Tony Stark had just come back from India when his plane crashed. In fact, he had been walking to his car in the parking lot of John F. Kennedy International Airport when he noticed lights flickering in the sky. Looking up led him to realize the plane he scheduled to transport very important and valuable cargo from Avengers Tower to the Compound was coming down, retro-reflecting panels glitching and engines in flame. With its current trajectory, Tony predicted it would crash in the south of Brooklyn.
Immediately fearing it was going to hit a residential area, the billionaire ran to the trunk of his car where the outdated but reliable Mark 43 Armor could be found. He summoned it to himself a move of the arms and, within seconds, was taking off from the airport and flying to Brooklyn.
The plane crashed only seconds later.
While he was flying at full speed toward the direction of the crash, he thought about what could have caused such a thing. He knew that the plane was one of the most reliable and secure models in the world – and that was not even mentioning all the modifications he had done to it, like adding retro-reflective panels. It was the reason why he'd bought it to move his more prized possessions from Avengers Tower to the Compound. He knew that for the plane to crash so soon after take-off, something horribly wrong had to have taken place.
As he approached, he was relieved to see that the crash site was the beach of Coney Island, like whoever had been in control of the plane tried to use it as a makeshift runway. Already, dozens of police cars, ambulances and firetrucks could be found at the scene. Behind a perimeter marked by yellow police tape were another few hundred people watching from afar. A few pairs of reporter/cameraman had managed to sneak inside the perimeter to get a closer view of the happenings.
Tony landed with a heavy thump in the sand, startling more than on person. Behind him, people could be heard shouting "That's Iron Man!" or "Tony Stark is here!", all of whom were ignored by said man, who walked out of his armor and made his way to the highest ranking officer he could find.
The officer he ended-up talking to was a captain of the NYPD who was wearing civilian clothes. Had it not been for the badge or the dozens of officers reporting to him, Tony would not have recognized him as the man he wanted to speak to. "What happened here?" he immediately asked when he reached him.
"I was wondering when you would show up, Mr. Stark." said the greyed-haired officer before turning toward him. He introduced himself. "Captain George Stacy."
"A pleasure." Tony said, shaking his hand. "And why did you expect me?"
"Because I know it's your plane that nearly destroyed Luna Park and killed thousands." the captain told him.
Tony winced. "How do you know it is mine?" the billionaire asked. While he did not want to deny the accusation, he was genuinely curious of the answer. Nothing on the plane indicated it was his (other than the technology) and, as far as everyone was aware, he was still in India.
"Spider-Woman told me." he answered. "She was there on the scene of the crash before anyone else."
Tony tried not to look surprised – and failed miserably. "Since when does Spider-Woman work with the NYPD? I thought you wanted her arrested."
"Not since you took her under your wing." Captain Stacy told him truthfully. "Since then, the NYPD left her alone, recognizing her as working for the Avengers."
Tony stopped himself from wincing, feeling guilt form in his stomach. He forgot that under the Sokovia Accords, Spider-Woman's activities would be illegal had he not given his word for her. He did not tell the captain that Spider-Woman no longer worked with him after he had dropped her in a fit of misguided anger, not only because it could bring back the wrong sort of attention on the teenage girl, but because it would make him feel even guiltier if he said it aloud.
"Right..." Tony said, clearing his throat. "Uh – do you know what happened?" he asked, changing the subject. "I just came back from India and landed at JFK not an hour ago. I'm completely blind to the situation."
"I can't tell you much, Mr. Stark, as we are still investigating. However, I will tell you that if it wasn't for your protegee, your plane would either be in the hands of criminals or crashed in residential areas. So, next time you see her, you better thank her for saving your arse as I doubt New York would be happy with you if one of your planes killed its citizens."
Captain Stacy turned around to continue working on the investigation, leaving a pale billionaire behind to think about his actions. He stood there unmoving for a few minutes before until the sound of a car driving to him snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to see Happy Hogan walk out of the car alongside three of the former SHIELD agents Tony had hired to work for the Avengers.
"What happened, Happy?" Tony asked quietly with a hint of anger in his voice. "That plane is supposed to be on its way to the Compound. What is it doing on a beach in flames and in a thousand pieces?"
"I don't know, Tony." the man answered with a sigh. "Everything was running smoothly and our computers told us the plane was following its intended path when it suddenly came crashing down. We came here to find out why."
"Well, the police captain on the scene told me the plane would have been stolen had it not been for Spider-Woman." Immediately, he noticed shock then guilt in the man's eyes "What does it mean, Happy?" Tony asked calmly.
Without looking in Tony's eyes, Happy answered. "Well... the girl's friend warned me the Vulture would try to hijack the plane..." he said, wincing at his own words.
"And you didn't do anything!?" Tony exclaimed. "Why?!"
"I thought it was a joke!" he said on the defensive.
Tony took a deep breath to avoid yelling at his friends and be overheard by everyone around. "Happy, I might not have been the best mentor but even I know she would never tell us such a lie to us." he said. "She's the whole reason we even know of the Vulture – because she's the one who alerted us of his existence!"
"She hacked the suit you gave her and threw away the tracker!"
"Because she does not trust us!" Tony returned, realizing the truth as he spoke the words. "She did not trust her because we so often ignored her or shrugged her off when she told us something important. If she thought we would stop her from doing her duties as Spider-Woman without following on what she started, then is it a surprise she decided to work behind our backs?" he asked. He then turned and made his way back to his armor, finishing with "I don't know about you, Happy, but I intend to give some serious apologies to the girl. Hope its not too late to have a working relationship with her."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Happy sighed as Tony entered the Mark 43. He immediately took off and left Coney Island without another word, thinking about when would be the best time to visit Penny and beg for forgiveness. Tony Stark rarely apologized but he knew it was the right thing to do after doing such a serious fuck up.
