A/N: Hey guys! I know it's super late in the day (and depending on your time zone I missed October 1st entirely), but here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

Again, thank you so so much for the continued support. I know this is a shorter chapter, and there's less fluff, but I'm hoping that will be made up in the next one!

Love you guys, and enjoy chapter 16!

"Oh my God. It's like Romeo and Juliet."

"Uh, I wouldn't take it that far, Betty."

"Are you kidding me? You and Flash? Academic rivals turned lovers? And Shakespeare wishes he could capture the same sexual tension you two had in the elevator!"

"Wha- sexual tension? And are you recording this?"

Betty quickly pulled her phone out of Penny's reach, unaware that the superpowered teen could easily grab it and destroy it in her bare hands within seconds. As far as Betty knew, Penny was still the same uncoordinated string bean she was in middle school.

"I need to make sure everything's accurate for the record, Penny," Betty chided, shaking her head. "You don't want me misquoting you, would you?"

"I'd rather you not quote me at all," she grumbled, but she slouched back into the armchair nonetheless. "I don't understand what's so exciting about this, anyway."

Betty shot her a look that screamed yeah, I think you do, actually. Penny responded by covering her face with a pillow and groaning dramatically.

And, to her chagrin, she was smiling behind her cover. It was nice to have plain 'ole girl talk with someone who wasn't aware that she was holding the weight of the world on her shoulders. They were just two high school girls talking about boys, simple as that.

She was also always grateful for more girl friends. Before MJ, with only Ned by her side, her casual conversation topics had been heavily limited. While always open to listen, Ned wasn't the best discussion partner when it came to certain subjects, like romantic interests or literally anything that wasn't chock full of geek jargon.

"You know, I called it all along."

Startled, Penny peeked at her from behind her shield. "What? Me and Flash?"

"Yeah."

Penny knew what she was doing. Her smug smile confirmed it. But she gave into the bait anyway.

"...How?"

Betty set her phone down on her bed, placing her elbows on her knees and her chin in her palms, a wide grin splitting her face. "It was just a theory of mine. I think Flash has been in love with you for years, actually, but suppressed his emotions deep down because he thought you would never be interested."

Penny did her best to look nonchalant, but she doubted that it was working. "Huh. Years, you say?"

"Oh yeah. Definitely since middle school, at least. Not to promote the idea that guys are jerks to girls only when they like them, by the way," she quickly clarified. "Flash is just a special kind of idiot. But hey, at least he's figured out his feelings."

"Well thank goodness for that- I was getting tired of getting glared at during Decathlon practice," she joked lamely. "It's not my fault I have a 15% higher correctness rate than him."

Betty just stared back, her eyes expecting. Penny blinked, glanced behind her shoulder to make sure she wasn't missing anything, and then frowned at her.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

Betty scoffed, pushing herself off the bed and thrusting her phone near her face like it was a microphone. "So Flash has made his feelings clear- what about you? How do you feel about him?"

Penny shrank back, eyeing the phone like it was a weapon. Betty sighed in resignation, shutting it off.

"Sorry. Reporter instinct."

"It's okay," Penny said, smiling hesitantly. "I guess I can see how from an outside perspective this would be kind of wild. I mean, I used to despise Flash."

"Despise?"

"Maybe not despise," she quickly corrected, "but we definitely didn't get along, to say the least. And he kind of tortured me freshman year before mellowing out. But yeah, I definitely… feel very different about him now," she calmly concluded, folding her hands neatly in her lap.

Betty wasn't impressed. "You feel different as in..?"

"As in… I don't despise him?"

She raised an eyebrow. Penny bit the corner of her lip, fighting off a smile.

"Fine! As in… I like him. I really like him."

Betty squealed, fluttering her hands in an excited gesture. Penny broke out into a full-on grin, giggling at the blonde.

"We have to go on double dates! You and Flash and me and Ned!"

Penny waved her off, still smiling. "C'mon, Betty, we aren't even dating yet!"

