Disclaimer: I do not own nor make profit off of The Avengers. It all belongs to the MCU and The Walt Disney Company
Little Spider Heart Attacks
Ever since I was bitten I have to no tolerance when it comes to cold, but it seems that counts for hot too, this New York heat wave is absolutely kicking my ass. It's 98 degrees Fahrenheit outside and 90 in the apartment and I can't find the want to crawl out from under my bed todo anything. My phone buzzes on my side table and I groan,
"Phone's going off." Aunt May opens my door, scrubs freshly washed and a sweatshirt hanging off her elbow,
"Really?" She smiles and reaches for it tossing it on the bed, I look down, it's Ned. I have to meet him, Harry and MJ at the Smoothie Jam in an hour. I end the call, I'll get back to him. I look back to May, She's pulling her brown curls into a low ponytail.
"What time are you leaving?" I look to to the clock,
"Around 11,"
"You got you think tonight at Stark's tower?" I roll over to my back, feeling my top stick to my skin and groan again,
"Internship, Aunt May."
"Seems kinda late," She musses, I look up,
"5?" She nods "I'm hangin with Ned and the others so he pushes the time back." Lie, their's an Avengers meeting and Mr. Stark asked me not to come until it was halfway over. Save half the world and I can't even attend the whole meeting, imagine that?
"How kind." I roll back onto my stomach and sit up, careful not to hit my head on the bunk above me,
"Just say it aunt May, you don't like him." She places a hand over her heart, acting like I just shot her in the chest,
"I said no such thing Penelope Antonia," I can't help the smile on my lips,
"But you don't trust him."
"That," she points her finger at me, "Is a completely different thing...and yes you're right."
"Think of it this way, me spending my entire summer interning with Tony Stark is just me trying to weasel my way into his will."
"Ahhh," May praises "I've raised you right." I chuckle and brush the small loose strains of hair that have fallen from my bun in the night off my neck,
"With a few million in the bank maybe Mr. Ronley will fix our air faster."
"Speaking of that, I've finally got him to agree to come and take a look at it today, so when you leave don't lock the door and if Mr. Stark doesn't feed you theirs left over chicken in the fridge."
"He'll feed me." He always does, Aunt May's lips turn up at that, she doesn't trust the man but she knows I won't be hungry. Thank god because that chicken is at least nine days old.
"Remember I have a double shift so you won't see me until tomorrow night and if they ask me to stay I'll be gone until Tuesday." I roll my eyes, they'll ask her to stay and she always does,
works for eighteen hours then sleeps on the hospital cots for eight, then'll work for another 24 hours. I won't see for the next five days probably. Perfect, it makes sneaking out easier,
"Their goanna run you ragged," Again aunt May gasps,
"You forget who you're aunt is." I roll my eyes, this heat is making me sluggish, usually I'm better with my sarcasm,
"Just take care of your self aunt May." This time she steps into the room and kisses my forehead,
"You too, Penny nickle." My phone starts buzzing again as Aunt May heads for the door, "Answer the boy!" She calls back, I wait until I hear the front door slam before picking it up,
"What?"
"Really? I had to call three times before you picked up." I roll my eyes, I wish he could see it,
"What Ned?"
"You're still coming right?"
"Smoothie Jam 11 O'Clock." I can hear Ned aggressively grunt on the other line, "What Ned!?"
"We said 10 Penny." I pull the phone away from my ear and look down, 10:09,
"Did we really?"
"Did she pick up? Give me the phone. Excuse me Madam Penny!" I pull the phone away from my ear and grimace,
"Hey MJ,"
"As always were all waiting around for you, and If I don't see your ass in this booth in 45 minutes those baby pictures of you and Ned sitting in the bathtub at the age of six are going on Facebook got it?!" I almost drop the phone scrambling out of bed,
"45 minutes got it."
...
As May asked, I leave the door unlocked and begin taking the steps down two at a time, my back pack jostling behind me. When I get to the bottom I skid to a halt just barely stopping myself from knocking a ladder over and with it, Mr. Ronley.
"Hey, hey, hey!" I reach up steading the ladder,
"Sorry!" He looks down,
"Penny Parker, you're aunt tell you I'll be over later to look at that air of yours?" Finally! Mr Ronley is a short, bald man straight out of little Italy.
"Yes, I left the door unlocked for you," He smiles, grabbing what looks like a nozzle off the top of the ladder,
"Good girl, I would have been over sooner if this hadn't taken so long" He holds the nozzle up and begins spraying a bluish liquid all over where the walls meet ceiling.
