Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! If you didn't already see/notice, today's update is a double one. Read the previous chapter first before this one. :)

Chapter title comes from Seven Wonders by Fleetwood Mac. I know, it's not Queen! Shocker, right?

Hope you all enjoy, and until next week,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~primis, omega, superhero, genius~

~somebody to love~

~chapter 6: seven wonders~

The next morning, after an appropriate cry and a night where she surprisingly got six hours of sleep before she woke up from the inevitable nightmare, Penny showed up to work at the diner.

The restaurant had surprisingly come out of the alien invasion not much worse for the wear. She could see there was a heavy amount of dust inside from the front windows, though she had no idea how that had happened because none of the windows had been broken, but it was something she could easily fix. It was why she had come early, even earlier than usual.

The owner of the diner, a Latina alpha named Bélen, and Jason were in the process of opening the backdoor when she arrived. They both looked up at the sound of her footsteps, and Bélen made a sound of half-disbelief, half-surprised acceptance. "Perdida Penny," she said. The adjective had come about on Penny's first day at the restaurant; she'd never worked in the food industry before, and Bélen had told her she'd looked like a "lost puppy." "What are you doing here?"

Penny blinked. "To work?"

"Bonita, we're not opening today. There was just an alien invasion, can't you see?" Bélen gestured to the destruction around them for emphasis. "Come back tomorrow. Maybe then."

"If you're cleaning, I can help do that," she retorted. "Please, Bélen?"

If she had been younger, less wise, she would've jumped at the opportunity for extra hours to be Spider-Woman. But she'd learned better, that going out so soon after a battle like that would only burn her out faster than not. And it wasn't like she had anything to do outside of that.

Bélen seemed to realize as much – with the second part, not the first. Obviously. Her eyes crinkled around the edges, reminding her a little bit of the other alpha shop owner she'd known, Mr. Delmar. "Alright, bonita," she allowed. "You can help."

They spent half of the morning working, mopping the floors, wiping off the tables, attending to some of the broken light fixtures, and etcetera. Bélen pulled her old radio/CD player from out of the office, putting on a CD she'd bought of Elvis Presley's hits. Penny laughed as she heard Don't Be Cruel. "Bélen, this is even older than the stuff I usually listen to."

The woman sniffed. "Are you calling me old, bonita?"

"No," she said quickly. Some might have even said it was too quickly.

Jason laughed.

When they were done, the diner was (mostly) spotless. There were a few people outside, not many, looking in with interest. "They're wondering if we'll open," Jason realized.

Bélen's lips pursed. "Nobody else showed up," she said. "Of course, I wasn't expecting them to, but – "

As if on cue, the doorbell to the backdoor rang.

Penny hid her grin as a strange look appeared on Bélen's face before she walked into the back. Seconds later, she returned with Bridget, an omega the same age as Penny who always wore her ginger red hair in tight braids, a beta waitress named Pilar a little younger than them, and their beta dish-tanker, Simon.

"I wasn't sure if we would be open today," Bridget said, still looking a little pale from her heat (which had undoubtedly only ended early because of the stress) but otherwise animated. Despite the chaos they'd just lived through, a smile was on her face, clear as day. "We are going to be open, right?"

Bélen didn't immediately answer her.

Jason cleared his throat. "Well?"

His other alpha relented. "Sí, we'll open," she sighed, although she didn't sound too upset by the decision. "Jason, you're on grill line. I'll do kitchen prep. Pilar, you'll host until the next waiter or waitress comes in...if they do at all. Does this sound good to all of you?"

They all nodded.

Minutes later, as the coffee was still brewing, she approached her first table, a two-top, with a smile. "Hi, my name is Penny and I'll be your server today. What can I start you guys off with to drink?"

Of course, Spider-Woman couldn't rest for long.

She didn't go out as her red-and-blue persona that night. No other employees had shown up to the diner, so it had just been the six of them working until close, which was eight o'clock. She didn't get back to her apartment until after nine, and by then she was exhausted. After wriggling out of her clothes except for her bra and underwear, she collapsed onto her bed with a groan, absentmindedly grabbing the TV remote and turning it on. When she saw that the channel that showed the House reruns was already on, she let it play. She didn't fall asleep until she was partially through her third episode.

Three and a half hours after that, she woke up with a scream. A man's boot hit her ceiling.

(Rinse. Wash. Repeat.)

