Homecoming

In the end, Penny put Mr. Stark's number in her phone.

She told herself it was just in case…just in case of what, she wasn't sure. She didn't trust him. Not really. And any time she thought about starting to trust him…any time she remembered how hurt he'd been when she'd left him alone in that lab, or when she'd been quiet and distant on that rooftop, she couldn't help thinking about how he'd been after the ferry. Her being his biological kid didn't change the fact that he hadn't listened to her…that he'd left her so out of the loop that she'd felt like she had to do it all on her own.

That he'd taken her suit away and driven off, making it clear that they were done.

She didn't need Tony Stark to be Spider-Girl, though. She had her own suit now, and she had Harry and Ned helping her look out for the Vulture, and she'd been fighting crime and trying to make the city safer all on her own. She didn't need Tony Stark or Iron Man or even a father. She had May. She had her friends. And…for some reason, she had Tony Stark's number in her phone.

The internship didn't get any easier in the days leading up to Homecoming. In fact, their workload seemed to grow every day. Norman came down and checked on them, seeming surprised to find her there on Thursday. "I thought you had your other club after school today," he told her, eyebrows lifted as he leaned in the doorway. Harry was neck-deep in textbooks as he worked through a list of equations that needed to be done an hour ago, and he barely looked up when his father spoke.

"I left a little early today," she admitted. "I didn't want to get behind on my work here." It was true. More than once since starting the internship with Oscorp, she'd thought about quitting Academic Decathlon again. Both would look good on a college transcript, true, but an internship with Norman Osborn's company would be a lot more impressive than being in a school club. Doing both, though, would be even more impressive.

Besides, it was the only time besides PE that she got to see Liz…and the only time she had a real chance of talking to her. Not that talking to her would lead anywhere, especially since Penny had a boyfriend, real or not, but still…it was nice to dream.

Norman nodded. "Yes, and you'll be losing a night of work tomorrow, won't you. For the Homecoming dance?"

"Yeah. But maybe afterwards we can come by and get a little more done?" she suggested, glancing over at Harry who gave a distracted nod. He'd told her earlier that the work had never been this hard before, but neither of them were about to complain to Norman.

May was getting worried again. She kept asking questions about the internship, which she thought Penny did almost every day after school and on some Saturdays, and no matter how often Penny assured her that yes, she was fine, and that no, it wasn't too much, her aunt still kept a close eye on her when she wasn't at work. They'd had two movie nights that week, the two of them curling up on the sofa eating popcorn and talking about the Homecoming dance and Harry and even Liz until Penny reminded her for the hundredth time that Liz Allen didn't know she existed and probably never would. But that was fine because, between being Spider-Girl and her Internship and AP classes and being Harry's fake girlfriend, Penny didn't think she had a spare second of the day to devote to being someone's real girlfriend.

Penny had snuck out of her bedroom window on both of those nights after her aunt had gone to bed. But although she had managed to stop a convenience store robbery, she hadn't had any luck tracking down the Vulture.

Harry picked Penny up after school in one of his dad's town car's, the driver staying in the car while he climbed out and waited for her out front, and Penny had to admit, if only to herself, that it was kind of nice to see him there…especially since Flash was only a few steps behind her as they walked out the front doors of the school. Harry was leaning against the car, one foot propped up against the door, and he put his sunglasses on top of his head and grinned at her as she approached, his smile literally sparkling in the sunlight.

Penny snorted, walking right up to him, their faces almost too close as the whispers started among her classmates behind her.

'That's Harry Osborn!'

'Oh my God…I heard they were dating!'

'His family is, like, crazy rich.'

'I'll bet that's how she got the internship.'

'He's so handsome!'

Penny, however, was unimpressed. "What are you doing?" she asked, fighting a smile.

"I told you I was picking you up so we could get ready for the dance."

"Yeah, but why are you posing?"

He leaned forward, making eye contact with someone behind her when he gave her a lingering kiss on the cheek, so close to her mouth that anyone behind her would have been fooled.

She had to fight the urge to wipe her face.

"Ned mentioned that guy had been bugging you. Thought I'd help you out."

"By…posing?"

He winked, stepping around her and heading in the direction of who she suddenly realized was Flash, stopping abruptly when she caught him by the arm. "Nope. No way. Stop."

"What? Ned said he was always being an asshole to you," Harry practically whined, and she realized he'd been looking forward to this. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Liz and her group of friends come to a stop and felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"You are not yelling at Flash in front of the whole school for being rude to me."