Betty's spirits weren't dampened in the slightest. She propped her fists on her hips, flashing Penny a knowing grin. "Yet implies that you will be dating soon, Penny. I didn't miss your word choice there."

Damn this observant girl, Penny thought endearingly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess I do think we'll be dating soon."

If we're both alive by the end of the night and not reduced to ashes by the Elemental.

The thought was instantly sobering.

"I should go find my room," she said quickly, leaping to her feet. "Settle in and all that."

Betty pouted. "But we were just getting to the good stuff!"

"I'll spill more details later, I promise! You go ahead and track down Ned."

"I did tell him we could explore the hotel together…" Betty eyed her suspiciously. Penny's hand was already on the doorknob, but she hesitated at her look.

"What?"

"Are you running off so you can go see Flash?"

Against her will, Penny's cheeks flushed. Betty cackled triumphantly.

"I knew it! You guys are so cute!"

And because she couldn't exactly clarify that she was running off to prepare for a world-saving mission, she shot her a sheepish grin before darting out the door.

"Parker? Parker!"

Penny snapped out of her cacophony of worried thoughts, meeting the eyes of a frustrated Nick Fury.

"Yes, sir?"

He didn't look amused. "That thing's going to be here in a few hours. Are we boring you?"

She cringed internally. She hadn't meant to zone out, she really hadn't. But the Penny Parker brain was notorious for turning into a cacophonous, jumbled mess of thoughts in her head that blocked the rest of the world out, especially when she was stressed.

And holy hell, was she stressed right then.

Thankfully, Beck came to her aid. "She's not bored, she's just thinking about how you kidnapped her," he interjected, giving Fury a stern glance.

Penny's eyes widened, and then immediately flitted to Fury to catch his reaction.

Despite the challenge to his authority, his face remained impassive. "She had obstacles. I removed them."

"They still won't evacuate the city," Agent Hill announced, promptly shutting down any impending arguments.

They all physically reacted to the news. Fury dropped his head, muttering "idiots" under his breath. Beck closed his eyes with a sigh, and Penny crossed her arms close to her chest.

And now all of my friends will be out there in the direct line of danger. They're my responsibility, they're here because of me, and they're in danger.

"So what's the plan, Parker?"

All eyes were on her. She swallowed, willing herself not to tremble under the weight of this new information.

"I will be in the cathedral tower keeping watch for the fire monster," she recited dutifully, trying her best to look self-assured. "When that shows up, I will radio you guys, and then Mr. Beck and I will-"

"My name is Mysterio."

Startled, she met his gaze. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, and he gave her an almost imperceptible nod.

The gesture, she couldn't help but think, was very Stark-esque. She beamed at him.

"That's when Mysterio and I will move in," she corrected.

"Penny, listen to me." Mysterio took a single step towards her, his tone growing solemn. "The best hope you have - the only hope - is to stop it here and now, no matter what the cost. Keep it away from civilians if you can, but, most important, keep it away from metal. If it gets too big, it'll be able to draw power from the Earth's core. After that, there's no way to stop it."

She took in a sharp breath. No way to stop it. The words rang like alarm bells in her head. This could either go very good, or very, very bad.

I need to make sure my friends are safe. At the very least, I need to do that.

She didn't know if it was Mysterio's unchecked confidence in her abilities, the fact that he had already stood up to Fury on her behalf, or her own sense of impending doom, but Penny finally found the courage to voice the concern she had been meaning to point out for the last two hours.

She took two steps in towards the rest of the group, drawing their attention. "Hey man, my friends are here." She was staring at Beck when she spoke, but her words were for Fury. "And I can't help but think we're putting them in danger-"

Fury sharply cut her off mid sentence. "You're worried about us hurting your friends? You? Who called a drone strike on your own school tour bus?" His expression was hard, his gaze piercing through her like a bullet.

The blood drained from her face. Oh yeah. The bus incident. I forgot about that.