After taking down the Vulture, Penny believed she deserved a long night of rest. Unfortunately, she was woken up earlier than she wanted when she heard someone knock on her bedroom door. She stayed silent, hoping that whoever was on the other side would leave her alone. But, it was not to be as the door was opened shortly after. Penny let out a groan.
A side of the mattress pressed down slightly as someone sat on the edge of the bed. A hand moved a few curls from her face. "Wake up, sweetie." said the soft voice of her aunt.
"Do I have to?" she whined in a way reminiscent of her younger self.
"There's someone on the phone who want to talk to you." May told her quietly.
"So early?" asked Penny, yawning.
"It's eleven-o-clock, Penny."
"Already?" she said, surprised.
Now understanding why May decided to wake her up, Penny opened her eyes and immediately blinked furiously when she saw the sunlight creeping through her curtains. After adjusting to the light, she turned her eyes to May, who was looking at her, a lit phone in her hand. The screen showed the phone was currently on call, having a green and red button plus a timer.
"Who is it?"
"Rio called first to talk about what happened on Coney Island yesterday and then her son asked to talk to you." she answered.
Penny turned her eyes back to the phone where the timer of the call was still ticking up. "Hi, Miles." she said, knowing he would be able to hear her on the other end. And, sure enough...
"Hi, Penny." he returned, her enhanced senses picking up his voice easily despite not being on speaker.
Penny extended her hand to her aunt who gave her the phone. May looked at her niece for a few seconds before giving her a kiss on the temple. She then walked out of the room to leave them alone.
"So, what's up?" she asked before yawning.
"I saw the crash last night." he answered. "The plane flew right over my house on its way to Coney Island. It was crazy!"
Penny snorted. "Yeah, it was." she said tiredly.
"It's all over the news right now." he told her. "They say Spider-Woman apparently fought someone which caused the plane to crash."
"They'd be right." she said. "That's why I'm – I'm..." she yawned again. "...so tired. Crashing planes is exhausting." she joked. In reality, the reason she was so exhausted was because her enhanced healing had worked overnight to heal her of all the bruises and cuts she had gathered in her fight against the Vulture at the cost of her energy.
Miles snorted. "I can imagine." he said. "What happened up there anyway?"
Penny rubbed her eyes and began explaining, giving a summary of her investigations of the Vulture before quickly explaining the events of the previous day like when she found out who the Vulture was, her being dumped in a water tank and the fight on the plane.
"Wow, girl." Miles said at the end of her explanation. "That's crazy!"
"I know, I was there." she joked, making him snort.
There were a moment of comfortable silence before Miles said something else. "I just saw but, apparently, Iron Man showed up about five minutes after the emergency vehicles."
"Really?" Penny asked, suddenly feeling more awake. "I thought he was in India."
"The reporter who wrote the article I'm reading right now overheard him say to one Captain George Stacy that he had just landed at the airport when the crash happened."
"Mr. Stark spoke to Gwen's dad?" she asked, surprised.
"He's Gwen's dad?" Miles repeated, sounding as surprised.
"He and Gwen were there yesterday night. They were the first people on the scene of the crash." she said before adding "Though I don't think Gwen was supposed to be there. Her father was really mad to see her."
"My dad would be pissed too if he told me to stay away from a dangerous situation he had to investigate and I followed him instead." Miles snorted.
"That remind me – I'm expecting a call from Gwen later today. I told her dad Gwen could call me to organize a meeting where I would tell him everything I know about Toomes."
There was a moment of silence... "But... she won't be able to call you." he said, sounding confused.
"What do you mean?" Penny asked, her turn to be confused.
"Well... you told me that when you were dropped in the water tank, you tried to use your phone to call for help but it turned off, right?"
"Yes. Why?" she asked, her tired mind not immediately processing his words. Miles stayed silent for a few seconds, letting Penny come to the conclusion by herself. And, she did. Her eyes widened. "Oh fuck!" she exclaimed very loudly.
"Language!" came her aunt's stern voice from further down the apartment. Penny winced.
"Sorry!" she returned before sitting up in her bed. "Shit!" she cursed quietly. "I told Gwen to call me but she won't be able to! What if she think I'm ignoring her or, worse, ghosting her to make sure I won't be in trouble with her dad? She'll be mad! And that's not talking about Captain Stacy who will think I'm trying to hide something important from him!"
"Penny – calm down." Miles told her calmly. "Just call her and tell her the news. She'll understand."
"But I can't!" Penny exclaimed. "My phone is busted!"
Even though she could not see him at all, Penny could practically feel the amusement coming from him. "And do tell – how are we talking?"
Penny blinked, suddenly feeling very stupid. "Oh."
"Yes, oh." he repeated, chuckling. "I know you said you were tired but damn! I think you're even more than you pretend."
"Yeah, probably." she said sheepishly. "I'll call Gwen now to get things straight."
"You do that." he chuckled. "Goodbye, Penny."
"Goodbye, Miles." she finished before pressing the red button on the screen.
For a few minutes, Penny stared at the phone, wondering if she should call her now or wait a half an hour to get more sleep. In the end, she decided it was better to do it now knowing she likely would not want to wake up in thirty minutes.
After dialing the number of Gwen's cellphone, Penny waited for her to answer. It took a few moments but, eventually, someone answered.
