he looked her up and down with a nod. "Everything fits? How is it to move in?"
"Seems fine." He handed her two web shooters that she snapped onto her wrists, extending over her bare palm.
"We'll test it today. Let me know if anything needs adjusting." He patted her on the back. "Don't be nervous." He told her a little softer. "It's just a training exercise. To see how we all work together as a team." Nodding, she let him lead her to the elevator, and then the doors were opening, leaving them in the training room.
Mr. Stark didn't drop his hand as he led her into the room where the others waited. All eyes were immediately on them, and it took every ounce of her control to keep her face neutral. His thumb rubbed over her shoulder, calming her, and she took a deep breath, examining them right back as they all started.
"Alright. Everyone, this is Penny. Spidergirl. Penny, this is Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, Natasha, Wanda, Scott, Thor, And Sam. And you know Rhodey and Vision." She looked them over, trying to find a friendly face. Rhodey seemed happy to see her again and waved, and Vision nodded. But the woman beside him, Wanda, looked unsure. Suspicious.
They were all dressed similarly to her, not in their usual suits, most with some kind of weapon. "You're Spidergirl," Sam asked, lifting an eyebrow. Falcon. Falcon was staring down at her like she was a little girl instead of a superhero.
"I am." She told him, fighting the urge to cross her arms defensively. Tony patted her on the back, then headed further into the room to join the loose circle, Penny following.
"She is. She's not an official Avenger just yet, but neither is Scott so…". He trailed off and the one that could apparently get really tall and who'd knocked her into those crates at the airport lifted his own eyebrows.
"I'm sorry...how old is she?"
"She's none of your business," Tony spoke firmly. Not mean, not snarky. But like he meant business. "Penny is with me, and I'd bet she can outfight you any day, so let's just leave it at that."
No one else asked about her, but she was getting plenty of funny looks. Then Captain America finally spoke. "Okay...now that we're all here, I thought we should try to train together. And to figure out where we want to go from here if we're going to get the team back together." Steve glanced over at Tony.
"Anyone that wants to live in the compound is welcome. Your rooms haven't changed."
"What? You didn't throw away all our stuff?" Clint gave the younger woman a look, but she continued to glare at Mr. Stark. Penny felt her jaw clench, hackles raising, but Mr. Stark only gave the young woman a pointed look.
"No. I don't touch other people's things." He told her, voice cold. Penny caught Wanda's eye as the conversation turned to who would be moving back, and she found herself staring the woman down, Wanda's eyes narrowing in confusion as the two stared at one another.
"And of course, anyone that doesn't want to be on the team can leave anytime. The Accords are basically gone but there are still guidelines in place." Captain America glanced back over at Penny. "Do you live here?" He wondered, and Penny shook her head, tearing her mind away from Wanda.
"No. I live in Queens."
"Right." He smiled a bit, pointing to himself. "Brooklyn. But this will be a base for us…". He glanced over at Bucky. The man with the metal arm. The reason Steve had betrayed her mentor in the first place. "If it's okay, Tony, we'll be staying here for the most part." Her mentor nodded, and she wondered if that was really okay...if he could really share a home with the man that had unwittingly murdered his parents.
For a moment, Penny wondered if anyone else was going to talk...or if they were all going to stand in uneasy silence, old and new Avengers. It seems the latter until the woman, Natasha, spoke. Black Widow. "You mentioned a training exercise."
"Right. Just something to...to get us working together." Steve looked around at all of them, gaze landing on Penny for a moment. "Penny are you...are you going to be participating?" She glanced at Mr. Stark who nodded.
"Yeah, I am." She wanted to add 'if that's okay,' but didn't. She wanted to be there for Mr. Stark and she wants them to see her as an actual hero, not a little girl. So she just nodded, keeping her face neutral, and Steve accepted it immediately. "We have some training bots...Tony can set the difficulty and control things from the balcony." He gestured to a glass-enclosed area up on the fourth floor of the huge open area. "We work as a team to take them down."
"All at once?" Clint wondered.
"Nope. I say we split up into teams and see which team is the fastest." Everyone agreed, even though Penny didn't put her two cents in, and wasn't entirely comfortable working without Mr. Stark. Still, she wasn't about to throw a fit about it. She wasn't a child. She could work with the Avengers.
"Who are the captains?" Bucky asked.
"Tony, why don't you pick." Steve offered, and Mr. Stark nodded, gazing at all of them thoughtfully. Penny wondered if they'd done this before. Were training exercises something they'd done often? Did it bring back memories for Mr. Stark? Had he missed his team?
"Rhodey and Sam." Both men nodded, and Mr. Stark took a step back to watch the teams form, giving Penny a reassuring smile when she glanced over at him.
Sam picked first, pointing right at Steve. "You're on my team, Cap."
"Bucky." Rhodey chose to Penny's surprise.