"What is that exactly?"
"I'm spraying for spiders."
"Spiders?" He nods,
"Ya it seems we have an small infestation on our hands, but don't worry this will take care of it" I turn away forgetting My Ronley has no idea that I'm the cause of the infestation. Spiders flock to me for whatever reason. "Don't worry," My Ronley looks down, "This won't hurt anyone. It's all natural got it form the health food store, it makes the spiders hallucinate until they A. bite one another's heads off or B. have little spider heart attacks."
"Wow," I shoulder my bag tighter, "That sounds...terrible." Mr Ronley stops and looks down,
"Not human, don't worry humans are fine, just spiders those little creepy insects," I nod and pat Mr Ronleys calf,
"Aracnids." I correct him, he looks down at me unamused, "Sounds like you know what you're doing." I say quickly with a smile,
"I better, I've been spraying for three days now, although the first day I couldn't figure out how to get this thing to work." He shakes the the machine,
"I leave you to it." I touch the ladder one more time making sure it really is steady and take the remaining stairs down to the ground level and throw the door open and stop. Our apartment doesn't currently have air, but the hallway did and running out from the air conditioned stairwell into the hot New York heat makes me stop dead in my tracks. Fall is how many days away? I reach into my backpack grabbing my subway card and quickly head for the tracks, checking my cell phone one more time. 36 minutes to go, MJ is always good on her threats and it's my life mission to get to Smoothie Jam before it's too late and by the time I get onto my train and sit down, I have 32 minutes to go. I pull my earbuds out and push them in turning pandora on random and lay my head back. It's pretty dead today, only a few riders. An older women reading Jimmy Carters autobiography sits across from me. By the look of her worn copy, she's read it before...quite a few times. Theirs a father son in the corner, both on their phones, a teenage boy in the other corner holding a Nintendo switch, bold of him to play that here and next to him...I reach up and rub my eyes...sitting next to the boy is...Uncle Ben. I reach into my backpack grabbing my water bottle and pour the contents into my hand and quickly splash my face with it and look back. He's gone. The heat is really getting to me. I take a deep breath,
"Penny." Slowly I turn towards the voice. Uncle Ben is now sitting next to me, dressed in the same clothes he died in. I swallow,
"U...un.."
"It's not not you're fault Penny, what happened, happened. We can't change it, we can only learn to accept it." Saliva pools in my mouth. I slowly swallow it and look around. The father and son are still on their phones, the boy is still playing a video game and the women is still reading her book.
"You're dead." I force out in a shaky breath,
"Yes Penny girl, I died that night outside of the convenience store, you stayed with me until I passed-"
"Go away." My head and heart hurts,
"Admit to me that you know it wasn't you're fault,"
"Stop!" The lady looks up from her book, the boy his game, and the father and son from their phones. I take a breath and calm my rapid pulse, every heart beat feels like a hammer to the head, "I just wanted to know how your Fridays are going?" I try to cover, but this isn't how you behave on a subway,
"Dad whats her problem?"
"Probably drugs." I give him an awkward smile and look to my shoes, oh my god when's my stop?
"Would you like a mint dear?" The women reading her worn copy of Jimmy Carters Autobiography holds out a dirty green tin. I give her the same awkward smile and take one, "Take this too" She holds out a small business card. I take it and flip it over,
Safe Haven Drug Recovery
Oh God, I shove it into the pockets of my jean shorts and look back down towards the ground. Please gods of Asgard let my stop be...now. Nope still moving, thanks for nothing Thor.
"Penny," The voice is different this time, not the sound of my Uncle Ben...I slowly dare a look over, a women sits...a women lost to time, a women I barely remember. She smiles, "Look at how grown you are?"
"Mom?" I whisper, "Go away" She reaches forward and it's almost like I can feel her brush my bangs back behind my ear, but of course I can't, she's dead, but..she looks different. The last time I saw my mother her hair was short, blonde, straight. The women sitting in front of me looks just like my mother but her hair...its long, red and curly.
"But I want to spent time with my daughter. Is that so bad?" I can't take it, I jump to my feet,
"GO AWAY!" Every things silent for a second and then the women that sat to my right is gone and all eyes are on me again,
"Dear, dear?" I look back towards the lady with the book "Look at the card dear." She points to the pocket I shoved the business card in and all I want to do now is die, that is until I feel the subway begin to slow. Thank god, and when it stops completely and the door opens I run. Run from the ghosts on the subway and from the stares of the people left sitting there wondering if I'm going to take the women's business card to heart. I'm not. I run and I don't stop running until I open the door to Smoothie Jam and fell the cold air hit my skin.