"Hello, this is Gwen." said her friend's voice. "Who is calling?"
"Hi Gwen. It's me, Penny." she answered.
"Penny!" Gwen exclaimed, her voice full of shock and relief. "I tried to call you earlier but it didn't work! Did something else happen?"
"No." the brunette chuckled. "I just forgot to tell you and your dad something important: my phone is busted."
"Oh. Is that why the call wouldn't connect?"
"Yes." Penny nodded, not that Gwen would be able to see. "I just woke up so I doubt I would have been coherent but even if I had not been sleeping, I wouldn't have received your calls. That's why I'm calling actually. I didn't want you or your dad to get the wrong idea."
"Speaking of dad, I will go get him." Gwen told her. "He wanted to speak to you earlier this morning but your phone wouldn't answer."
Penny winced. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry." the blonde said, waving her guilt aside. "Can't blame you for something out of your control. Now, I'll go get dad. Wait here."
"I don't intend on- on..." she let out another yawn. "...on going anywhere."
"Tired much?" Gwen asked, chuckling. A door could be heard open from her end of the line.
"You would be too after fighting the Vulture. The enhanced healing we have sap a lot of energy."
"Good to know." she said.
Penny heard a knock on a door come from the phone, following by an "Enter!" A door opened and Gwen spoke again, though not directly at the phone.
"Penny is on the line, dad. She just told me her phone got busted. That's why I couldn't reach her earlier."
"That's good to know." Gwen's dad answered. "I knew she could still be sleeping but I thought the phone would have woken her up at least. Well, anyway. Is she ready to talk?"
"She is." Gwen said before a sound came out of her end of the line. By the sound of it, the phone had been dropped on an even surface.
"Hi, Penny!" Gwen said aloud. "You're now on speaker phone. Don't worry about anyone overhearing anything, its just me and my dad."
"Hi, Gwen. Hello, Captain Stacy." she said.
"Hello, Miss Parker. How are you this morning?" said the police captain politely, starting the conversation with the pleasantries.
"Better than yesterday." she said truthfully. "A bit tired, though."
"Understandable." he said before going to the main subject of this conversation. "You told me before leaving the beach that we could organize a meeting this weekend to speak about the crash, Adrian Toomes, and what led to it."
"I did." Penny confirmed uselessly, starting to feel a bit nervous.
"I was wondering if you had a time and place in mind for such a meeting. The sooner the better."
"Uh... please wait a minute or two. I'll go ask my aunt what time she prefer. She's the one who pay the bills, after all." she joked nervously.
"At least someone remember that..." Captain Stacy muttered. Penny could practically see him send a small glare to Gwen. And, sure enough...
"Dad!" Gwen protested with a whine. "That was one time!" The police captain chuckled.
Penny stood up from her bed and made her way out of the bedroom to find May. She found her standing in the kitchen, working on what appeared to be a cake mix. She felt a bit bad for interrupting her aunt while she had fun attempting to cook but, even at first glance, she could tell her aunt had put too much flour in the mixture, so it wouldn't be a huge loss.
"May?" she called, sitting down on a stool near the kitchen counter.
"What is it, Penny?" May asked with a pleasant voice as she read the cake recipe written on a sheet of paper.
"Remember when I told you I told Captain Stacy of the NYPD that I invited him here to speak about the crash and the Vulture?"
"Yes, I remember. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I have them on the line now." she answered, putting the phone on the counter and pressing the speaker phone button. "Captain Stacy want to know when he should come here. Oh, you're on speaker phone, by the way." she added for both May and the Stacys' sake."
"Yes – Hello, Mrs. Parker." said Captain Stacy before May could say anything. "Like your niece told you, we were discussing which time would be the most convenient to meet."
May turned to look at the phone. "Well, any time this afternoon is fine for us." she said.
"What about one-o-clock?" he asked.
The two Parkers turned to look at the microwave where '11:46' was written. "Good for us." she said, turning back to her mixture.
"Then I shall see you then."
"Do you need the address?"
"No, I already have it. Thank you."
Then, Gwen's voice came from May's phone. "Can I come too, dad?" she asked.
Captain Stacy seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying "That's not me who you should ask, but the Parkers."
Penny turned to look at her aunt with hopeful eyes – not that she could see them with her back turned to her niece. "May, can she..."
"Yes, your friend can come too." May chuckled, looking over her shoulder at her for a moment.
"Thank you." Penny and Gwen said at the same time.
After exchanging a few more words, Penny ended the call and gave the phone back to her aunt. "So, what are you making?" she asked even if she had a solid idea of the answer.
"I'm trying to make a cake, but I don't think it will work." she chuckled, trying to mix the very thick cake dough with her wooden spoon.
"I noticed you put too much flour in it." she commented.
"As did I." May said, moving to the trashcan where she emptied the bowl in.
"Do you want to start over?" Penny asked, her voice full of interest. "I want to try and help you make a cake."
"Really?" her aunt asked with surprise. "You never showed an interest in cooking before."
She shrugged. "Well, I don't have anything better to do and hey! How hard can it be?"
As it turned out, it was surprisingly easy to bake a cake. When Penny read the recipe, she quickly came to realize just why he aunt had failed her first attempt at baking a cake. It was a simple problem with an even simpler solution: The recipe used weight as a method of measurement of its ingredients while May had used volume. It wasn't by choice, but because she lacked a balance to measure weight with, which led her to use inaccurate conversions found online. However, Penny happened to have such a balance in her room along with plenty of random electronics. Thus, with a quick trip in and out of the kitchen, the two Parkers were ready to work on their new cake.
