Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. When I started this story, I had no idea if anyone would even like it, and I have been overwhelmed by all of your kindness and support. This will be the last actual chapter, with an epilogue to hopefully come Sunday. Happy New Year everyone!
The Vulture
Penny gave Mr. Stark the folder. At first, she'd stuffed it into her underwear drawer, sitting on her bed and staring at the floor. It wasn't that she didn't trust the Avengers. It wasn't that she thought they wouldn't be able to take him down. But...but part of her, the part that enjoyed working alone and felt like she was making a real difference on the street level while the Avengers were out saving the world, wanted to do this on her own. Wanted to take down this Vulture guy and wanted to look Norman Osborn in the eye and demand he tell her the truth...the truth about what he'd done to Mr. Stark.
And then she wanted to hand him over to the police.
But she knew that going after him alone was stupid. Sure, she was Spidergil, and Mr. Stark believed in her. And Captain America had invited her to start training with the Avengers. Natasha had already trained with her. But this guy had alien weapons. He was working with Norman Osborn and apparently trying to take over the city. So as much as she believed in herself, and as much as she wanted to take care of everything herself, she thought that it might be best to call in some help on this one. Plus, they were already listening to the bugs in Norman's office, so she was sure they'd believe Harry about his father.
Before handing over the folder, though, she took a good look at the contents. A quick search of the coordinates and dates revealed what she'd already suspected...that the coordinated attacks on the city on the day that she'd been shopping with May was the first on the list. The next date was months away...the exact coordinates for that first day were for a random city square...one that had been hit on the attacks. The others were for different city blocks scattered around the city in every borough...she couldn't quite figure out what they were doing, but it didn't matter. They had to stop them.
The text from Harry when she was in school on Friday, the folder of information in her backpack ready to be handed over during her internship, cleared things up pretty quick. "He's running for mayor."
As soon as Penny stepped into the tower, she hurried toward the elevator. "Friday, where's Mr. Stark?"
"The medbay. I have been instructed to bring you there."
"Okay...yeah...medbay." She muttered...she'd almost forgotten. This was the day that she would hopefully be cleared to be Spidergirl again. Crossing her arms and fighting the urge to tap her foot, she suffered through the long elevator ride, then burst into the medbay, startling both Mr. Stark and Dr. Cho who had been sitting at a table, the tablet between them ignored as they chatted.
"Oh...hey, kiddo." Mr. Stark greeted, looking somewhat puzzled when she grabbed her backpack and unzipped it, digging for only a second before pulling out the folder. "Did you draw me some fan art at school?" He asked with a teasing grin that dropped when she placed it on the table beside him.
"Norman Osborn is working with a man named Adrian Toomes. He's a weapons dealer. Alien tech. They're planning more attacks on the city. The last attack on the city is set to happen three months before the election, and Norman is going to announce his candidacy for mayor in a few weeks." All of this was said in a rush, Mr. Stark's eyebrows lifting as she spoke.
He crossed his arms, regarding her seriously for a moment, then opened the folder, looking through the pictures. When he didn't speak, she continued.
"I couldn't find anything on Adrian Toomes on the internet. He has a facebook but he doesn't use it. If he can suddenly get the alien weapons off the street then people will think they should make him the mayor."
There was a tiny twitch of Mr. Stark's mouth and she cursed herself...he'd probably figured that out himself. He was a genius, after all. But when he turned to her, there was nothing patronizing in his face. Instead, he looked concerned. "How did you get this?"
"Harry." She saw no reason to lie about that. Harry certainly hadn't asked her to keep it a secret.
"How do you know you can trust him?"
"The coordinates of the first attack match the attack on the city when I was out with May. I think they're picking spots around the city to make it seem like it's an epidemic or something...like... it's getting worse and worse."
He nodded, serious, despite the fact that, once again, she told herself he probably already knew all that. "And...Harry doesn't like his dad. He wants him to go to jail." Mr. Stark didn't look quite convinced enough, so she went on, her voice dropping to an almost whisper. "Norman hurts his wife."
That got a reaction. Mr. Stark's eyebrows lifted, then something cold and hard passed over his face. "And Harry?"
"Not anymore, I don't think." She murmured.
Mr. Stark nodded, glancing over at Helen who had watched this whole exchange in silence. Now, the woman stepped forward. "Tony, why don't you take this upstairs to the others? I'll go ahead and make sure she can be cleared."