It was after a more normal day at work she went out. Pulling on the Spandex, she crawled out of her apartment window and to the top of her building. There, activating her web-shooters, she thwipped off to start the second part of her day.

True to her word, she spent most of that afternoon and evening helping people. There was rubble to clear and everyone, including the firefighters and so-called Department of Damage Control, needed help. With her super strength, it wasn't hard. Kids marveled as she picked up gigantic slabs of concrete, destroyed cars, and sections of Leviathan carcasses like they were just lifting weights.

"Look at her!" she heard some of them say, or something along the lines of it. "She's an Avenger! Isn't she so cool?"

Whenever she was done clearing an area, they would crowd her, wide-eyed. "Spider-Woman, what was it like to save the world?" one asked around four.

"Is Thor really an alien?" said one of his friends.

"Can I have your autograph?" begged another.

Penny crouched down so they could see her better. "Saving the world was really hard," she admitted. "It was a lot of work."

"Did you like working with the other 'vengers?"

"They were nice," she replied, and this wasn't a lie – they had been. But it was an evasion of the truth. "And yes, Thor really is an alien. And do you have a pen and a piece of paper? Something I can write with?"

Eagerly, the third kid thrusted a notepad and a pen into her hands. Laughing, she scrawled out her Spider-Woman signature, using her right hand instead of her left, and handed it back to him. He accepted both gingerly, as if he was holding holy relics.

...Then again, to him, they probably were. The other Avengers so far hadn't had her knack for interacting with the public. According to the news, with the exception of her and Stark, they'd all but vanished for the time being. This had made Jameson begrudgingly acknowledge his support of her – and no, that totally didn't make her laugh. Not at all.

"I know what's going on is kind of tough right now," she told the four kids who had spoken, plus all of their friends. "You've lived through something big, and it's scary, right?" At their nods, she continued with, "But I'm still here, your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Woman. If you're seeing something scary, who you gonna call?"

"You!" they all shouted.

"Right," she said. Smiling underneath her mask, she saluted them. "Alright, kids, I'll see you around!"

At seven, she was swinging in the general vicinity of one of the many bridges in the city when she heard harsh, angry yelling. Grimacing – although perhaps she shouldn't have been, she'd been helping people clean up all day, she could use some excitement to dilute the emptiness coursing through her veins – to herself, she dropped down to the ground and headed over to the commotion.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

A woman with white hair and a man wearing a blue-collar outfit and hat turned to look at her. So did the people around them, but since they were the two arguing, she mostly focused on them.

"...Spider-Woman," the woman said. She didn't seem all too enthused to see her.

Abruptly, Penny realized who she was. She crossed her arms. "Director Hoag," she greeted. She hadn't met the woman until now, but like she'd said, she'd seen the work of the Department of Damage Control around the city. Not bad, but certainly something New York had needed well before now. "Is everything okay?"

"I was just telling the gentleman here any and all salvage operations are under our jurisdiction," informed her the director.

"And I was just telling her I bought trucks for this job. I brought in a whole new crew," the man complained. "These guys have a family. I have a family. We need this job."

"Maybe you should've picked a better one," one of the DoDC agents muttered.

The man whirled around to look at him. "What did you say?"

Penny refused to sigh, although she really wanted to. Alphas. All of them were alphas.

...Well, at least they weren't those alphas.

She raised her hands placatingly. "Alright, alright, everybody, let's calm down." She faced the director first. "Director Hoag, I understand where you're coming from, but can he really not help with the salvaging operation?"

She shook her head. "Any and all exotic materials must be handed over, or they will be prosecuted. It's what my superiors have instructed."

"And who are your superiors?"

The woman hesitated. "Among others, Tony Stark."

"What?" one of the man's employees cried. "The Avengers caused this mess, now they're the only ones who get to clean it up?"

"Hey! Calm down!" Penny snapped at him. She walked over to his boss and held out her hand. Usually, people were more compliant if you were more personable. "Sir, what's your name?"

"Adrian Toomes," he gruffed.

"Well, Mr. Toomes, I'm afraid I probably won't be much help with you being able to salvage this operation. If Stark wants this to happen, then it will. And it should. Alien technology is crazy dangerous." Toomes spluttered at that, while several of his employees groaned. "But, I think I can help you in other ways."

"Uh, huh. How's that?" Toomes asked disbelievingly.