Twenty minutes later, Penny watched as her aunt carefully put the two batter-filled cake pans on the middle rack in the oven. "We just have to wait some thirty to thirty-five minutes for the cake to be cooked." Penny told her aunt, making her way to the microwave where she started a timer. "Then, we take it out and let it cool down completely before applying the frosting."
Another thirty minutes later found May and Penny both standing in front of the over looking through the small window in the door. They both gave a start when the microwave rang, announcing it had been thirty minutes since the cake was put in the oven. May quickly put on her oven mitts and took the cake pans out, placing them on top of the stove. They quickly checked with a toothpick if it was fully baked and were satisfied when it came out clean of the cake.
As they waited for the cake to cool down, May cleaned the dirty dishes by hand while Penny made herself a sandwich to eat for lunch. It was not as good as a submarine from Delmar's, but it did the job. While she ate it, she looked at the clock on the microwave and saw it was already 12:40. The Stacys would arrive in twenty minutes.
"You should go change." May told her. "You're still wearing your pyjamas."
Penny looked down at herself and saw she was right. Not only that, but the shirt she was wearing had a bit of white patches on it where flour had dirtied it. She gave a nod to her aunt, finished her sandwich and went to her bedroom to change.
As she came out wearing jeans and a hoodie, she heard a loud knock. "I'll go get it." she said to May, moving to the front door. She opened it to find on the other side Gwen and her father like expected. After quick greetings, Penny let the Stacys in. Immediately, Gwen commented on the scent of the place.
"Smells good! Did you bake a cake?" she asked to her friend. Penny nodded.
"We took it out of the oven twenty minutes ago. We're waiting for it to cool down." she said.
"And, for once, I'm sure it will be a cake we'll be happy to eat." May chuckled as they walked in front of the counter of the kitchen. She wiped her wet hands on a towel before extended a hand to the Stacys. "May Parker, Penny's aunt." she said on a friendly tone.
"Captain George Stacy." Gwen's father returned, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you."
"Gwen Stacy." Gwen simply said with a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Gwen. I will admit, I was happy to hear Penny made another friend. As great as Ned is, I believe she could use a female friend."
"May!" Penny whined, embarrassed as Gwen laughed.
Captain Stacy glanced at his daughter before smirking. "Oh, I understand perfectly well, Mrs. Parker. I'm also happy Gwen found a friend at Midtown so she wouldn't be so lonely."
"Dad..." groaned Gwen, her turn to be embarrassed. The adults chuckled together.
And, just like that, the ice was broken. Penny led the Stacys to the living room while May offered refreshments. "A glass of water, if you don't mind." answered Gwen's dad. Said girl asked for the same.
While May went to fill a few glasses of water, Captain Stacy took out a notebook from the pocket of his vest along with a pen, which he clicked. "Now, I believe you promised me a story." he simply said. Penny nodded and began talking.
She began by recounting what led to that night, speaking of how she had first come into contact with high-tech weapons built with the help of alien technology two weeks prior while stopping a bank robbery. She spoke of her second encounter with the weapons when she stumbled on a weapon deal after trying to find out the cause of a strange blue explosion, the chase that ensued and her first encounter with the Vulture who dropped her high from the sky right in a lake – which she would have drowned in had it not been from the timely rescue from Mr. Stark.
Then, she explained how she found a piece of alien technology on the way back, her and Ned's attempt to figure out what it was at school which unknowingly led the arms dealer there as they could track the tech down. She explained how she managed to avoid being found out and how she put a tracker on one of them, which allowed her to track them to Washington DC. Believing they had a secret lair there, she joined in on her decathlon trip to Washington DC to get there.
She quickly went through her fight with the Vulture as she tried to stop him from robbing a truck from Damage Control. Unfortunately, that led her to be locked-up in said truck and awaken in the middle of the Damage Control vault. She explained how she found out from the AI in the suit Mr. Stark had given her that the piece of technology was a highly explosive Chitauri energy core. Freaking out, she managed to find a way out of the vault and tried to warn Ned so he could throw the core away but was unable to.
She reluctantly admitted while flushing in shame that the core was the reason behind the explosion of the Washington Monument – having exploded as a result of being bombarded by x-rays at the security checkpoint. She quickly went over her rescue of her friends, knowing it wasn't as important as the rest of the larger story she was telling.
She then skipped to a week later when she found a clue that gave her a lead on the Vulture. She spoke of how she ended-up learning from a source that another deal took place on a Staten Island Ferry. With the shame of the day resurfacing, Penny explained what happened that day, the presence of the FBI. It was then that she spoke of Iron Man coming to the rescue and the ensuing fight with Mr. Stark where he let her go.
It was then that Captain Stacy interrupted her. "You mean... you aren't working with Tony Stark anymore?" he asked pointedly.
"Uh – no?" she confirmed, confused.
There was a moment of silence while the captain wrote something on his notepad. "Continue." he simply said at Penny and Gwen's questioning looks.
So Penny skipped once more to talk about the events of the previous day. With it having happened only the day before, her memory of the events were more fresh than that of what she had talked so far. Thus, she went in great details about her visit to Liz's house and her discovery her father is the Vulture. She spoke of the fear she felt in his presence and how she tried to hide it.
She spoke of their arrival to the school and the confrontation between her and Toomes. She told Captain Stacy how the man threatened her with a gun and the anger she felt at a result, which caused her to tell him how his actions nearly led to the death of his daughter, which caused him to knock her out before she could react.