"Ned said he called you 'Penis Parker.'"

"Like I said."

"I think I can take him, though."

It was true…Harry did seem to work out occasionally, and Flash had, as far as she knew, exactly zero experience in fighting. "Flash doesn't matter. Why are you guys talking about him anyway?"

"Watching you patrol gets boring," he told her in a whisper.

"Um…rude!"

"It does! Sometimes you just sit on rooftops and play on your phone."

"They why are you watching?"

"To make sure you're okay! Anyway, Ned and I Facetime while you patrol sometimes, and he was telling me that Flash has been bullying you for years, which you really should have told me at some point by the way…"

"Bullying is kind of a stretch. He's a dick. But I'm a literal superhero, remember? If I wanted someone to fight him, I'd just do it myself."

"But I'm your boyfriend!"

"You're really not."

He rolled his eyes, then turned to look right at Flash, pointing a threatening finger at her longtime nemesis, and even she had to admit to being a bit gratified when he paled.

"Next time," Harry mouthed, then wrapped an arm around her and led her back to the car.

"You should really study theater or something," she suggested as she climbed into the back seat.

"Are you calling me dramatic?" He put a hand over his heart and she lifted an eyebrow.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Harry was grinning when he shut her door.

Penny thought maybe she could get used to being rich if she wasn't careful…or at least pretending to date someone rich. This would be her first high school dance, and when she'd thought about what it would be like to get ready for a dance, she'd imagined picking out a dress with May at a local secondhand store and watching a Youtube video to try and figure out how to do her makeup. She'd pictured practicing dancing with her aunt in the living room and awkward talks about 'being careful' and 'setting boundaries' and then, at the end of the night, giving May a play by play of the evening.

Instead, she sat on a chair in the guest room at Harry's place while a woman she'd never met applied professional-quality makeup from a bag she brought with her. When she was nearly finished, another one of Mr. Osborn's stylists came into the guest room at their house to drop off the dress she'd already altered with Penny's measurements that she had to assume they had on file now.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Still, she was doing it for Harry, so she didn't want to complain. Instead, she thanked the woman doing her makeup, then slipped into the dress when they were both gone. Once more, she'd promised May lots of pictures, so she held up her phone to take a selfie, grinning at her reflection on the screen and sending the picture to her aunt, then followed Harry into the kitchen where the two of them proceeded to eat their weight in Chinese food before heading to the dance.

About an hour later in the town car next to Harry, Penny grinned down at her phone when May texted her back, probably on break at work.

"You look so beautiful! And look at Harry! You both look amazing. I'm going to frame these!"

Harry chuckled beside her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. She leaned against him since the partition was down and the driver could see them, although he didn't appear to be listening and the radio was on low in the background. "Maybe we can take some more at the dance and get them framed for her."

"She'd like that."

"There'll probably be some online too."

She wanted to ask how many more of these kinds of things they'd have to do…how often she would have to take photos of him in front of the press. But he'd gotten her an internship, and she'd promised to pretend to be his girlfriend…besides, this would only be the second time they'd have to pose for reporters.

"And if I see that Flash guy, I'm going to…"

"Ignore him."

"I was going to say, tell him he'd better never talk to my girl again…"

"Not your girl," she muttered, staring down at her phone.

Harry tightened his arm around her, making her laugh when he squeezed her into a too-tight hug.

"Don't worry about Flash. If he becomes a problem, I swear, I'll take care of it. But I'm too busy to worry about him right now."

With the driver listening to their every word, it wasn't like they could talk openly about the problem they were having tracking down a particular villain, but they could talk about their internship. "Tell me about it. Luka must hate us or something."

"Think we could go to the lab after the dance?"

"Sure. We'll order pizza or something and get some work done. Will your aunt care?"

"Nah. I'll tell her I'm sleeping at your place. We can pull an all-nighter. I've got my keycard in my purse."

She felt a little guilty about all the work she'd been doing at the lab lately, especially since the whole plan had been to build the suit and get back to being Spider-Girl. But it was like, every time she started to devote more time to patrolling, her internship just got harder. She'd never had an actual internship before, so she wasn't sure if this was normal or not. She kept reminding herself that it was better than the nonexistent one she'd had with Mr. Stark…and besides, she got to hang out with Harry all the time. Still, she worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up if it got much harder. Plus, the Vulture was still out there…it wasn't like she could give up patrolling. If she couldn't keep up though, she decided she really would have to drop Academic Decathlon…Liz or no Liz.