She grinned. "Well, I am an Avenger. Tell you what, call up SI and ask to speak with JARVIS. Say Spider-Woman sent you, and that she said to tell Stark that he needs better snacking foods. You'll get redirected, I promise." Probably.

Truthfully, she had no idea if what she was saying would work. She figured JARVIS was probably Stark's AI, but she wasn't certain. This could turn out to blow up in her face.

Toomes still looked speculative. "And he'll just give me the money, like that?"

"Explain your situation to him. I'm sure Dr. Stark will be understanding," she replied. Then shrugged. "Besides, he's Tony Stark. I'm sure he has a few billions to spare."

Two weeks later, she was getting low on her suppressants, so she had to go get a refill.

Most of the mercenaries ignored her as she walked into Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children and sat at the bar. The ones that were misogynistic assholes knew better than to hit her up, and the others respected her enough to leave her alone for the most part.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite human arachnid," Weasel said, putting a wine glass on the bar and grabbing the only Roscato in the building off of the shelf behind him. He filled up the glass about halfway, handing it to her.

She rolled her eyes as she accepted the glass, lifting up her mask just enough that she would be able to drink it. "Weasel, I'm the only human arachnid you know. I'm one of a kind."

"Semantics," he shot back. "You here for your refill?"

"What else would I be doing here?"

"I don't know, trying to hook up with me?"

Despite herself, she laughed. She knew it was all in good fun. Like her, Weasel was an omega, and more importantly he and Wilson had been doing this weird cat-and-mouse dance around each other for a couple years now.

Weasel pulled out a paper bag from underneath the bar and handed it to her. Opening it up, she saw her new pill packet. Something in her un-tightened with relief. She sighed.

"Those pills are going to kill you, you know," Weasel spoke, saying the same thing he always did whenever she came, like he was her pharmacist or something.

She smiled mirthlessly at him. "I know."

There was a reason why an omega with no record of trauma, endometriosis, or some other medical condition wouldn't be able to get suppressants that covered both heat and scent from a doctor's office, after all.

Reaching down to her thigh, she pried the webbing she'd used to glue her wallet there and opened it up. "How much do I owe you?" she questioned, even though she already knew the amount: three-hundred dollars, which was actually a lot cheaper than it would've been with an actual prescription.

Weasel shook his head. "Nope, it's on the house this time."

She coughed. "What?"

"It's free. F-R-E-E," he said.

"I can pay for it."

"I know you can, but think of it as an Avengers special, but just for you because fuck Stark and the other asshats," he responded smoothly. "You saved the world, you deserve to be rewarded."

Her left eye twitched. "Weasel, really, I can – "

"I'm not going to accept your money," he deadpanned in reply. "And if you try suggesting it again, I'll make the next one on the house, too."

Groaning, she put her wallet back on her thigh and webbed it up again. "Fine," she grumbled. Then smirked. "So, how are you and Wilson doing?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he quipped back immediately. But the slight rose tint to his face told her otherwise.

Her smirk turned into a genuine smile. It was nice to know at least some of her friends were doing fine without her, after everything.

Penny had three glasses of wine before she left, although with her metabolism it was like she hadn't had any. She thwipped back towards her apartment easily, the lashing of the wind like music to her ears.

But suddenly, when she was about halfway home, the wind wasn't the only sound she heard. There was the sound of a jet engine, but it was way closer to the city than it should've been, not to mention smaller. Almost like it was actually a set of –

Repulsers. Iron Man.

Shit.

Twisting her body around, she saw it was indeed Stark flying above her. Briefly, she wondered what he would do if she flipped him off, or dropped down to the alleyways and used them the rest of the way to her apartment so he wouldn't be able to follow after her. Probably just wait for another day so he could do this again.

...She was going to have to talk with him, wasn't she?

Penny landed on the rooftop of a low-rise, her knees bending to catch her weight. Stark landed about twenty feet behind her. "Spider-Woman," he said. He took a step forwards.

She took one backwards. He was just far enough that she couldn't smell him enough to produce slick, and she wasn't going to tempt that. "Dr. Stark," she returned.

"You know, when a guy called my company asking if we could reimburse him for overextending himself and then referenced my AI who most people aren't supposed to know about, I was tempted to interrogate him, even if he said he knew it from Spider-Woman," Stark began without preamble. "But then he made a reference only you would know."

She rolled her shoulders. "Did you?"

