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: Yes, I changed the chapter title of this one, too. I meant for this to go one way, but uh...yeah. That didn't happen. But I'm rolling with the tide haha.

Chapter title comes from Sunglasses At Night by Corey Hart.

As always, I hope you enjoy, and until next week,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~primis, omega, superhero, genius~

~somebody to love~

~chapter 25: sunglasses at night~

Penny stared at her reflection in the mirror, looking at the two amber-colored eyes staring right back at her. She wrinkled her too-slim nose experimentally and puffed out her cheeks, which had less than half the amount of freckles they actually did. Her bottom lip was just a little thinner, not by much, but enough to be noticeable.

All in all, she didn't look much like herself.

She sighed. "Remind me again why I agreed to do this, JARVIS?"

"...I must admit, I am a little uncertain to your reasonings as well, Delilah," he said, making her groan lowly. "You do look nice, though."

"I know I look nice," she mumbled, turning slightly to reexamine her overall appearance. "But that's not the point."

She was wearing a dark red dress with pseudo-cape sleeves, and a neckline that revealed more than just a little of her cleavage. She had on black boots that went up to just where the dress ended at her mid-calf, since it was December and there was snow on the ground outside. Her hair was pulled into a bun with a combination of more bobby pins than she could count and other such materials, all to make sure the style stayed in place. The only two hairstyles her hair could tolerate on a regular basis were down or in a messy ponytail, but she hoped it would continue to play nice tonight.

Just what she would need, her hair falling out, drawing attention to her and making her out to be an utter fool.

Penny hadn't agreed to doing this immediately. In fact, it wasn't up until a week ago that she'd finally caved in, saying she would go to the SI's stupid Avengers gala. Mainly because she'd already tried packing her bags and leaving, twice. She'd even got as far as getting in line to purchase a ticket at JFK, having gotten a passport and everything, before she'd chickened out and come back to the Tower without anyone being any the wiser to her attempt.

...Or, more accurately, before her instincts had pulled her back, practically kicking and screaming. Just even looking at the flights on the screen, the ones that still had seats available and left in a few hours (Budapest, Moscow, and Kathmandu (in the hope that Tao would take her in if she approached her that way, as unlikely as it was since she didn't remember her anymore) had been the ones she'd looked at in particular), had made her stomach churn like she'd been about to vomit and caused her throat to close up. She'd had to run into the nearest bathroom to cough up bile, all the while she'd whispered as a mantra, "Come on, you have to let me go. Please, let me go. Please, please, please..."

She had one more month on the suppressants. One more month until everything would be over, one way or another.

But, that would be something she would worry about later. Not tonight.

"Is Colonel Rhodes ready?" she asked JARVIS.

"He is downstairs on the communal floor, waiting for you," the AI reported diligently.

"Okay. Tell him I'm coming down," she replied. Softer, so that it was just under her breath, "Great."

Penny didn't have anything against the man, she just wanted to make that clear. But if something had happened to him, at least she would've had an excuse.

Grabbing the bag that had been designed to go with her tailor-made dress, she went over to the elevator. JARVIS opened up the doors seamlessly for her, allowing her to go in and him to take her down to her first stop before going to the gala.

In a strange twist of fate – to her, probably not to anybody else – the SI Christmas Charity Gala actually wasn't being held at the Tower, despite the Tower having a floor specifically set aside for such accommodations. Probably because of not wanting the other elite alphas of the city to get their feathers in a ruffle, they'd decided to go with more neutral territory in the form of one of the many five-star hotels in the city. Of course, she had been to the hotel before for a gala much like with this one, with Harry; she thought the ballroom was a little stuffy, but she'd make do. She wouldn't make a scene.

She was looking forward to getting a chance to be a wallflower tonight, unlike Bruce.

"Delilah," Rhodey said as soon as he saw her. He was dressed up in a three-piece suit done in the colors of his War Machine one: dark grey coat and pants, lighter grey shirt, dark red tie. "Hello."

She did her best to give him a smile. "Good evening, Colonel Rhodes."

"Rhodey, please. Call me Rhodey," he insisted, as he had the first time they'd met a couple weeks ago. "You look nice."

"Thanks. You do, too."

He held out his arm to her. "Shall we?"

She accepted the gesture. They went back into the elevator, since it was the only way they could get down to the garage. "You don't think the veil's too on the nose?"