More quietly, and leaning nearer to May who held her, Penny told everyone how she woke up atop an industrial water tank before being thrown inside by the Vulture. Slightly trembling, she told them the panic and fear she'd felt and how she had even resigned herself to her death before a sudden motivational urge allowed her to jump out.
Penny spoke in detail of her chase of the Vulture, the fight on the plane and how Toomes' attempts to kill her ended-up damaging the plane enough to send it crashing down. She said that when she noticed this, she used her webs and enhanced strength to pull on the control surfaces, changing the trajectory of the plane so it would crash on the beach which she knew to be empty that night.
The finished by speaking of her fight against the Vulture mostly for May's sake as Gwen and her father already knew what happened. Once she was done, Penny went silent, simply closing her eyes and letting herself be held by her loving aunt.
After taking a few seconds to process everything her niece said, May took a deep breath and coolly said "That man will end-up in prison for what he did to my niece, right?" While it was a question, her anger made it sound more like a threat.
"Well, the evidence we gathered so far is already convincing, Spider-Woman's testimony is only the icing on the cake."
Penny suddenly realized something. "My real name won't be associated with the testimony, right?" she asked, fearing this would lead to her identity being thrown in the open. Thankfully, Captain Stacy shook his head.
"Not in this situation, no. Superheroes registered under the Sokovia Accords are legally allowed to keep their identity a secret. All the reports will be under the alias of Spider-Woman."
"That's relieving!" she said, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I didn't even know my identity was protected."
"Really?" he asked, sounding surprised. "Didn't your handler tell you that?"
Penny and May blinked. Even Gwen looked at her father in confusion. "Her what?" May asked.
"Her handler." he said. "Everybody who signed the Sokovia Accords have to report every worth mentioning action they do while operating as superheroes. While some like Iron Man report directly to the Comity, others like War Machine report their actions to someone in the Military who then in turn give the report to the Comity. The person Colonel Rhodes report to is his 'handler', who serve as a middle-man between him and the Comity."
Penny looked at the man with wide eyes. "But... I didn't sign the Accords." she blurted.
"You... didn't?" the police captain asked, shocked.
"I didn't know I had to sign it!" she quickly said, fearing the man would become angry if she didn't explain herself. "I thought it was like a law – that once it was passed, everyone superheroes the world would have to abide by it! I didn't know I had to sign anything!" Because if Captain Stacy was right and nobody was forced to sign the Accords, then it meant Captain America's rebellion made even less sense than she believed!
Then again, she had been told by Mr. Stark that the Captain had gone 'round the twist.
"Is it a bad thing if she didn't sign the Accords, Dad?" Gwen asked to her father, speaking for the first time since the seriousness of the conversation began. Pinching his nose, the man answered.
"Yes, it is really bad." he grimly said. "While her actions before and after the Accords up to last week are protected from the law, the fact she is no longer Iron Man's protegee mean everything she did as Spider-Woman in the past six days is considered vigilantism, which is very illegal."
By that point, both Penny and May's faces turned bone white as the reality of the situation hit them. Both were afraid the friendly officer they invited in their own home would leave with Penny in handcuffs. Gwen didn't like where it was going either if the outrage in her eyes meant anything. "You're not going to arrest Penny, are you?" she protested.
Gwen and both Parker women let out sigh of relief when Captain Stacy shook his head. Looking at Penny, he said "While I'm technically supposed to arrest you, the fact you are both a minor and have been unaware of the reality of the Accords mean I'm willing to look the other way. However, I will not be able to protect any other action should you go out and do your usual Spider-Woman activities before signing the Accords."
"I will sign the Accords as soon as I can. Thank you." Penny nodded.
"Yes, thank you for telling us." May said. 'And for not arresting my niece and leaving me all alone' went unsaid but was heard by all of them.
Gwen also thanked her father, hugging him. Penny's enhanced hearing allowed her to hear the blonde whisper "Thanks for not arresting my only friend." to him.
After that, the conversation turned more boring as Captain Stacy asked question after question to Penny, attempting to find and gather the smaller, less important details from her interactions with the Vulture.
It was while she was attempting to describe the size and shape of the gun Toomes used to threaten her that someone knocked on the door of the apartment.
"Were you expecting someone?" Captain Stacy asked to May.
"We weren't." she denied. "I will go check who it is. You can continue."
May stood up and walked to the front door. As Penny completed her description, she couldn't help but be tense, listening carefully to May, curious and a little bit scared of who could possibly be on the other side of the door. She hoped it was Ned or the Morales, but with the Vulture knowing who she was, it could easily be somebody else.
Fortunately, the person on the other side of the door was not someone hired by the Vulture to harm them. Unfortunately, it was not someone May wanted to see anytime soon.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Parker." came Tony Stark's voice. The two teenage girls and the police officer all looked up at the door just in time to see May slap Mr. Stark very hard, her face full of fury.
"Oh dear...!" Penny gasped, running toward her aunt, the two Stacys following behind her. She quickly grabbed May around the waist and pulled her away from Mr. Stark before she could slap him again.
Mr. Stark rubbed his red cheek, a guilty look on his face. "I deserved that."
Angry, Penny's aunt shouted "Yes you did! How dare you show you face here after everything you did to my niece!"
"May, stop!" Penny pleaded, hearing their neighbours opening their front door to see what the commotion was all about.
"No, Penny! Let me go! I need to make him understand how much he hurt you!"
"Listen to your niece, Mrs. Parker." Captain Stacy told her. "Your neighbours can hear you and are coming to see what is happening." he said, walking behind Mr. Stark and closing the door before locking it, ensuring nobody would be able to listen or look at them. He then turned to the guilt-ridden billionaire. "Mr. Stark." he greeted cordially.
