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: We're getting there! Don't hate me for this chapter, I had to give some fluff before the smut lol.

Chapter title comes from More Than a Woman by the Bee Gees.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~primis, omega, superhero, genius~

~somebody to love~

~chapter 34: more than a woman~

The second she finished speaking, Iron Lad pushed himself back even further. "No, no, no," he said, practically begging. "I told you, Spider-Woman! I don't want anything to do with SHIELD!"

Penny stared at him. "Iron Lad, you're hurt," she said, getting to her so she could walk towards him. "You need medical attention!"

"I'll heal," he snapped. She stopped approaching him when he flinched back. Though his heartbeat was muffled by the sounds of his suit, she could hear it pounding away in his chest, all but going a mile a minute. He was breathing fast, the pattern telling her he was bordering on a panic attack. Shit. What exactly was his beef with SHIELD? "I told you – I trusted you – and this is how you – ? And you're my – ?"

She had no idea what was going on with him, and it didn't really matter. Raising her hands to show that she wasn't going to hurt him, she quickly fell into the demeanor that she always had towards civilians when they were a potential threat to themselves and/or others. She went back to walking towards him, slowly placing one foot in front of the other. "Iron Lad," she began. "Look, I don't know why you don't like SHIELD, but it's going to be – "

He went from mostly panicked to downright furious in the span of a few milliseconds, his eyes going flat as he scowled. "Back off!" he said.

The alpha order wrapped around her in a way it would any other beta or omega he said it to. Forcibly, against her will, she started to retreat, her body not listening to her mind as the latter tried to rebel.

He wasn't the only one angry anymore.

"How – how dare you?" she choked out.

Iron Lad didn't listen to her. He must've activated something in his face plate similar to how Tony did the various parts of his armor, because the face plate launched up from the ground, snapping back into place over his face. Pushing himself to his feet with his good arm and turning around, he launched off from the ground without saying anything more.

When he was gone, Penny fell to her knees, gasping.

Fuck.

She hated alpha orders. Had she ever mentioned that before?

She heard another set of repulsers and whirring from behind her, similar to but subtly different than Iron Lad's. The sounds were like music to her ears.

"Spider-Woman, are you alright?" Tony asked, landing right in front of her. He crouched down, placing a hand on her should. "Where's Iron Lad?"

"I'm fine," she gritted out. She used him as something to lean on and get back on her feet. "Iron Lad left. He ran away."

"What? I thought you said he was down for the count."

"He was. He didn't care about that, though. He really doesn't like SHIELD," she grumbled, before adding, "Also, I think he might be enhanced."

"You're shitting me."

It was the only reason she could think of for his comment. "I'm not." She paused, trying to figure out a way to breath the other news to him without him freaking out. The only reason why he didn't know yet was because of his suit, his own face plate and air filtration system preventing him from smelling her scent. "Tony, you were right."

"About the robots?" he asked, tilting his head. "Yeah, I was."

She swallowed. "Not just that. Um – "

"Guys!"

They both turned. Steve was running towards them, panting and with a mild cut on his cheek and a few other scrapes, but looking mostly okay. That was good. She hadn't wanted him to get seriously injured like he had last month – especially not with what was going to be soon on the horizon.

The super soldier was about ten feet away from them when he stopped. His eyes widened as his nostrils flared, doing what Tony couldn't do yet. "O – P – Spider-Woman," he went, going through the names since they all knew the first two wouldn't exactly be the best to say right now, with them being out in public and not knowing who was listening. "You – you smell like – "

She cringed. "I know."

Tony's head swiveled back to her. The face plate was blank as ever, but she could hear the panic in his voice as he said, "Wait...Spider-Woman, please tell me your scent's not – "

"It is. The you-know-what wore off, just like you predicted they would," she said. And because she was a complete idiot, she threw in some jazz hands to top it all off. "Surprise!"

The effects of pre-heat started hitting her the second she and Tony got back to the Tower, making it the metaphorical icing on the cake.

He and Steve had gone into overprotective alpha mode the instant after she'd told them what was going on, Steve's focus having snapped to him. "She needs to go back to the Tower," he'd said.

"She is right here," Penny had huffed, putting a hand on her hip.

She knew they'd heard her and hadn't meant to kind of ignore her, but that was what the result had been. "Right," Tony had agreed.

"Clint, Nat, and I will get back as soon as we can. I'll tell them what's going on and Fury that we can't help with the cleanup this time. Bruce might be coming back with us, too, if he wants to do another checkup on her."

"Guys!" she'd protested again.

They'd turned to look at her. "Do you mind if I fly you back to the Tower?" Tony had asked.

Just one look at Steve's visage and a scenting of his pheromones, the latter more than overpowering – he'd barely been holding it together in her presence – had let her know there'd been no room for argument. It'd been a long time since she'd had an alpha in her life in any way, but when they let their instincts get the better of them...sometimes, it was better just to humor them than it was to put up any sort of fight.