"When I said 45 minutes I didn't think you'd actually make it here in what is it...oh thirty minutes." MJ's voice hits my ears, slowly I turn to my right where MJ, Ned, and Harry all sit, half drunk smoothies in hands.
"Did you run the whole way Pen?" Harry asks,
"I don't know how she got those photos Penny, I really don't...you're really sweaty." I turn keeping my gaze on Ned...Neds the only one who would understand, Ned won't think I'm on drugs.
"Ned can I talk to you?" He gets to his feet quickly,
"Why of course, Harry you stay here." It's a jab, normally I chide him, but right now I could care less.
"I'll stay here too, Harry pony up, I want another Strawberry Sunrise." MJ shakes her almost empty smoothie, Harry sighs and reaches for his wallet as Ned gets up, grabs my elbow and leads me to another booth on the other side of the store,
"Whats going on? Please say some cool Spiderman stuff." Ned voice is low, but his smile is wide,
"I saw my dead mother and uncle." Neds smile disappeared,
"I'm sorry what?"
"My uncle and mother. They were just sitting there on the subway with me, my uncle was saying his death wasn't my fault and my mother wanted to see me she said...I can't...thats not possible," I lean closer to him. If the booth wasn't between us I would grab the color of his shirt and shake him,
"You know it's really hot today...if you ran here you could have-"
"If you say drugs I'm going to rip off your right arm and proceed to beat you with it until you stop moving." Ned closes his mouth and swallows,
"I was going to say heat exhaustion." Wait...why didn't I think of that. Thats what it is, I have heat exhaustion,
"You're right" I breathe out. I have no air and the heat effects me more now, thats all it is,
"That boy's a smart one." I swallow hard and turn to my right, in the booth next to me is uncle Ben, he looks relaxed with a topical peach smoothie in his right hand. How did he get that?! Dead people don't have money, do they?
"Penny?"
"I always did like that kid, I knew he would be a good influence on you." He takes a long sip of his smoothie and holds it out, "Want a sip Penny girl? Peach, your favorite." I turn to Ned,
"He's here." Neds forehead wrinkles,
"Who Harry? You invited him for what ever reason."
"Uncle Ben" I hiss. Ned looks confused,
"Where?" I gesture to my right with a tilt of my head, Ned looks over and then looks back over to me,
"I think you need something cold to drink." Slowly I nod, and reach into my backpack to pull out my wallet,
"Harrys got it, tropical peach?"
"No!" I shout it too loud and clear my throat, "Surprise me." Ned nods,
"Stay here," Quickly he scoots out of the booth, "Okay Harry pull that wallet out." I take a deep breath and keep my eyes to the left,
"You know Penny, I've always considered this to be our shop, remember how we use to come here every Sunday when I got off work?" He chuckles, it makes my heart hurt and I clutch at my shirt. His laugh still sounds the exact same,
"Stop torturing me." I whisper keeping my eyes away from my dead uncle,
"You always use to ask for a large when you were younger even though you could never finish it, you're aunt May looked forward to it though, she'd always drink what you couldn't finish. You know I was hoping when I passed you would keep coming here on Sundays, but this is your first time being here since our last Sunday trip isn't it?" Why is it so hard to swallow? "You should come here more often, bring May with you, she needs to get out of the house ya know?"
"Here," Ned sets down a plastic cup filled with a thick purple liquid, "Triple berry, you know why?" I look up and shake my head, "You're allergic to blueberries or you were before the bite, think you still are-why are sweaty again?" Because my dead uncle is telling me to bring my living aunt to a smoothie shop he use to bring me to every Sunday after he got off work. I need a drink, I reach for the smoothie and take the longest drink I can, finishing half of it in one go. I turn back to my right but he's still there,
"Whoa do you not get brain freezes anymore, thats impressive."
"Hey are you too going to join us orrrrr just continue to act super weird," MJ calls, she's resting her Doc Martians on the table while Harry stares hard into the back of Neds head.