"Captain Stacy." he returned, still rubbing his cheek. "What are you doing here?"
"My dad was invited, unlike you!" Gwen snapped. Despite knowing nothing about Penny's interactions with the famous man, simply hearing May yell about how he hurt Penny was enough for her to come to her friend's defence and turn hostile toward the superhero. Gwen had been called many things throughout her life. Disloyal was never one of them.
Mr. Stark glanced at the Stacys. "I came here for a... personal reason." he said vaguely.
"If you mean Spider-Woman then don't worry. They already know." Penny said, surprising the man.
"Oh – well that's... good." he said. It was weird to see the famous Tony Stark acting indecisive and hesitant when he was known for always speaking his mind and never being shy. Yet here he was standing in their small apartment glancing between the Stacys and the Parkers like a trapped animal.
"Why did you come here, Mr. Stark?" Penny eventually asked to her former 'mentor'. Her cold tone of voice, which was such a big departure from the bubbly and excited voice she'd used when speaking to him before, was enough to make him wince.
Mr. Stark closed his eyes and took a deep breath, like we was preparing himself to do something hard. "I came here to apologize for the way I treated you." he said. "I'm not very good at apologies – I usually just wait them out until the other party forget what I did or double down on my mistake to avoid giving one. But... I know you deserve a proper apology. So, I'm sorry, Penny. I'm sorry for the way I treated you after you helped me in Germany. I'm sorry I avoided speaking to you unless it was necessary and I'm sorry for putting the entire blame for the ferry on you when I failed to inform you I called in the FBI."
Penny was surprised how genuine and remorse-filled he looked like. She was ready to accept his apology and forgive him (she never was one to hold a grudge) but before doing so, she wanted to get the answers to a few questions of her own.
"But why did you treat me like that?" she asked. "Did I do something wrong, or..."
"No, no!" Mr. Stark quickly said, shaking his head. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's just..." He rubbed his face, hesitating. "I'm not trying to excuse what I did but, you have to understand something. A few months ago, I wasn't in the right place mentally. Pepper and I had just gone through a temporary break up, the tension between the Avengers was at its worse and the arrival of the Accords were stressing me out.
"When the incident in Lagos took place, a lot of backlash came our way which I had to deal with. Then, the Accords came to be ratified and the other Avengers protested, sparkling what the medias called the "Civil War" he said, grimacing at the name. "My situation turned worse and – really – what I'm trying to say is that by the time I needed to deal with Rogers' team, I didn't think twice about your age before coming to recruit you, being too desperate for help and too exhausted about everything to realize the consequences bringing a teenage girl to fight my teammates would cause.
"It wasn't until we were on our way back to the United-States that the reality of the situation hit me. I was shocked and horrified for recruited you, not only because of your age but because it wasn't your fight to fight and all your presence did was to attract eyes on you – good and bad. Worse was that I feared something could happen to you because of your association with me. I have a lot of enemies and many would seek ways to get to me by harming those close to me – even other superheroes. In hindsight, I know it's far from the best solution but, at the time, I thought that if we kept our relationship professional, if I kept a distance between us, then my enemies wouldn't think of harming you because of me. So, while I originally planned to work directly with you, when we returned to the States, I decided to put Happy as a middle-man between us, telling you to report to him anything worth mentioning."
Penny's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Happy was my handler!" she gasped.
Mr. Stark nodded. "He was. Another mistake of mine, I suppose. I know Happy never liked children and teenagers. I often see him get tense whenever someone under twenty is around. At the time, I thought he would be the perfect choice for your handler as he is one of the few I consider a friend and trust with my own life but, of course, I now know it was a mistake."
"It was. He never answered any of the messages I sent him and he would always dismiss whatever I told him when I called him." she huffed. "Yesterday I even had Ned call him to warn him about the hijack but Happy didn't believe him and hung up in his face."
"I know. He told me last night when I met with him. I was furious with him when he told me about the warning."
"At least that's that." she grumbled quietly. Then, louder, she asked "What about the ferry?"
Mr. Stark winced again as guilt crept back in his eyes. "When you had your first encounter with the Vulture that resulted with you getting dropped in a lake, I got quite scared for you. I feared the man might be too much for you to handle and – at the time – you seemed quite arrogant about it, acting like you could easily capture him. Now, I know I'm the last person on Earth to speak against arrogance but I feared it could lead you to a fight you would not walk out of." he said. Penny winced at his words, knowing how true they were. She really had been arrogant before, seeing the Vulture as a simple challenge instead of the danger he really was.
Mr. Stark continued to speak, unaware of her thoughts. "That night, I tried to talk you out of following his trail, telling you I would handle it but I saw you weren't quite accepting of my words. Despite this, I decided to trust you and called the FBI on the Vulture. Pepper later made me realize I should have told you that but, at the time, I didn't think about it, believing you would listen to me.
"Last Friday, I realized I was wrong during our phone call when I heard the horn of the departing Ferry. Despite you saying the sound came from an instrument at your school, I knew it came from the ferry. Since I was working with the FBI on the situation, I already knew they were there on the scene to intervene and I knew something would happen. When I arrived and saw the ship split in two with you holding both halves by yourself, I was very scared. I made my best to fix the situation. When I saw you were fine, I guess my fear something would happen to you left me, leaving place to anger. I was angry you lied to me, angry that you still followed the trail of Vulture when I told you not to and angry you unnecessarily put yourself in danger when the situation was already under control. When I spoke to the FBI, all the agents told me that they had the situation in hands until you started beating up the dealers. They put the blame of the situation on your interference and, since I was already angry with you, I didn't think twice about it and went to confront you.