As they pulled up to the school, Harry hurried to jump out and open her door for her. A couple of reporters were stationed by the side doors, cameras ready, but they hadn't spotted them just yet, so she had a little time to get her bearings. "You ready?" Harry asked, wrapping an arm around her. He knew, she was sure, that this was her least favorite part. She wasn't good at posing or smiling for cameras. Hell, she wasn't even good at taking selfies.

Before she could answer, though, a familiar voice called her name.

Penny froze, glancing back at the car behind theirs where Liz stood, wearing a red dress that made Penny's heart do a somersault. "Penny, hey!" Liz called again, waving, and Harry grinned down at her.

"Is that Liz?"

"Harry…"

"It is, isn't it?"

She rolled her eyes, wishing she could plant her feet and refuse to move when he started to drag her forward, but Liz was smiling at her and waiting and someone was sitting in the car who was probably her mom and Penny didn't want either of them to think she was weird, so she followed along, Harry's arm tight around her.

"Hey, Liz. Um…this is…"

"Harry Osborn? I know! I saw you guys after school. I heard you were dating but I didn't know you were coming tonight."

"Yeah…um…Harry, this is Liz. From Academic Decathlon."

"Hi, Liz. It's nice to meet you." He took her hand and gave her a thousand watt smile. "Penny's told me so much about you."

She wanted to jam an elbow into into his ribs, but Liz was watching, so she just shot him a look she hoped her crush didn't notice.

"Oh…really?"

"Yeah! She said you were the smartest person on the Academic Decathlon team."

"Um, no way," Liz told him with a laugh. "Penny's, like, the smartest person I've ever met."

Penny's face went so hot she thought her makeup might melt off.

"Hey, gumdrop. These your friends?"

And just like that, Penny forgot all about her embarrassment as time seemed to stop, her senses exploding almost painfully.

"Dad…" Liz whined a little at the nickname, and beside her, Harry chuckled, turning to grin at the man who must have been Liz's dad…but that wasn't all he was. "Guys, this is my dad. He's actually on his way out of town."

The Vulture smiled at them, and the entire world seemed to go silent as Penny tried to make her expression look less than horrified. Because…how? How could Liz's dad be the Vulture? Hadn't she met Liz's dad before? How hadn't she met Liz's dad before!

"I always have time to meet my little girl's friends. Hi, Adrian Toomes," he greeted, coming around the car to hold out a hand to Harry who took it enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Harry Osborn."

The Vulture whistled as Penny struggled to take a full breath. He was right here…right in front of her. Why? What was he doing? On his way out of town?

"Honey, you never told me you knew Harry Osborn!" He laughed a little, and Liz shifted, still looking embarrassed.

"I don't," she muttered.

"We just met," Harry told the Vulture. "Actually, my girlfriend is the one who knows your daughter."

Everyone turned to her, expectant, and gave a smile that felt tense. Mind whirring, she held out a hand, voice coming out too soft and robotic. "Hi…Penny. Parker. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Penny."

"Penny has an internship at Oscorp," Liz put in. "Is that where you guys met?"

"Nah, we met in elementary school." Harry was grinning, and she wondered how he couldn't feel it…couldn't sense it!

Mr. Toomes nodded. "An internship with Oscorp is no joke. You kids at that school all have your whole lives planned out, huh? How long have you been working there?"

"Not too long…"

"She used to have one with Tony Stark too," Liz told him casually, and his eyes went wide.

"Wow. Tony Stark?"

"Yeah." Penny nodded, knowing that her voice was off…that she was too stiff, her smile too tense, but she couldn't fix it…couldn't seem to relax. Beside her, she could feel Harry giving her a strange look, but thankfully, Liz didn't seem to notice how weird she was being.

"What did you do?"

"I…um…not too much. Just…got coffee and…filed stuff. It was kind of boring."

"Boring? Um, you got to hang out with Spider-Girl!" Liz cried, incredulous.

Mr. Toomes nodded, giving her a thoughtful look. "Spider-Girl, huh? What's she like?"

"She's…fine. Nice. Um…now I work at Oscorp. In the lab."

"Hm." Mr. Toomes hesitated for a moment, and just when she thought she had an opening to politely excuse them, he went on. "Have we met before?" She started to shake her head but he was scrutinizing her a little too closely for comfort, and it felt like her whole body was frozen in place. "I mean…" He gestured with a hand, his smile puzzled. "The voice…"

"She's on Academic Decathlon with me," Liz put in, shrugging. "And she was at my party."