Penny felt a sense of dread...was she going to be picked last? Would this just be just like gym class, but more embarrassing? But after Rhodey picked Thor and Sam chose Clint, Rhodey pointed to Penny. "Penny." He gestured for her to join him, and she did, almost exhaling in relief. In the end, her team was Rhodey, Thor, Bucky, Natasha, and Wanda, while the others were with Sam, minus Vision who wouldn't participate, as the robots would be no challenge for him.
Penny waited outside the room with her new team, all of them placing comms in their ears while the others went into the training simulation which had been set up with obstacles and the robots they would be fighting. Rhodey got into his armor, him, Bucky, and Natasha loading guns that would take out the robots. Penny made sure her web fluid was full, while Thor tossed his hammer and Wanda waited in the corner away from everyone,
Penny thought about approaching her...about saying something to her. They'd never really been introduced, but the others didn't know her either, minus Rhodey, and so she saw no reason for them to want to talk to her. She decided to focus on doing her best and would try to befriend them later.
It took the other team nearly forty minutes to clear out the training room, during which Penny waited in a chair by herself mostly. Rhodey did come over for a little while, chatting with her and asking vague questions about how she'd been, obviously not wanting to bring up school and reveal her age. After he left to talk to Thor, Natasha approached. "So...another spider?" She asked with a slight smile.
"Yeah, I guess," Penny answered, feeling shy around the super spy. The woman's smile widened.
"I think there's room for two of us on the team." She assured Penny, leaning back against the wall and waiting in the chair beside her.
When it was finally time to go in, they entered the training room to find it transformed. Huge sections of the floor had been lifted up to appear as buildings and landmarks, and she wasn't sure how big the training room was, as she'd never seen the whole thing, but it looked like walls had been lowered. The room was three stories high in some places, four in others, but the ceiling had been retracted, showing the bright sunlight overhead.
They entered slowly, the door closing behind them, and on the closest wall were two digital clocks, one at 0, the other at 41:33, which Penny assumed had been the first team's time. She looked to Rhodey, as did the others, and they all waited until the clock suddenly began counting...and then the robots poured into the room.
Penny shot into action a split second before the others, shooting a web and flinging herself into the air, then gripping a building and climbing up to the top of one, easily dodging robots that came at her. They seemed to be equipped with some kind of tasers if they got close enough to touch you, but they never did.
She waited for a command, all of the rest of her team spreading out to fight, guns going off and hammer flying. Figuring she could go ahead and take some down, she shot one with a web, yanking it back towards her and slamming it down onto the roof. It was easy to kill and fairly simple to avoid the taser appendages that tried to shock her.
Once that was done, she glanced down at her team. Wanda was using her weird red powers to knock them into one another, Thor was slamming his hammer into them, and the others were shooting them down. They were only at 10 minutes, but things seemed to be going okay. She nabbed another one from the sky, making quick work of it with only a minor shock to her arm.
She shook it off, swinging around the group and grabbing one that had been going for Rhodey and pulled the thing apart. "Alright. Good job, Spidergirl. We're making good time, guys. Let's…". And just as soon as he started to finish that sentence, the robots all seemed to pause, then retreated.
"What the hell?" She heard Bucky ask.
"Alright. We need to track them down. Everyone split up into teams. Wanda, some with me. Natasha, you're with Thor. Bucky, you're with Penny." If the metal-armed man had a problem being stuck with her, there was no indication of it on his face. "We'll take the left, Nat and Thor, center, you guys, go right. Let's make a sweep and see how many we can knock out." He ordered, and the three groups obeyed.
Because of the makeshift buildings, it was impossible to see all the way to the end of the training room, so Penny let Bucky lead, him on the ground and her crawling along the sides of walls. "You know that's really creepy, right?" He asked after a minute, and she glanced down at him, smiling a little. Even as she answered, she continued to crawl along the walls.
"Good. You think it'll scare the robots." He gave a chuckle, shaking his head, and was about to reply when Penny sprung past him, tackling a robot that had come from one of the alleys, pinning it while Bucky rushed forward to slam his metal fist into the thing's middle. They weren't too solidly built...she guessed they were more to practice their tactical skills than actual combat.
"So...how old are you, Spider-kid?" Bucky wondered after a moment of moving forward once more. She shot him a look at the name. Her senses were quiet for the moment, so she wasn't worried about an attack, but she still didn't know how much she trusted this guy. Well, actually she did. She didn't trust him much at all. But at the moment, the two of them sneaking along, he was her partner. Sort of. Training partner. She guessed that meant she'd have to trust him a little.
"Sixteen," She told him quietly, creeping around a corner by gripping the wall. He held back, watching and holding his gun in front of him. "Clear."
"Where did Stark find you?"
"Queens." He chuckled a little once more, shaking his head, but then he was holding his gun up. She backed out of the way, moving just as he shot the robot emerging from around the other corner.