Mr. Stark let out a tired sigh and passed his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry that when I confronted you, I didn't let you defend yourself. Even worse, I got angrier when you yelled at me that the entire situation could have been avoided had I listened to you. I now know you were right, that while I did listen to you, I didn't give you any sign I did so you had no reason to believe I had it in hands but, at the time, it felt like a slap in the face. I realized then and there that my suit was giving you an easier time going after dangerous people. I was scared you would get overconfident with the suit and end-up being murdered. In the end, I decided it didn't work out..."
"So you took the suit back." Penny completed quietly. Mr. Stark nodded.
"I know I'm repeating myself, but I now know I was in the wrong. It's the reason why I came here to apologize. Pepper made me realize I made a lot of mistakes with you. I shouldn't have taken the suit back. I should have listened to your point of view when I confronted you instead of letting the FBI throw you under the bus. Speaking of them, I should have told you I was working with them to put the Vulture behind bars instead of leaving you to believe you weren't being taken seriously. I shouldn't have ignored you and I shouldn't have made Happy your handler. I should have spoken directly to you so we could build a proper mentor-protegee relationship. But, I messed up. For that, I apologize. You deserved better." he finished, looking away.
Penny already knew Mr. Stark felt genuine remorse and, upon seeing the shame in his eyes, she knew what she had to do. Stepping around her aunt, she went to him and gave him a hug.
She felt Mr. Stark tense in her arms for a moment before the tension left and he tentatively hugged her back. The hug didn't last long but it was enough. When she took a step back, she said "I accept your apology. I wont forget, but you are forgiven." Mr. Stark gave her a small relieved smile.
Behind her, May added "While I'm not ready to forgive you right away for treating my niece like shit, I'm happy to see you're willing to admit your mistakes."
Mr. Stark gave her a nod before turning back to Penny. "Before I go, I was wondering if you wanted to have your suit back. I saw on Internet that you already made yourself a proper suit, but I still wanted to offer."
Penny didn't know what to say. On one hand, she was happy to have the Stark Suit offered back to her, especially since it had a lot of useful technology inside of it. The simple fact she didn't need to use her cellphone to make or receive calls already made it better than her own. However, the suit she, Ned and May made was hers. She didn't want to discard it and change to Mr. Stark's suit. She had made it herself and she was quite proud of it. Not only that, but her suit gave her more freedom. She didn't have to worry about ruining it in a fight or be scared Happy would call her to tell her she was doing something Mr. Stark disagreed with. Not only that, but while she forgave him, she did not trust him. Finally, she feared that once she was back in the Stark Suit, she would be back to beliefs of grand aspirations and arrogance.
In the end, the decision was obvious.
"No thanks."
Mr. Stark blinked. "No? What do you mean 'No thanks'?" he asked, shocked.
"Thanks for the offer, Mr. Stark, but I'm good. I like the system I have in place and while I forgave you, I don't quite trust you not to take the suit back in the future and I don't want to get the winds taken off me if it happen again. Not only that, but I like being the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Woman. I feel like if I take the suit back, I'll begin walking down the road that will lead me to things bigger than me and I'm not quite ready for that yet." she said very quickly, attempting to explain her thought process behind her decision.
"I get it. You're a local hero type of girl. I quite dig the working-class hero vibe your giving." he said. While he seemed disappointed in her decision, he also seemed relieved. "The offer still stand in the future though, should you change your mind."
"Maybe I will but for now, I'm good." she repeated. Mr. Stark nodded and offered his hand to her. Penny shook it.
"I'm going to go now before your aunt try to slap me again." he joked. Penny looked behind to see that while May was a lot less angry than before, she still stared at the billionaire with protective eyes, ready to jump in should he say or do something that would harm her niece.
As the man turned around and made his way to leave, Penny suddenly remembered something. "Mr. Stark?"
"What is it, Miss Parker?" he asked somewhat playfully.
"I didn't sign the Accords." she simply said. Thankfully, Mr. Stark immediately understood.
"Right, I'll organize for you to sign them. You'll have to find yourself a handler, though." he said. "Unless you want Happy to have the role again." he added jokingly.
Penny grimaced at the thought. "Can I think about it?" she asked. "I don't know who to choose. I want someone who will listen to me and trust what I say, who won't discard important information simply because a teenager told them. And, I want someone you know who I am under the mask, which makes it difficult since I don't want to reveal my identity to even more people. If I could, I would chose May but she's already so busy with her work and I don't want to make Spider-Woman a bigger burden than it already is." she finished, looking down.
May went to hug her. "You aren't a burden, Penny." she told her quietly. "Yes, I might be scared for you when you go fight criminals but that does not make you a burden."
"Thanks, May." she whispered back.
Gwen suddenly spoke. "What about Dad?" she said. Everyone turned to look at her. Being the sudden focus of attention made her flush slightly. "I mean, Dad already know who you are and as a police officer, he would be perfect for the role!" she said.
Penny didn't say anything, instead turning to give a questioning look to the man, silently asking him if he wanted the job. She agreed with Gwen that Captain Stacy would be a good choice. Not only did he already fit her criteria, but Gwen trusted him and Penny trusted Gwen. And, the man had already gained points in his favour when he agreed to overlook her week of illegal vigilantism.
Captain Stacy seemed to realize what she was asking. "Well, I already have to deal with the Accords as many superheroes are based in New York, so being Spider-Woman's handler won't really give me more work. If this is what you want, Penny, then I don't mind taking the job."