"Nope, no one's going to be able to recognize you," he assured her. "Tony did a good job with that."

"Good."

Rhodey was a nice guy, although she knew she probably shouldn't have even thought of expecting any less. Tony had quite the way of picking out his friends. Rhodes was a beta, which was what made him a good candidate to go with, because nobody would bat an eye at a beta man taking a beta woman to a gala that much (like they would had Pepper taken her, who Tony had proposed as an alternative). He was famous, but he wasn't overly famous; the paparazzi were going to speculate on her identity because of her going with him, but the articles weren't going to make front page headlines or anything. And only the people who were really obsessed with him were going to speculate past that, and there weren't that many diehard War Machine fans out there.

But she could tell he wasn't bothered by that. Not at all.

"Oh, before I forget," Rhodey said. He patted down his suit. "I got you something – "

"You didn't have to – " Before she could finish her sentence, he took something out of his suit's inner pocket: a corsage. She made a noise of disbelief. "You got me a corsage, really? What are we, in high school?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't going to get it, but then I was walking by a flower shop one day and I figured we could play into this shit fest Natasha put us up to a little." Penny laughed at his joke, she couldn't help herself. "I hope you don't mind lilies."

"No, I love them," she answered, putting the corsage on her right wrist – she wasn't going to let him do it for her. It was a simple, but elegant thing. Beautiful. "Lilies are my favorite flower, actually."

She'd always loved lilies. The flower in its white form was a symbol of purity and commitment.

It was also a flower often given at funerals, making it a symbol of death and grief.

Rhodey grinned. "Guess I chose correctly, then."

When the elevator finished taking them all the way down to the Avengers garage, Happy was already waiting for them. Usually, he was Tony's driver, or Pepper's, but tonight he'd been loaned out to them since he was the only driver she felt even slightly comfortable driving them to their venue. He was standing in front of a car, sleek and black. "We're not going to be late, are we?" she inquired of him. It was getting rather close to the start of the gala.

His usually sour face darkened even further. "Not when I'm driving, you won't."

The shock at his tone must've shown on her face, because it made Rhodey snicker. But he didn't say anything more about it.

Penny knew how it went with celebrity galas – as she'd said, she'd been to them before. When Happy pulled up to the hotel, she took a pair of sunglasses Tony had made for her specifically designed to combat the flashing light of cameras out of her bag, making sure it didn't disturb the veil in a makeup mirror that she'd also placed in the bag. It made her suffering just a little more bearable as Rhodey helped her out of the car.

Reporters shouted questions at them as they entered the building. "Colonel Rhodes, who is this?"

"Ma'am, can you tell us your name?"

They ignored them until they got inside. The reporters weren't allowed past the front doors, so it was much more quiet from there on out. Penny took off the sunglasses, placing them back in her bag.

There were already a sizable amount of people inside the ballroom. Because of this, they didn't attract too much attention when they entered the room – or so they didn't, until Tony spotted them and approached. He was wearing a classic black suit with a white shirt and dark red tie. "Colonel Rhodes," he greeted his best friend.

"Tones," Rhodey said. They did a quick handshake, which made her a little bittersweet, because she used to have somebody she would do that with.

But then Tony looked at her, and despite how they'd rehearsed this moment well until now, something sparked behind his eyes she couldn't quite place. "And who's this?"

"My name's Delilah Reilly," she "introduced" herself.

He whistled. "Delilah. Pretty name. Well, Ms. Reilly, I'm sure you'll have a good time. Honey bear here told me you weren't much for parties – " Rhodey rolled his eyes, as had been practiced " – but I'll let you in on a secret: I'm not a big party guy either." Tony winked.

"Thank you, Dr. Stark."

Rhodey led her over to a place to stand that was near to where the Avengers were supposed to be, but not within their circle. Maria Hill was standing there, a flute of champagne already in her hands. She nodded at them, but didn't say anything.

That was fine. Just seeing her was enough. Penny had only seen her a handful of times since the Chitauri Invasion, but the woman had been one of the people to train her. She'd taught her so many things about being a hero.

"Is Fury going to be here?" Rhodey asked Hill under his breath, causing Penny to stare at him in surprise.

Hill snorted. "Do you think he's a man for parties?"

Penny easily could've told him that, if he'd asked her.

But...nobody knew just how well she knew the man. They didn't even know he was her godfather. Of course.