(...Maybe that was why packs with the omega as the primis were so uncommon. It wasn't because the alphas couldn't deal with each other, but that nature somehow knew the omega couldn't deal with all of them.

But if that was the case, what did that say about her?)

She'd sighed. "Yeah, that's fine."

Tony had flown her back to the Tower bridal-style. It'd been a little embarrassing, because she was not used to being the damsel in distress in a relationship. It was something she was going to have to get used to.

The second they landed on the helipad, Penny jerked in his arms, unable to stop the whimper that escaped her lips.

Tony looked down at her. "Omega?"

"I'm fine. Just..." She laughed weakly. "I think Natasha might've been right, too. Cramps."

"Shit," he cussed. "JARVIS, you hear that?"

The man and his AI went back and forth as they entered the building. She listened to them idly, her arms wrapping around her torso. The cramps had always been the part she hated the most about heats, which was perhaps a little unusual. Most people hated the gauze the most, some the slick, others in her situation the somnic hypersexuality...but she could deal with all of that.

What she couldn't deal with was the cramps when there was pretty much no amount of ibuprofen that she could take to get rid of them.

At least she was entering pre-heat now, and hadn't gone directly into heat the second the suppressants' effects had worn off. That had to count for something.

Otherwise, things would've been a lot more embarrassing. And dire.

But that didn't mean she still wouldn't have preferred another day or two before all this started...

"Is it okay if I set you down?" At her nod, Tony placed her down on one of the couches in the room that led to the helipad. The pieces of his suit flew off of him, and JARVIS opened up a panel to the chute that went directly to his Iron Man lab so they could go back to where they belonged. She watched her alpha's pupils become blown, now exposed to her scent. "Omega..."

"I know," she murmured, taking off her mask – with the result that her scent became that much more potent.

He leaned down, his nose instantly going for the portion of her mating gland that was exposed. "You smell like lilies," he told her.

Penny blinked.

Out of all of the scents in the world, why was she not surprised?

"Just lilies?"

"Yep," he said, the "p" popping.

Interesting.

Why did they all have two scents for her, but she had only one for them – since her scent would be the same for the others' due to reasons unexplained?

Something to think about later.

"Can we go down to my floor?" she requested.

Tony hooked one arm underneath her and snaked the other around her back, now carrying her more like she was a toddler. Trying to make things easier for him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs behind his back, making him chuckle against her ear. Motor oil and leather filled her nose. They smelled good.

"You're not just Spider-Woman," he accused. "You're a spider monkey, too."

"...Shut up."

He took her back to her bedroom, laying her down on her bed. Penny threw her mask towards the closet, then rolled over onto her stomach to work on her suit. In quick order, she was able to unzip and wriggle out of it, leaving her only in her bra and panties. Tony's eyes were hungry as he regarded her, but she couldn't find it in herself to ask him to get her a pair of pajamas. She didn't like wearing pajamas during pre-heat, didn't like the feeling of wearing anything (but the bra and panties would do for now), and it wasn't like she would be wearing anything at all once she entered heat properly...and she could only guess as to how soon it would take for that to happen.

She'd already gone over with her alphas what she needed in both pre-heat and heat, but she decided to just reiterate some of the former anyways. "Can you get me the heated blanket from the linen closet and some of my homemade protein bars and a water bottle from the fridge, please?" she requested.

Tony nodded eagerly. "Yep, can do that."

Penny buried her face into her pillow, inhaling all of the different scents there. Slick started to gush out of her, though she'd already been leaking by the time Iron Lad had fled. She didn't have any pads to put on her underwear or disposable panties to deal with it. Probably weird of her, but again, she wasn't going to be wearing underwear at all for the next week. Minimum.

Oh, the perks of being her.

Tony came back after a few minutes with all the things she'd asked for. She sat up and scooted over to the right end corner of the bed reluctantly, taking the water bottle and protein bars away from him. He wordlessly pulled the covers off of the bed with one hand before he unfolded the heated blanket and began to put it on the bed.

While he worked, she cracked open the water bottle and drank roughly a quarter of it. Hydration was important. She could feel the fever beginning underneath her skin, warming her up from the inside out. Next came one of the protein bars. She scarfed it down, because once the nausea set in it was going to be really hard for her to eat anything at all.

Good thing she'd bumped up five pounds in the past couple of weeks, though she wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Anything else you need me to do?" Tony questioned, standing near the bed, his task complete.

Her demands were simple: "Come into bed with me...clothes off 'cept for your boxers. And stay."

Her alpha laughed. "I can do that...you're going to be a needy omega, aren't you?"

"It'll be easier with four of you," she replied sleepily, reminding him of that fact. Shit, the pre-heat was hitting her fast. She put the other protein bars and her water bottle on her nightstand, though not without drinking another quarter of the latter. "You'll get breaks, and trust me, you're probably going to need them."

"Yeah, you said that." His tone sounded doubtful.

Penny thought about telling him of Harry not-exactly-joking after their first heat together that he'd worried she would've wound up breaking his dick, but decided not to. She'd prepared them for this as much as she could've via anecdotes and the medical knowledge she had. It wasn't her fault if they didn't take seriously, similar to how Harry had.