"You can have it, thanks." Penny said with relieved laughter.
Gwen let out a squeal of delight and hugged both her dad first and Penny second.
Mr. Stark looked at the two hugging teenage girls in amusement before turning to May and Captain Stacy. "I will contact you both when I have something organized. It should take a few days at most."
"Thank you." the two parents told him.
"Yes, thank you Mr. Stark." Penny agreed.
"My pleasure." he said, sounding genuine. "Now, unless you need something else..."
"Ah – well..." Penny said, realizing she did need something else – though she knew she was pushing her luck. "You see, the Vulture kind of broke my phone and I need a new one..." she told him, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.
Mr. Stark snorted. "Are you seriously asking me to buy you a phone?"
"Uh – maybe?"
The man let out a laugh. "Of all the things I expected in my life..." he told himself. "Fine, I'll get you one as replacement, don't worry."
"Wait, really?" Penny asked, surprised he had agreed so quickly.
"Of course. After everything, it's the least I can do for you." he shrugged before saying his goodbyes. He left shortly there after.
Captain Stacy looked at the clock on the wall. "We should probably leave as well." he told May.
"Do we have to?" Gwen whined. Her father looked at her with amused eyes.
"You can visit your friend again in the future, Gwen. I just doubt your mother and brothers want us to spend even more time away from them." he told her. The blonde reluctantly agreed. Captain Stacy turned to the Parkers. "Thank you for welcoming us in your home." he said, offering his hand. Both shook it in turns.
"Thank you for listening to me." Penny said.
"And thank you for not arresting my self-sacrificing niece." May added jokingly.
"May!" Penny said, her turn to whine. The two adults chuckled.
"Bye Penny." said Gwen to her older friend. Penny reciprocated the goodbye and the two shared a quick hug. Then, the Stacys left the apartment, leaving the Parkers alone.
Penny turned to her aunt. "So, the cake..." she started, making May grin.
They spent the following hour icing and decorating the cake. While it could have been done in minutes, their excitement made them mess around, especially as they had different decorating ideas. In the end, they divided the chocolate cake in two, each using a half as their canvas. While May meticulously put white chocolate chips and small coloured sugar stars, Penny instead decided to draw her spider logo in red icing on her half.
Once they were done, the two women cut two small portions and took a bite.
"Hmmm." May groaned, closing her eyes. "That's good."
"It is." Penny agreed with a smile, taking a second bite. "I think we did a pretty good job."
"We did." May said.
The two shared a high-five and enjoyed their cake.
In waiting cell Captain Stacy had shoved him in, Adrian Toomes stared at the wall with anger, thinking about the previous evening. He had been mad when he saw Tony Stark arrive on the beach. He had been sitting in one of the police cars at the time and while Stark had not even looked in his direction, to him, it felt like the man had come to gloat of his defeat with his mere presence. Because of Stark and that little girl who played the hero, Toomes was busted and his family was going to suffer from it.
At that moment, Toomes swore he would get his revenge on both Stark and Penny Parker. While he found it admiring that the girl who was practically a head smaller than his own daughter could escape the water tank and fight him on a flying plane before taking him down, she was Stark's lackey and the reason he was sitting in this police car. For that, she would have to die.
An idea came to him that would allow him to have his revenge on the girl without having to lift a single finger. However, he quickly discarded it. While he was tempted to do so, he knew he simply could not reveal Spider-Woman's identity to the world. First, he didn't believe anyone would believe him as, if his daughter had said the truth when she talked about all of the friends she had invited that night, the girl barely passed her P.E. class without fainting from exhaustion. That someone who had such a bad reaction to physical activity could be Spider-Woman would be seen as laughable and Toomes would never be taken seriously again.
Second, if the world did in fact believe Penny Parker was Spider-Woman, and criminals really did go after the girl like he hoped, then Toomes knew it wouldn't take long for Liz to figure out he was the man behind the leak. He knew his daughter would have no hard time putting two and two together and realize he had purposefully endangered her friend to get revenge. If there was one thing Toomes could not bear to witness it would be horror in his daughter's eyes. Horror of him.
Thus, Toomes knew he needed to find another plan. That was fine, he had plenty of time. Even if he never saw the light of day again, the man still had many loyal friends going free and even more money stashed in offshore accounts. No matter what, Penny Parker would not go unpunished for breaking up his family.
His revenge on Tony Stark would take more time to plan but it would come eventually. He had no doubt.
A/N: From the sounds of it, it seem some people on AO3 (and likely here as well) believe that because Penny accepted Tony's apology, it mean she's leaving her independence behind and returning to what once was before the ferry. But she doesn't. I'm sad people didn't catch it but Tony's offer to give the suit back was meant as a representation of that dilema. Did she accept the suit back and get Iron Man as her mentor again or did she choose to stay independent and continue to do what is best for her? As you know, Penny refused the suit, choosing to remain independent.
Tony Stark won't appear much in the future chapters. He will have a short appearance in the next chapter when Penny sign the Accords but, other than that, neither won't really interact with one another. Tony's apology and Penny's forgiveness was really for the sake of closure for the both of them so it doesn't come to haunt them in the future or cause problem when its time for them to work with one another in this fic's version of the Infinity War.
Finally, I wanted to write it here yesterday but forgot: Happy's apology is coming next chapter and unlike with Tony, Penny's not going to forgive him that easily. Because Tony at least cared even if he had a bad way of showing it. Happy treated Penny like nothing more than a burden and the young superhero is really not happy about that. :)