"Reimburse him? Of course," he replied. "If I didn't, he would've been tempted to keep the alien technology for himself, start a black market. We can't have that in this city, or anywhere else."

...She agreed with him on that, it was why she had referred Toomes to him. But God, did it feel weird agreeing with another billionaire. Kind of icky, too. Gross.

"Okay, then why are you here?" she questioned. "You agreed with me. Problem solved."

"I was just wondering what you were thinking about my offer?"

Offer?

Her eyebrows came together. Despite it only being a matter of weeks since they'd last spoken, it felt like months had passed. She genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. "What?"

"I asked you if you were open to me footing the bill for your activities, helping you go back to college. Well, not so much the second one, but it was implied," he amended himself. "You said no."

She wasn't impressed. "And what, you thought I would change my mind?"

"Yes?" Her retort seemed to have thrown him off course. Good, she thought snidely. "No?"

She snorted.

"Kid, you're a genius – "

The name made her scowl. "Don't call me that."

"Genius?"

"No, kid. I'm not," she spat. She had fought in more battles than he had, taken down more villains than he had, saved more people than he had. She was not a kid. He was the man-child here.

"Fine," he conceded. He didn't sound too enthused about it, and she could only imagine his expression behind his face plate. "Regardless, you're a genius. It would be a waste for that potential to not be honed."

"I don't see it that way."

"I know you don't. But you don't want to be working what, a waitress job forever, do you?"

She spluttered. "How do you know I'm a – ?"

"Lucky guess. You're a beta, you could be working blue-collar, but it's unlikely." He paused to sniff. "Don't you want more than that, Spidey? A way for you to be known by your accomplishments outside of the suit? I can help you get that. Plus, you could get to know Banner better. He's already accepted my offer and is living at the Tower. I'm sure he'd love to work with you again."

Penny felt like she was losing control over this conversation. Admittedly, she hadn't had much of any in the first place, but it was like Stark was seeing through her. He knew things about her that nobody else knew because, for all intents and purposes, the Penny Parker before six months ago was dead. Nobody was supposed to remember her, much less care this much about her.

How long until he figured out she was an omega? How long after that until he realized she was his – ?

No. She couldn't allow that to happen.

She didn't want another mate.

"That's the difference between us, Dr. Stark," she spoke through gritted teeth. "You want the fame, the glory, the money. I don't."

Her words cut against everything her instincts were wanting, because all they wanted her to do was curl up against him, stop her suppressants so when their effects would stop after two weeks he would be able to smell her and know her value to him.

But, this had to happen.

Stark bristled. "Excuse me – "

"I would say you're excused, but you're not," she cracked. "I am perfectly fine with working with my means. Unlike you, in fact, I enjoy it. I don't need your so-called 'charity.' I don't want it. There are more important things in life than having more money than everyone else, or sex, or booze, or drugs. Just because you had the privilege of realizing that than most people doesn't mean you get to flaunt your sudden supposedly good nature to everyone else."

She heard the alpha – not her alpha, never her alpha, the alpha – growl. Yes, actually growl. It rumbled in his chest, a deep sound which sent the hairs on the back of neck on end. Her instincts screamed at her, making her take another step back.

"I'm not the person you are making me out to be," he said coolly.

She placed her hands on her hips. "No? How am I to know? You say you want to help the world, but up until very recently you didn't seem to have much interest in doing it. You embraced the Merchant of Death title, even. How am I supposed to trust that you won't use me to push your own agenda? Try to use my radioactive blood for your own gain?"

"I wouldn't."

"So you say, so the Green Goblin said. Pardon me if I'm not interested in finding out how much like him you are," she said, sneering.

Penny pivoted on her foot, walking towards the ledge of the roof.

She didn't get very far when she heard Stark call out, "You really don't work well with others, do you, Spider-Woman?"

He was back to formalities, then.

"Oh, like you couldn't already tell?" she laughed, glaring at him over her shoulder. "If there's another world-threatening event, Fury can call me up. I will come and help fight it. But otherwise, as far as I am concerned, I am your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Woman, and I work alone."

"Well, just so you know," he said after a moment, right before she left. "My offer still stands, if you ever want it."

She wished she could hate him.

Desperately, she wished she could hate him.

But all she had it in her to say was, "I won't."

Then, with that, she flung herself off of the building, heading back to her apartment.

And if her baser desires were saddened at how he didn't follow her, she refused to think anything of it.

Word Count: 3,656

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