"Good reflexes, kid." He murmured, and they moved forward again, both careful and nearly silent as they listened for the quiet humming of the training robots. She wished they knew how many there were. At least then they could figure out how many more they'd have to take down. Still, she and Bucky moved in relative silence, taking turns checking corners and watching for the robots.
It was all going fine until he stepped out from behind a building. Thor and Natasha must have already made it to the end of the room, and Penny's spider senses exploded. Thor's hammer shot straight through a robot...and was heading for Bucky. Bucky was going to get hit. And even though he'd hurt her mentor, and even though she didn't know if she trusted him, they were working together. Mr. Stark had somewhat forgiven him. Maybe. He was being civil...and they were on the same team.
Penny moved without thinking, lunging forward and shoving the man with one hand, the other wrapping around the handle of the hammer, bringing the thing to an abrupt halt. She swung it at another robot that shot forward, crushing the head and knocking it to the ground, then spun to face Thor, tossing the thing back, feeling like an actual Avenger for the first time that day as she landed, knees bent, one hand bracing her on the ground. Then she looked up to check for more danger and found the others all staring.
Everyone was frozen. She paused, very aware of all the eyes on her, self-conscious as she looked around. Bucky was the closest, looking down at himself and then at her. Thor had caught his hammer and was holding it limp in one hand, looking at her. Silent. Dumbfounded and impressed. She fought the urge to hide...to go back to Mr. Stark and tell him she didn't want to do this. Had she done something impressive? Sure it had felt cool at the time, but they were superheroes!
"Hey? Why the hell are you all standing around? We aren't done!" Rhodey's voice came from the other side of the open area where they'd all gathered, him and Wanda rushing into the area. "What's going on? Is someone hurt?" He demanded into the comm, still too far away to just talk to them.
Thor was the first to snap out of it, speaking into his own comm. "The girl is worthy." He told them all, and Penny didn't have time to figure out what that meant because more of the training bots appeared and it was more fighting and jumping and twisting out of the way and trying to back her team until finally, at 39 minutes and 47 seconds, the room went still, the last of the robots falling to the ground thanks to Bucky's gun.
The door to the training room opened, leading back into the waiting room off to the side where they'd all met and waited before and Penny followed the others, really to see Mr. Stark again and maybe hide out for a while. Sure, it had been kind of fun, but also weird. And awkward. She still didn't feel like she knew any of these people. As they entered the room, they were greeted by the others who started to comment on how close it had been when Mr. Stark hurried down, the look on his face putting an end to all conversation. "Did she really do it?" He asked Thor.
There was silence until Thor nodded, a growing smile on the Asgardian's face. "She did."
"Wait...what?" Sam asked, looking between Mr. Stark and Thor. "Who did what?"
"The girl is worthy," Thor said again, and everyone turned to look at her once more. She felt her cheeks redden, wanting to take off...maybe hide somewhere. But Mr. Stark chuckled, reaching out and throwing an arm around her shoulders and holding her in place.
"Worthy?" She finally asked, hoping he would explain.
"Yeah, kid. Ever wanted to rule Asgard?"
"Um...no…" A few of the Avengers gave surprised chuckles, and Tony ruffled her hair.
"No one else can lift it." He explained.
"Wait...Penny can lift Thor's hammer?" Steve asked, seeming confused. In response, Thor held out the hammer.
"Go ahead." He offered. She glanced up at Mr. Stark who nodded, gesturing for her to go ahead, and she took a step forward, reaching out and taking the hammer. It was kind of heavy, but not really. Not to her. It seemed to hum, just barely, and she swung it easily, wondering why they were making such a big deal of this.
Natasha gave an incredulous laugh, and Clint shook his head, jaw unhinged.. "No way." He murmured.
"It's not that heavy." She told them, holding it out to Steve.
"Only those worthy to rule Asgard can lift my hammer," Thor informed her.
"What? How could it even determine that? Is it magic or…" Steve took the hammer and as soon as she opened her hand, the hammer crashed to the ground, Steve's arm going with it. She took a startled step back, looking up at Mr. Stark who was fighting back a laugh at Steve who had given up on trying to pick the picture up. "How does that even work? How is he not worthy? Are you worthy?"
Mr. Stark laughed a little. "Nope. None of us are except for Thor. And you." He tapped her on the shoulder, his smile proud. "But I could have told you that."
Thor grabbed his hammer, dropping a massive hand onto Penny's shoulder. "For the next training exercise, I would like the Spidergirl on my team."
"No way. Us spiders are sticking together." Natasha gave her a warm smile, but Tony pulled her back, arm firm around her shoulders.
"I don't think so. The kid stays on my team. I found her, so I get permanent dibs."
Honestly, she thought as she leaned against Mr. Stark's side, that sounded pretty good to her.
Thank you for reading!