"Go hang with your friends Penny girl, I'll be here enjoying my smoothie, we can talk later." I jump to my feet, grab my backpack and run,
"So no to blueberries still?" Ned cries,
"Wait Penny-" MJ takes her feet off the table and starts to stand but I'm already out the door and running for the nearest alleyway. The faster I move the better I'll feel, I need to swing.
...
36 messages. Between Ned, Harry, and MJ, I have 36 messages. I push my phone back into my backpack and pull my mask off and take adeep breath. The hot garbage filled scent of New York fills me lungs. I wouldn't have it any other way. I look down towards the city, this is my favorite vantage point. Up here on the top of the US Bank building no one can see me mask less and no one really comes up making this the perfect place for me to store my backpack. My phone buzzes again, I groan reaching for it.
"Better answer that kiddo." My heart stops, slowly I turn towards the voice, "Could be someone important." I cautiously lift the phone to my ear, keeping my eyes on Uncle Ben,
"Heeeeeyyyy Ned."
"Try again." Even just hearing Happy Hogans voice straightens my spin, schools out, meaning Happy doesn't really have to drive me around anymore, so why is he calling?
"Happy..."
"Where are you?" I look around, Uncle Ben waves,
"You're on top of the bank sweetheart." I've had it with this and turn towards him,
"Shut Up!"
"Excuse me?" Happy shouts, he yells at me all the time but this one sounds angrier, then again I've never yelled at Happy before or told him to shut up.
"Not you, gotta go!"
"Kid, don't you dare hang up on m-" I chuck my phone at the ground watching it shatter with delight,
"You are dead, I watched you die in my arms, you need to leave me ALONE!" My pulse pounds in my head with every word, but uncle Ben keeps smiling, and I can't help it I yell, yell until I have no air, yell until my throat hurts, yell until I can't yell anymore, and then I just sink to the ground, hot wet tears hit the stone. It's so hot I swear they sizzle,
"Oh Penny," Uncle Bens voice sounds like he's standing right in front of me. I refuse to look up,
"You're dead." I whisper,
"We're all dead." I look up, next to uncle Ben is the women who sat next to me earlier on the train, my mother.
"You're late," another voice hits my ears. This one however I don't recognize, I turn. Standing at the edge of the roof is a man I never seen before, an older man with white hair and a matching mustache and from the look of his suit he has money. I don't know anyone who died with money,
"What?" He pulls up his sleeve revealing a beautiful gold Rolex watch,
"You're late, I don't approve of tardiness." I get to my feet and wrinkle my brows,
"I don't know you" He tsks at me,
"5:05, I know someone else who doesn't approve of tardiness." I step back,
"So...O my god" I grab my backpack tossing it over my shoulder and run leaving everyone behind. As I get to the edge I throwing out a web, it clings to the the nearest surface, a billboard. I swing throwing out line after line of web fluid, faster, harder. Maybe this time I'll leave behind my uncle, mother, and the new stranger. It doesn't take long to see Avengers tower, only newly opened after the Avengers came back together after Thanos. I swing harder flinging myself as hard as I can, just barely hitting the tower's platform. I stumble and fall, tucking my arms in and roll.
"Ouch" I groan, trying to catch my breath, my heart pounds in my ears, I over did it. I hit the spider in the middle of my chest leaving me in my jean shorts and a sports bra. I reach into my backpack pulling my white shirt with black poka dots out and thrust it over my head. I stumble to my feet and leave my back pack behind to run inside only to stop dead in my tracks. I was hoping to just sneak in but inside the living area right off the platform sitting round the build in bar is...everyone. Mr. Stark, Mr. Rogers, Ms. Romanov, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Banner, Thor and a pissed off Happy Hogan.
"Man of spiders!" Thor cheers me holding up a pint glass, I'm positive isn't full of ginger ale,
"Queens" Mr. Rogers observes,
"You're late." Ms. Romanov is straight to the point, she sits at the bar legs crossed, heeled boots resting on the lip of the barstool...I like those boots. Happy breaks from the group first, steps fast and hard towards me,
"You don't ever hang up on me, you got that. I hang up on you not vise versa." He keeps his finger pointed at me the whole time until he presses it into my shoulder. Mr. Stark whistles,
"Down boy!" Happy turns back towards him,. I can't see the face he's making but I imagine its one of...distain. "Wanna tell us why you're A. late and B. left you friends at a smoothie joint this morning?"
"And C. why you told me to shut up on the phone, you don't tell me to shut up, I tell you to shut up." I open my mouth, "Shut up." I close it.