There were way too many people she recognized in the crowd for her liking – CEOs, billionaires, actors, actresses, other celebrities. This one man in particular caught her eye, with dark brown hair, hazel eyes, round-rimmed glasses, and a beard with flecks of grey in it. She nearly groaned when she finally recognized him.

"What?" Rhodey asked. "Who is it?"

"Charles Standish," she whispered to him. "He is – was the CFO of Oscorp. But I guess since he's here tonight, he's the CEO now."

"Do you know him?"

"...In a matter of speaking." She craned her neck towards Rhodey just before Standish looked over at them, as if he somehow sensed they were talking about him. "He doesn't know me."

"...I see." The beta actually sounded like he did. "I'll do my best to not let him get close to you."

"So will I," Hill said. Obviously, she'd been eavesdropping on their conversation. Not that Penny had expected any less.

"Thanks," she told each of them.

The gala started off much like how she figured it would. A few minutes after it officially started, Tony attracted the attention of the entire room. "Okay," he said, loud enough that his voice carried. "Wow, this is quite the turnout. Thank you all for coming tonight..."

His speech was pretty typical. He spent a good amount of time talking about his mother, however, and her Christmas charity galas, which...took Penny aback some. Tony never spoke much about his parents. Granted, they had died over twenty years ago now; they'd been killed the same year she'd been born (as if that wasn't mind-boggling to think about). But the way he spoke about Maria Stark now...it was obvious she had been one of the most important women, one of the most important omegas, in his life.

It occurred to Penny then that she was never going to meet Howard and Maria Stark, or Sarah Rogers, or Clint's mother, Edith Barton. They were all dead, or so she knew in the case of the latter from his SHIELD files.

...God, she needed a drink.

She grabbed a flute of champagne from a waiter as he walked by after Tony's speech was done, taking a moderate sip from it as her eyes flicked about the room. She couldn't drink much more than that, not like how she wanted to. She couldn't give the impression that she was enhanced.

As the occupants of the ballroom mingled, people approached them. Not many, but enough. "My, my," said Sylvia Holliday, the omega wife of Magnus Holliday, a lawyer and the patriarch of one of the families that moved in the same circles the Osborn family had, when she came up to them. Penny remembered her as a kind, elderly woman, but she was a gossip. A terrible gossip. They'd have to watch their words around her. "Colonel Rhodes, you've caught quite the catch, haven't you?"

Rhodey laughed awkwardly. He looked like he was dying on the inside. "Hello, Mrs. Holliday," he said. "Yes. This is Delilah Reilly. Delilah, this is Sylvia Holliday. She's the wife of one of Stark Industries' biggest investors."

Penny was much better at putting on a front than he was. She plastered on a smile. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Oh, you're very polite, aren't you?" Her eyes flicked back to Rhodey. "Where did you find her? My younger son, Max, has been looking for someone to catch his eye for years, but he hasn't found anyone yet."

Yes, Penny wanted to say. Because Max is a lazy, chauvinistic asshole who works at your husband's firm, not because he's actually good at what he does like his brother, but because nowhere else will hire him.

"We met up at a cafe," Rhodey said, the answer they'd agreed on. "We got sat at tables next to each other."

"I struck up the conversation," Penny picked up for him. "He seemed like a nice guy."

"Then, before we knew it: boom."

"Oh, that's so sweet. Reminds me of how my Magnus and I met," gushed Sylvia. "If only more modern couples could meet that way instead of being on their phones all the time..."

After about forty-five minutes or so of talking with her and other people, Penny felt the beginning of a headache from the banality of it all coming on. "Do you mind if I go to the restroom?" she whispered to Rhodey, handing him her glass of champagne. "I'm getting very close to killing somebody."

He chuckled. "No, not at all. You're doing good, by the way. You're like a natural."

Not a natural. Just somebody who's been trained to act like one.

"Thanks. Be back in five."

The nearest restrooms were in an alcove, so that they were mostly hidden from the hallway and allowed for privacy, if it was needed. She went into the one for beta women and omegas and over to the sinks. She couldn't splash her face with water, not like she wanted to, but just the sound of it running was enough to calm her down.

Goddamn vultures. Why did I ever agree to this?

She went to the toilet, because she knew as long as she was here she might as well. After turning back on the sink to wash her hands, she moved to leave the room –

– And almost collided with a solid wall of muscle on her way out the door.

"Shit," she breathed. "Steve, Tony, what are you doing here?"