He gave a decisive nod. "Okay. Kid, come find us after you're done. I have your suit ready with a couple of upgrades I want to show you." Mr. Stark threw her one last quick smile, and then he was off, leaving her with Helen who patted her on the shoulder.
"Alright, Penny. Let's get you cleared so that you can join the others."
The checkup only lasted a few minutes, with Helen pronouncing her fit for "Spidering" and urging her to be careful, and then Penny was hurrying to the elevator and stepping into the room, this time with a bit more decorum, where the Avengers were all gathered around a large table. For a moment, she wanted to back out. Leave them to this and stick to the street level...wasn't that where Spidergirl belonged? But as soon as she was in the room, Thor, who had been the one talking, paused, and Mr. Stark gestured for her to take a seat between him and Natasha.
An open chair. They'd saved her a seat right at the table. 'The room where it happens.'
Banishing the Hamilton soundtrack from her mind, she sat in the chair and, after a quick, welcoming smile, Thor went on. They were discussing plans, the best way to catch Toomes. Catching Osborn would be harder, and she had a feeling that they wouldn't be able to link this to him easily. But Natasha was going to get into his email...somehow. Penny didn't quite catch that part. And the others were going to go to the coordinates the day of the attacks, upping patrols all over the city. Penny had assumed that they'd have her sit this one out, but before she could even resign herself to that, Steve started pairing them off.
"Penny, stick with Tony and Thor. Sam, Clint, you're with me…"
The others escaped her attention because she was with Mr. Stark and Thor. She was included. She was going to help them bring down Norman Osborn.
The next date on the list wasn't for another week or two, so Penny went back to her patrols that weekend, and reported for Avengers training on Sunday at 3:45, swinging to the tower so that there would be no chance of her being late. She was the third one in the training room, after Natasha and Mr. Stark, and when Steve entered five minutes later, he gave her a quick, approving smile.
Avengers training was...well, brutal. May had once taken an intense Pilates class and had described the experience to Penny later as an hour and ten minutes of pure agony, with the cooldown being her second favorite part. Her favorite had been walking out with the knowledge that she'd never be doing that again. While May had mostly been doing a lot of...well...Penny had never actually been to a pilates class, but she assumed it had something to do with...maybe planking, Avengers training was all about sparring. At least, that first session was. And while Steve and Thor, the two she'd been paired with to fight first, obviously had no intention of hurting her, they didn't go easy on her either. She'd done plenty of fighting, sure, but never a straight two hours of it. By the end of the session, everyone was out of breath, which made her feel a little better, but she was the only one with a slowly darkening bruise on her shoulder where she'd gotten distracted and hadn't dodged a punch thrown by Thor.
She had a bruise from Thor. God of Thunder. The star of her Avengers Calendar from two years ago that she may or may not have kept at the bottom of her sock drawer. Either way, she was the opposite of upset about it.
Mr. Stark made sure she stayed and had dinner with the team, the whole group of them gathering around the massive table in the dining room that fit everyone, with an additional chair that Penny assumed was for Pepper. She sat between Natasha and Thor, the latter of whom told her how well she'd done, and apologized again for the bruise. She had no idea how to tell him that it was the coolest bruise she'd ever gotten and that she'd already sent a photo of it to Ned with the caption "HOLY SHIT THOR GAVE ME THIS!"
She hoped he never found out.
Penny found out about the party on Monday. She and Ned were partnered in gym class, her doing her best to pretend to be bad at sit-ups while Ned sat at her feet, hissing questions about Spidergirl that she reluctantly answered, when she overheard Liz and a group of her friends playing 'fuck marry kill' with the Avengers. Which was...kind of gross, now that she knew the Avengers.
Until Liz said she'd want to marry Spidergirl. Penny felt her face flush, and she stared up at the ceiling as one of the girls accused Liz of having a crush on Spidergirl.
"What? She's super cool! And I think she's done a lot of good for the city."
"Plus she looks hot in spandex?" Another girl suggested, and Penny wished the floor would swallow her whole so that no one would see how red her face was. Mind racing, she tried to dismiss all the thoughts that followed. Did Liz really think she looked hot in her suit? Not that it mattered...if she knew who Penny was, she'd never look at her twice. Plus everyone thought Spidergirl was deaf, which was something she'd eventually have to deal with. Besides, she didn't really feel the same way about Liz as she did about Harry.