"Happy cool down. Kid, Talk, and don't lie to me, your friend called." Ned called? I take a deep breath just now realizing how hard I'm still breathing, wow my chest hurts.
"I see dead people." I force out quickly, Mr. Starks face remains calm and cool, however he does reach for a bottle under the bar and pours himself a glass. Then pulls out three more glasses and pour the clear liquid into all three and slides them to Mr. Rogers, Dr. Banner and Miss Romanov, although Miss Romanov is the only one that actually picks it up and takes a drink. Mr. Rogers slides it to Mr. Barnes and Mr. Banner just looks at it.
"Cool, that's not what I asked,"
"Good luck, he's a skeptic, flies around in a red metal suit but doesn't believe in ghosts." The man with white hair is back, I sigh,
"Did she say dead people?" Dr. Banner asks. I look towards him, he started experimenting on himself about three months ago in order to bring the Hulk back out. He was successful, bringing Bruce and Hulk together creating a permanent Hulk body, but with Bruce's full conscious. I'll never get use to it,
"I can't blame him, I never believed in hauntings either." Uncle Ben is back. I roll my eyes I wasn't fast enough,
"Why would you with no evidence." A women with brown hair and a British accent adds, unlike the older man I know who this is, Peggy Carter. I did a paper on her in history class last year. Mr. Stark snaps his fingers, I turn back to face him,
"Knock it off with the pop culture crap Kid, answers now." What did Ned say this morning?
"I have heat exhaustion, now I see dead people." Again Mr. Starks face remains cool as a cucumber,
"Excuse me?" Mr. Rogers asks,
"She's really sweaty," Happy looks closer, I step away.
"Heat Exhaustion! He's more ample to believe that one!" The older man smiles. I look over just as he takes a drink from a glass that looks just like Mr. Starks, same clear liquid too. How'd he get that? He takes a large drink and then gesture with his hand to Mr. Barnes, "That man killed me." I wrinkle my brows and grimace,
"That man killed that man." I point from Mr. Barnes to the other man forgetting for a second that no one else can see him. Mr Barnes doesn't look fazed but Mr. Stark lifts one eyebrow,
"I'm sorry what?"
"My wife too." The man adds taking another drink,
"His wife too."
"That's tragic." aaannnddd theirs my mother, agent Carter turns towards my mother and smiles, her teeth are white behind the red lipstick.
"Hello Rosemary." I furrow my brows,
"Her name's Mary." I point out,
"Kid who are you talking too?" A large hand touches my forehead,
"She's hot." I push Happy's hand away and step closer to the group huddled around the bar, normally I would be intimidated but now I'm angry, each and everyone of them looks at me like I'm crazy, sad, or a nuisance.
"I told you! DEAD PEOPLE! Uncle Ben is right there, he's dressed in the same clothes that he died in. It started this morning on the subway he was just there and then my mother was there and I told them to go away but they've been following me ever since." My head beats in rhythm with my heart. I reach into my pocket and throw the business card given to me this morning, "and this lady on the subway gave me this card for a rehab center, do I look like I'm on drugs? No, and even if I were taking drugs it's not like they would work anyway you know how I know, because the first time I smoked at Harry's house I was the only one not flipping out, because IT DIDN'T WORK!" I take a deep breath just now realizing I'm pacing the room while everyone looks on. "They've been following me all day, even to the smoothie shop so I had to leave and now suddenly it's a party, this rich looking man showed up," I point towards him, he just raises his drink filled hand, just as Thor had done minutes ago, "Now Agent Carters here followed by my mother who she called the wrong name," I look to Agent Carter, "It's Mary not Rosemary." I turn back toward the group. "No one will leave me alone and you think I'm crazy but I'm not CRAZY!" I stop talking, instead take in large gulps of air, black spots growing in my vision. Did I breathe at all during that rant? Everyone silent and I can't take the look on Mr. Rogers face. I know all about him and Miss Carter, from their 1940's romance down to the picture he keeps in a stop watch on his person at all times. I look to everyone, ghost and real, even Happy looks weirded out by me.
"What's this man with white hairs name?" Mr. Stark finally asks after a long period of silence and heavy breathing. I turn towards the man although it's hard to see him through the black spots,
"I'm Howard Stark." I wrote a paper on him too, although in all my powerpoint pictures he was much younger,
"Nice to meet you I'm Pen-" I can't finish, the ground rushes up to me hitting me hard on my shoulder. My head bounce and everything is dark.