Penny nodded, praying they could leave it at that. "Yeah…um…it was a great party. You have a beautiful home…with the windows and…"

"You were there for like, two seconds," Liz reminded her with a grin, and Penny wished her crush would shut the hell up so she could get out of there.

"I was there longer than two seconds."

"No you weren't!" Liz laughed. "You disappeared just like you always do! Like you did in DC!"

The Vulture tilted his head a little and it was like she could see him putting the pieces together. She could practically hear her heart pounding…it was a wonder the others couldn't. He knew…somehow, he knew, and she knew that he knew, and he knew that too. His eyes hardened, just a fraction, but he was still smiling.

"That's terrible…what happened in DC. You must have been scared."

She shrugged. "I saw it all from the ground, so…"

He nodded slowly. "Well…it's a good thing your old pal Spider-Girl showed up, huh?"

"Yeah." She swallowed hard, refusing to look afraid, even when he grinned his terrible grin. She wasn't going to be intimidated. She was a superhero. He was a criminal. She wasn't afraid. "We're lucky she showed up."

"Good old Spider-Girl."

Harry, who she'd somehow almost forgotten, put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her. "We'd better get inside. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Toomes."

"You too, Harry. Penny." The Vulture nodded, still staring at her like he knew all of her secrets. "You two enjoy the dance."

There was a warning in his voice…a warning she had no intention of heeding.

As they turned away, leaving Liz to say goodbye to her father, the two of them heading towards the double doors leading to the gym, Harry turned to her. "What the hell was that?"

"It's him," she whispered as a reporter finally spotted them, and the yelling and flashing of cameras started. But Penny couldn't make herself smile…couldn't make herself look normal.

"What?"

"Harry! Penny!" one reporter called, and she wondered, distantly, what those pictures would look like…how afraid she would look.

"Vulture. Liz's dad."

His eyes went wide, but Harry had years of experience hiding his real feelings in front of reporters. So he led her, the two of them doing their best to smile as he hurried her into the building. It wasn't right…they were supposed to talk to one of the reporters and smile more and she was doing this for him! But she couldn't make herself do it.

As soon as they were inside, he turned to face her, leaning in close as he grabbed her arm. "Go."

"I don't have my suit! It's at home!" she hissed. They were right at the entrance of the gym the gym and everyone was talking and laughing and music was playing in the background…and all she wanted to do was go inside and be with her friends and maybe even dance with Harry. But she couldn't do that…could she?

No. Of course not.

He swore under his breath. "Do you have anything? A hoodie? What about your old suit? The first one? Where's that?"

"Under the lockers…my old suit…the webshooters and the hoodie are there…"

"I'll get Ned. We can track his car…get the license plate and…"

"But…the dance. We're supposed to…"

He shook his head. "This is our chance to get this guy! Get your webshooters. Get the suit. I'll get Ned."

"But…the…the press and…"

"It doesn't matter. Let's go!"

Harry left her standing there, heading straight for Ned who was talking to MJ in the corner by the punch bowl, and almost before she knew it, she was off, pushing through the double doors and sprinting down the hall, her clutch dangling from her arm, glad she was wearing flats.

Why had she left her suit at home?

Because she'd been going to a high school dance with Harry! She'd hadn't been expecting to run into the Vulture there! How could the Vulture be Liz's dad?

What did she know about him?

He was…away on business a lot. Liz spent more time with her mom. But…that was it!

So what did she know about the Vulture?

He was selling alien weapons…stealing technology to make weapons…like what had nearly killed her friends in DC. Where was he getting alien technology? Who had it?

The people who cleaned up the city after alien attacks. Damage control…but they didn't have a facility in New York! At least…not that she knew of. Where else would alien technology be?

But he'd told Liz that he was going on a trip out of town...did that mean he was going back to the damage control facility? Was he going to try to break in? Or would he try to ambush one of their vehicles again? Did he have an informant there or something? But why would he be going now? Were they moving something? Something tugged at her memories…something important…what was she forgetting? What would the Vulture be doing? An exchange? An ambush? A meeting?

She remembered how he'd looked at her by his car. He'd all but warned her not to interfere…but she had to! Every sense in her body told her that. If she didn't…if she didn't stop him, then whatever happened…whoever got hurt…it was on her.

And she didn't think she could live with herself if he got away.

Not again.

Thanks for reading!