Did Harry think she was hot in that suit?
Before she could spontaneously combust, Ned spoke up. "Penny knows Spidergirl."
She sat up, pulling off the best sit up of the hour and giving him a furious glare. Ned wilted a little, his face apologetic, and she knew that he hadn't meant to share that...that he'd been caught up in the same hope to be popular she often felt, but still!
But now, Liz was staring at her, eyes wide. "You do?"
"Yeah, and I'm best buddies with Hawkeye." Flash threw in, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah...I do. I mean...we've met, like, once or twice at my internship. She works with Mr. Stark and me sometimes."
"Oh right, her big Stark Industries internship." Flash mocked. "You've never even been in a room with Tony Stark."
Penny thought back to the night before, of eating dinner with the entire team and sparring with Thor, and had to fight the outrageous urge to laugh. Instead, she swallowed a smile and tried to look put out at Flash.
"Maybe she can get Spidergirl to come to your party." One of Liz's friends, Nadia, suggested.
"Oh…" Liz gave Penny and Ned a quick glance and an almost apologetic smile. "My mom's working late on Saturday night, and my dad's out of town on business, so I'm having a party at my place. You guys can totally come."
"And bring Spidergirl!" Nadia reminded them, her smile a little less friendly.
"Yeah! We can totally do that." Ned agreed, despite the fact that Penny was pinching the arm closest to her. He flinched but managed to talk through the pain. "Spidergirl will totally be there! It's gonna be awesome!"
The girls were already walking away, and once they were out of earshot, she gave his arm one more quick pinch. "What the hell?" She hissed.
"Penny, this is it! This is our chance to be cool!"
"I can't go to a party as Spidergirl, Ned!"
"Why not?"
"Because Spidergirl isn't a party trick!"
"But it could be!"
"But it's not!" She repeated.
"Please, please, Penny. Come on...we just got invited to a party being thrown by Liz Allen, the coolest senior girl in school! We'll be the only sophomores!"
"I think Flash is going…"
"But if we try really hard, we can completely ignore him. Trust me. It's a system I'm perfecting."
She finally smiled, laughed a little and rolling her eyes. "Ned…"
"That's your, 'I'm irritated but I'm totally considering your idea, Ned' 'Ned.'"
Penny snorted. He wasn't wrong.
"Please." He whispered again, hands together as if in prayer. "Please, please, please?"
"Fine." Before he could freak out, she held up a hand. "Barely. We can go to the party, and I'll change into the suit for, like, five minutes, but then Spidergirl will suddenly have an emergency and she'll have to go."
"That's fine! It's better than fine! Oh my gosh ...Penny...we're going to be popular!"
She rolled her eyes. Somehow, after training with the Avengers and her almost date with Harry Osborn, that didn't seem quite so important. But Ned was her best friend, and she'd do anything for him.
Penny didn't tell Mr. Stark about the party. Didn't even consider it. Instead, they worked together on suit upgrades and Penny continued to work on her AI that Mr. Stark had assured her that he wanted to put in the new Stark Phone. She wasn't exactly Karen or Friday, as he put it, but she was definitely a step up from Siri, praise that had made her blush and her eyes fill unexpectedly. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a kind smile.
"You're doing great things here, kiddo. Not just as Spidergirl."
And then...then it was time to get ready for a party. She settled on a nice shirt and a pair of jeans, not wanting to wear anything to fancy or dressy and look dumb, but also wanting to look nice enough for an actual party...not that she'd ever been invited to a party thrown by a classmate. But she had been to a party thrown by Tony Stark...so there was that. Then again, she'd worn a beautiful dress to that party, one chosen for her to try on by Pepper Potts.
May was excited to hear that she was going to an 'age-appropriate' event with 'people her age' which Penny took to mean that she still wasn't thrilled about the whole Avengers business, but her aunt had been generally supportive, so she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she let her aunt do her makeup, with light eyeshadow and just a tiny bit of lip gloss. They picked up Ned on their way, Penny's suit stuffed into an oversized purse that she kept zipped up, and after May warned them against underage drinking, she dropped them off outside the house in the suburbs with music blaring from inside, driving off and leaving Penny and Ned standing in the driveway.
She gave him a nervous glance, arms crossed over her chest. She wore a jacket but still shivered in the cool night air. Ned practically vibrated with excitement beside her, clutching his hat in his hands before placing it back on his head. "Ready?" He asked.