"Just checking on you," the mechanic answered. He was positioned in such a way he could see who was coming down the hallway without being seen himself. "You left the gala."

"We thought something was wrong," Steve agreed. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just needed a moment." She squinted her eyes at them. "Everything okay with you guys?"

There was something – different in the air. She couldn't really explain it.

"Yep, fine." Tony nodded to both of them. "I should probably be getting back in there."

He walked out of the alcove, leaving the two of them behind.

Steve shifted his weight stiffly. It seemed like most of the Avengers – or Avengers-affiliated heroes, in the case of Rhodey – besides Tony and Bruce (who was also wearing a black tux that night) were dressing according to their suits. The blonde was wearing a navy blue suit with an appropriately-colored shirt and tie, while Clint had on a wine-colored suit and Natasha a black dress that faded into burgundy at the skirt.

"Whatever you're wanting to say, Rogers, just say it," Penny went.

"...It wouldn't be wrong of me to say I think you look nice?"

"Not if you mean it without any hidden intent or objectifying me, no. If you're just saying it as a statement of fact, it's fine." She gave him a once-over. "You look nice, too."

"Is that a fact?"

"Yes, I believe so."

Music started to filter through the air from the ballroom. It was the Christmas, jazz kind, not something really to her tastes. Especially when it was Christmas music.

She wasn't much for the holidays these days.

Steve's eyes darted over to the entrance to the alcove. "We should probably get back in there, shouldn't we?"

"Oh, I don't think anyone's going to be missing me too much for another few minutes," she commented dryly. "But you? Definitely. Have you met Sylvia Holliday yet?"

Predictably, he groaned. "Why did you have to remind me of her existence?"

"Come on, playing the cute guy to some old ladies is like the epitome of a gala experience."

"For me or for them?"

Penny snickered. "Go," she said, her fingers brushing up against his suit as she nudged him forwards. "And do me a favor: before you start dancing, go and find Rhodey and tell him that I think I'm gonna be a few minutes longer."

"I'll relay the message to him, but I'm not much of a dancer anymore." He shot her a sunny smile. "Still waiting for the right partner."

He left before she could even open her mouth to say, like a complete idiot, "I'm not much of a dancer anymore, either."

When she knew he was outside of hearing range, she let out a short whine, opening up her bag to pull out her phone. She was already running late on the time she had given Rhodey by two minutes, but she figured he wouldn't mind waiting for another three. She needed that time to collect her bearings.

She needed to get a grip on her feelings, her instincts, her life.

The sound of footsteps walking down the hall made her ears pinprick. They sounded...heavy. Far too heavy to be caused by dress shoes for the gala.

A tingle went down her spine, sending the hairs on the back of her neck on end. Her spider sense.

Something was wrong.

Depositing her phone back in her purse, Penny pressed her back up against the wall separating the hallway and the alcove. She crept to the exit, looking out shrewdly, preparing herself for a fight the second she even thought there was going to be one. Even if she was here as a civilian, as Delilah Reilly and not Penny Parker, much less Spider-Woman, she wouldn't fail to protect people at a moment's notice if she needed to.

There was a man walking down the hallway from the end that led to the ballroom. He was dressed like he was attending the event, but something wasn't...right about his getup. The black blazer over a shirt and pants of the same color was just too casual, and he didn't have the air that people she associated with going to galas did. It was an air accentuated by the black leather gloves he was wearing: dangerous.

He had dark brown hair, long, shoulder-length. Grey eyes. She was completely unprepared for how, when he abruptly came to a stop in the hallway, those grey eyes locked with her own, meeting her blue which were obscured by the amber of the photostatic veil. He'd known precisely where she was, and she knew he'd wanted her to know it. Even though those grey eyes were flat, dead-looking. Like there wasn't a person behind those eyes, working the body.

As soon as he'd paused in his step, the man resumed his walking, making a brisk pace.

"Hey," she said, despite how very dangerous she knew it was, stepping out of the alcove. She began to walk after him, her spider sense telling her to. "Hey, wait!"

He ignored her, rounding the corner and vanishing from sight.

Suddenly, her spider sense amped up. She gasped, the world turning to slow motion as she spun around. She knew what was different about the air.

"Fuck!" she cursed, rushing forwards. "Everybody, get out, there's a – !"

BOOOOM!

Word Count: 3,620

Next Chapter Title: sisters of the moon