Fury swiftly approached her, and the sliver of boldness she had been holding onto her completely dissipated once he directly faced her. To her shame, her eyes were trained on the ground, unwilling to meet his gaze. She felt three feet shorter with him looming above her angrily.

But he wasn't finished yet. "Stark gave you a multi-billion dollar AR tactical intelligence system and the first thing you do with it is try and blow up your friends." He scoffed humorously, twisting the knife that was already impaled in her gut.

Penny wanted to speak up for herself, but the lump forming in her throat kept her silent. She knew what he was really saying. She could read between the lines.

Mr. Stark would be disappointed in you. You're supposed to be the next Iron Man, and you can't even keep your friends safe from yourself, let alone an enemy.

You will never be good enough.

"-It's clear to me that you were not ready for this!"

His harsh tone brought her back to reality. She caught Agent Hill's cautious gaze for a half-second before finally meeting Fury's eyes…eye.

When she finally spoke, it felt like an out of body experience. "With all due respect, sir, I didn't ask for this." The words dropped out of her mouth in a deadpan.

And all of a sudden, she was mad. Mad that he had brought up Tony Stark when he knew that it was a sore spot for her. Mad that he had died in a cruel twist of fate, leaving her behind. Mad that Fury dragged her to Prague, mad that her friends were in danger, mad at the fact that she was bit by the spider in the first place, mad that she couldn't just be a teenager, mad at herself for a million other reasons-

"You were the one who contacted me," she spat, the emotions crashing into her all at once. "You were the one who brought me here, who insisted that you needed me to get the job done. I know I'm not ready. I know that. That's what I've been saying all along, but you've refused to listen."

Fury's anger didn't dissipate, his face still hard. "Watch yourself, Parker."

"Am I wrong?" She addressed the room with a sweeping gesture. Mysterio looked at her thoughtfully. Most of the agents looked away. Agent Hill was staring at Fury, her lips pursed. "Is anything I'm saying not true?"

"Parker, that's enough."

She whirled on him, but he wasn't looking at her face. Following his gaze to her hands, she realized that she had been gripping the edge of a table, the wood splintering beneath the strength of her grasp.

The image sobered her. She immediately released the table, wiping chunks of wood off onto the sides of her pants.

"I'm going to take a breather," she announced quietly. "If that's alright with everyone."

No one moved to stop her as she grabbed her bag and left the room.

Her eyes were stinging with unshed tears as she swung her legs off the ledge of a too-tall building. Of course, if she fell, she'd be perfectly fine.

But that was just it. I'm not normal. I'll never be normal.

Penny would have given the whole world just to talk to Tony right then. Sure, the two of them would get into the occasional spat themselves- the one after the whole ferry fiasco was particularly hard on the both of them- but he always knew exactly what to say.

And, above everything else, she knew he loved her the same way her own father would have.

Stupidly, she realized, she had expected the same thing from Nick Fury, another male mentor turned father figure to guide her onto the right path.

But he doesn't care about me, she thought bitterly. He's just using me for my powers- powers I never asked for in the first place.

Penny knew the thought wasn't fair, that the fate of the entire world mattered a whole lot more than one teenager's feelings, but just for a moment she wanted to feel sorry for herself before going back to worrying about the rest of the world constantly.

And then fishbowl man himself was hovering next to her, his helmet down so she couldn't see his face. Penny gave him a halfhearted wave, hoping he couldn't make out the redness of her eyes.

His voice came out in a dull echo. "Look, Fury asked me to come up here and see how you were doing. He just, he felt bad about snapping at you."

She made a face at him. "Really?"

"You guys do have sarcasm on this earth, right?"

Penny chuckled, relieved that he didn't sound mad at her. In fact, she only detected concern in his tone.

Before she could apologize for making a scene and letting her feelings get the better of her, he stopped her in her tracks by asking, "How're you feeling?"

Her instinct was to quickly assure him that she was fine, that they should just move on and prepare for the mission, but the words were like glue in her throat.