"Not really."
"Okay, let's go over the plan. First, we go in. Let everyone see us at the party."
"Yeah."
"Then, you mention that Spidergirl got back to you and said she'd be happy to swing by."
She gave a reluctant smile. "Right."
"And then, you tell everyone how cool Ned and Penny are and how Spidergirl is our best friend."
"In sign language?"
"Um...I'll translate!"
Penny laughed, arms crossed. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
The first part of the plan went great. They went in. They were seen. Ned told Liz that Spidergirl would be stopping by, Penny left to 'go to the bathroom' and then...then she was on the roof, pulling her mask over her face and staring out at the horizon.
"Hi," She signed, hands moving lazily through the air. "I'm Spidergirl. I'm Ned's best friend. He's so great...such a cool guy."
Penny groaned, dropping her head back. "This is so stupid."
Just as she was about to jump down and head inside, she saw it...a flash of blue light. "Um...Karen?" She asked, leaning forward, pressing her feet to the roof to push herself up. "What was that?"
"I am unsure. It looked like it could have been a discharge from a Chiutari weapon."
"Alien tech," She whispered, standing up. "Um...Karen, send a text to Ned...tell him there's an emergency!" She cried, jumping from the roof and shooting a web to the closest tree, which only got her a couple hundred feet until she remembered that she was in the suburbs...and that there weren't enough trees to swing from. Swearing under her breath, she took off at a run.
"And, should I send a message to Mr. Stark?"
She thought about it as she sprinted, shooting webs at trees and getting as much momentum as she could whenever possible...she didn't even know what was going on. Or if it really was an alien weapon. She hadn't really run across them on the street yet, but the other Avengers had seen them, and Karen thought that it was an alien weapon..so maybe she should call for backup. It went against her instincts to call for help...she wanted to handle it on her own. Then again...that's what she'd thought about Norman.
As she reached the scene, with a white van parked in a little lot and a couple of guys standing around, she made her choice. "Karen," she whispered, "call Mr. Stark...tell him I think I found some guys selling alien weapons."
The guy they were selling to didn't seem to want to buy...didn't seem convinced. "I wanted something low-key, man. Why are you trying to upsell me?"
The guy holding the huge weapon headed back to the back of the van that seemed to be stuffed with weapons, and Penny crawled forward, keeping a close eye on them. She didn't think this guy was 'The Vulture.' He didn't look like him...and he didn't seem very Vulture-like. Another guy approached the buyer, telling him that they were the only ones selling those high-tech weapons, which just confirmed that Norman must have some kind of exclusive deal with the Vulture and his...crew? Posse? Entourage?
"Look, I just need something to stick up somebody. I'm not trying to shoot them back in time."
Penny covered a snort. At least the local criminals had a value system. Karen came to life then, speaking in her ear. "Penny, Mr. Stark has informed me that he is on his way with Colonel Rhodes."
"Cool...okay…" Penny whispered. "Good...that's good."
"I've got anti-grav climbers…" The guy at the van called, and she inched just a little closer.
And that's when her phone rang, the stupid yodeling Ned had chosen for his ringtone coming from the pocket of her suit. Penny swore under her breath, silencing the phone as quickly as she could, but the two weapons dealers were turning on the buyer.
"What was that?" One of them demanded while the other pulled out a gun.
"Did you set us up?"
"Woah…" The buyer held up his hands, and Penny couldn't let this guy get shot...not because of her...so she jumped, flipping in midair and landing with her hands up.
"Hey, hey! Come on! You wanna shoot at somebody, shoot at me!" She cried, not caring that Spidergirl was supposed to be deaf. She couldn't risk them shooting at this guy, even if he was a criminal. Of course, she didn't want them shooting at her either...she could remember all too well how that felt. Still, she had to distract them for as long as she could. Shooting a web and yanking the gun out of his hand, she ran toward them, ready to web them up, when one of them turned around, a glowing glove-thing on his hand that slammed into her and sent her flying back into a concrete support pillar, part of which crumbled under her back. She groaned, dropping to the ground and struggling to blink away the black dots in her vision.
And then they were getting away. She shot another web at the van, refusing to let them go. Refusing to lose them. She'd called for help! She couldn't let them get away! And so, she let herself get dragged behind the van as she struggled to get back on her feet, then, when they managed to sever the web, she took off, trying to cut them off as she made her way through the suburbs while doing her best not to do too much property damage.
They had weapons like nothing she'd ever seen before, and she knew that no matter what, they had to get these off the streets...had to make sure these things never got into the hands of the wrong people.
She was leaping from the roof of one of the houses, less than fifty feet from the van, when she felt claws digging into her legs. Penny screamed as she was dragged upwards, managing to twist enough so that she could try grabbing at the claws holding her, when the masked man turned down to face her, huge, green, glowing eyes staring back at her in the dark. She froze for a second. The Vulture. Adrian Toomes. This was the guy working with Norman Osborn.
They flew further and further into the sky and Penny was just getting a grip on the claws holding her when her suit beeped...and then she was falling.
The parachute was under her. It wasn't slowing her down...she was falling and she couldn't get out of the prison of the parachute the world was spinning around her and she couldn't even scream...couldn't get the breath to do anything but gasp as she spun and fell and then...and then she hit the water so hard that every part of her hurt.
The fabric was tangled around her and she was sinking and...and she couldn't breathe. She was drowning...how long had she been sinking?
The arms that wrapped around her yanked her upwards, and as soon as they broke the surface, Penny gasped for air, choking on the water that had somehow filled her lungs already. "Mr...Mr. Stark…" She asked, looking up for confirmation, and the familiar mask looked down at her for only a moment before it flipped up, showing Mr. Stark's concerned face.
"Kid? You good?"
"Yeah." She gasped out, shivering hard. He dropped her gently onto the beach, but her knees buckled, sending her sprawling on her hands and knees.
"Pen?" Suddenly he was kneeling beside her, a hand gripping her shoulder and holding her up.
"Go...get him...the Vulture...it's Toomes…"
"Yeah, got that from the freaky Vulture costume. Rhodey's got him. Sam's close." He adjusted his grip when she coughed again. "Karen, turn her heater on."
"Oh." She shuddered, then sighed in relief. "That's better. Thanks."
"Friday? Scan her."
"I'm fine." She tried to wave him off before needing to cough one more time.
"Yeah, I can tell. Friday?"
"It appears that she has bruises developing on her back and legs, but is otherwise unharmed."
"Told you." She told him, but the words were undercut by how hard she was shivering.
"Yeah, I can tell, kiddo." He murmured, lifting on her arm and pulling her up to her feet. Before she could take a step, he wrapped an arm around her. "Let's get you back to the tower. You're freezing."
"I was trying to stop them...they had those weapons."
"I know, kiddo. You did a great job. Rhodey and Sam are all over it. I'll have a chat with him after we've got you warmed up, okay?"
Apparently Mr. Stark had had a car sent to meet them because there was a black Audi waiting in the parking lot. He opened the passenger door for her, waiting until she had climbed in, then shut it softly. As soon as he was in the driver's side, she yanked her mask off, dropping her head against the headrest. "There were two more guys...in a van. They've got alien weapons...lots of them. I almost had them...they were selling to this guy...I didn't get his name but…"
"Hey." He had started the car, but they were still idling in the parking lot as the car warmed up. "We'll see everything on your suit's footage. Karen can run facial recognition. We'll get them. And Sam and Rhodey are going to get Toomes. He's our biggest problem right now. Don't worry, Pen. You did great."
She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted. And guilty. "I left Ned at the party."
"Party?"
"In the suburbs...one of the girls at school...she's a senior and Ned told them I knew Spidergirl so that we could be popular but…"
"Wait...you went to a party...as Spidergirl?"
"No...I went as myself. I put my suit on on the roof and I was going to...go inside."
"And tell everyone how cool Penny Parker and her best friend Ned were?" He asked, a smile in his voice. She snorted.
"Yeah. Pretty much." Penny admitted.
Mr. Stark sighed. "I do not miss high school...not at all."
"I thought you went straight to college." She pointed out, and he chuckled, putting the car in drive and pulling out of the parking lot.
"You know what I mean. Now let's get you back to the tower. I'll send Happy to pick up Ned...think it would help if I had Happy say, very loudly, that Tony Stark needed Ned for top secret Iron Man related reasons?"
Penny laughed, nodding. "Yeah. I think it would."
"Alright. Pass that on, Fri." He reached out, ruffling her wet hair. "You'll be the most popular kids in school by Monday."
Thank you for reading!