"Uh…"

She looked away, considering her words. After a brief mental debate, the need to be honest outweighed her desire to put up a front.

"... I didn't think I was gonna have to save the world this summer." It came out in a rush, like she was confessing her sins to a priest. Tears burned behind her eyes like pin pricks against her retina, and her throat felt tight. "I know that makes me sound like such a jerk. I just... I had this plan with this guy that I really like, and...now it's all ruined."

Of course, the plan has switched around a bit, but no need to dive into my messy love life. Honestly, I shouldn't be telling him this at all.

But Mysterio didn't seem taken aback by her honesty. He lowered himself onto the ledge next to her, his helmet sliding back to reveal a solemn expression.

"You're not a jerk for wanting a normal life, kid."

Penny closed her eyes, letting the words wash over her. It felt really, really good to hear that. Sometimes she felt like she was a bad person for not being grateful for her powers- she was grateful, mostly. Her abilities were a part of her. And helping people was a part of her, too. But sometimes she couldn't help but wish that her burden had landed on someone else's shoulders.

Maybe then she could be kissing a boy she really liked on top of the Eiffel Tower right at this moment, not worrying if he would even be alive tomorrow.

"It's a hard path," he continued, his eyes skimming the buildings along the horizon with a sense of longing. "You see things, you do things... Make choices. People look up to you... Even if you win a battle sometimes, they die."

"Yeah," she breathed. A single tear escaped, slipping past her nose. She didn't bother brushing it away.

"I like you, Penny."

She glanced over at him, smiling gratefully. "Really?"

He smiled back at her warmly. "You're a good kid. And there's a part of me that wants me to tell you, just... turn around, run away from all this." He sighed, looking back out to the horizon, his expression unreadable. "And then...there's another part of me that knows what we're about to fight. What's at stake. And I'm glad you're here."

Her eyes were trained on a family far below, the mother and father on either side of their child, holding her hands to keep her from running off. She was skipping, practically swinging from their arms as she bounced up and down. They turned the corner, disappearing from view.

"Me too." And, to her acute surprise, she meant it. "But…"

"You're worried about your friends."

"Yeah," she breathed, dropping her head into her hands. "I just always feel like I'm putting them in danger."

She heard him shift beside her, and then a reassuring hand was placed on her shoulder. "Look, just... Get them inside and keep them in a safe place, for just a few hours. It'll be alright."

She lifted her head to look up at him. The gears inside her head began to turn. He's right- just get them inside. There's a million things going on in the city that are hosted indoors, and if I present it as a free learning opportunity, I just might be able to keep them inside and safe…

The solution was finally beginning to feel within her reach. For the first time in many hours, she felt like she could breathe again.

"Thanks," she said, her tone a shade brighter than it had been a moment before.

"Of course."

"It's really nice... to have somebody to talk to about, superhero stuff, you know?"

"Anytime. And hey- we survive this, you'll have all summer to kill Brad."

She snorted. "Yeah, you're right. Hey, I'll see you out there." She lifted herself to her feet, creating a mental checklist for everything else she had to accomplish before the start of their mission.

"Alright," he said, giving her a wink. "See you out there."

And with that, she grabbed her backpack and leapt off of the building, allowing herself, as she always did, to enjoy the feeling of being weightless.

She dropped to the ground as gracefully as a cat, but the sound still startled an elderly couple taking a late night stroll behind her. They eyed her suspiciously, and she pulled her best I'm a completely harmless and innocent teenage girl face.

"Scusi! Wait, that's… Italian…" her cheeks burned at the realization, and she promptly spun on her heel, walking away from the couple.

Fishing through her backpack, she pulled out Tony's sunglasses, determined to put them to good use this time around.

"Edith?"

"Yes, Penny," the soothing, robotic voice greeted her.

She grinned. If AI could make friends, Edith and Karen would definitely get along. "Hey. I need to find out a way to keep my friends inside for the next few hours."

"Let's see what we can do," she chirped back.