The bed dipped as Tony got in, though not without turning the heated blanket on and to the second setting. His skin, more tanned than hers, almost olive really, was a sight that was like looking at an oasis in the middle of the desert. It made her mouth water. "I don't doubt you," he said, leaning in to nibble at her ear. The action made her gasp softly. "But with the way you smell...shit, Pen, it's more than just lilies. You smell like heaven. Like a dream come true. It's gonna be hard to leave you."

Her instincts preened at that.

It was good to know that she was wanted, loved.

"I'm going to fall asleep," she yawned, even though it seemed paradoxical. Usually, in this kind of situation, they would be helping the others clean up – and if they weren't, she still would've had more energy than this regardless. But with her body going into overdrive from pre-heat, she could barely keep her eyes open.

Tony chuckled again, his right arm sneaking around her torso, pulling her into a spooning position as she closed her eyes. "Sleep. Don't try to fight it," he ordered. "Steve, Clint, and Nat will be here by the time you wake up."

I know, she thought.

Then she was out like a light.

Pre-heat sleep was always kind of weird.

It wasn't quite like the gauze, but it wasn't quite like sleep-sleep, either. It seemed to exist somewhere in-between, a special kind of unconsciousness as her body was preparing itself for the main entertainment.

Unlike the gauze, though, it didn't make her completely incoherent. She woke up as she heard the sound of three different pairs of footsteps in her apartment, Tony's arm remaining where it had been before she'd fallen asleep. Moaning pitifully, she shifted around in his hold, burying her head into his chest. It was evening, the sun was setting, but even so the light was searing against her eyelids. It was making her want to already throw up.

"Omega, what's wrong?"

"Is she okay?" Clint.

Steve knew what was going on before she even opened her mouth. "JARVIS, turn the lights off and up the window tint. She's close to having a sensory overload."

The room was clothed in darkness, becoming that much better.

"Mmmph..." Penny hummed. She opened her eyes into slits, turning her head a little. "...Clint? Steve? Nat?"

"We're here, Omega," Natasha spoke.

Her brain was already sluggish. She had to fight to remember who was missing, most of all since he wouldn't have exactly belonged in the first place. "Where's Bruce? 'Thought he was gonna...check up on me."

"I gave him some updates through JARVIS," Tony said, his chest vibrating with his voice. "He decided if you're already in pre-heat, you'll probably be going into the real thing by tomorrow morning. He said he doesn't want to disturb us unless it's absolutely necessary."

That made sense. It was the typical physician's response to a heat. The typical response from anybody, really, if they weren't an omega's or theta's mate or a member of their family.

Her throat and mouth were as dry as sandpaper, making her smack her lips lightly.

The bed dipped again. "Are you thirsty?"

"Are you wearing clothes?" Her eyelids had fallen back shut, she couldn't tell.

The extra dip in the bed vanished. She heard the rustling of clothes, the unbuckling of a belt. Multiple belts.

"Not anymore," Clint said.

She heard him grab the water bottle, the crinkling of plastic like nails on chalkboard to her ears, but it was a necessary evil. She pulled herself up into a sitting position as Steve and Natasha laid down on the bed as well. The lip of the bottle was pressed up to her mouth.

Penny drank reluctantly, taking small sips. She emptied the bottle anyways. "Thanks," she rasped.

"Of course."

There was more for her to worry about than just Bruce. Her heat didn't change that. Granted, it was getting harder for her to think, but she pushed through it. A week minimum with only Bruce being around for debriefing meant that Fury was going to be a very unhappy camper.

"Died SHIELD...find Iron Lad yet?"

She had no intention of telling them about the guy's alpha order on her, not yet. It wouldn't do her any good.

Penny grimaced as more slick came out of her body – her underwear was practically already ruined now, the dampness beginning to seep into the heated blanket (which was fine, it was made entirely for the purpose of heat relief and would be easy to hand-wash), but she was continuing to hold off on taking her panties off – and as Steve chided, "You shouldn't be worrying about him. You have more important things to think about."

"I'm not going to be even capable of thinking by tomorrow morning except for moments of lucidity, thanks," she snarked at him. Clint and Tony snickered. Even Natasha's amusement was palpable. "And I'm taking that as a 'no.'"

"He'll turn up," Natasha said.

She didn't doubt that. "Casualties?"

"Eight dead, twenty injured."

Her jaw clenched. Too many.

"Steve, Nat, can one of you get another water bottle?" Clint asked. The way the bed shifted told her it was Natasha who did it, and she was kind of surprised that Tony didn't say something about it.

The surprise then gave way to the sensation of her stomach rolling as she heard the squelching of the cling wrap on one of the other homemade protein bars. "Do I have to?"

"Eating's generally considered to be necessary to survival and you know how important that is for getting through your heat, so yes."

Penny opened her eyes to glare at him. "Really?"

Clint gave her a smirk. "Don't be like that," he warned sweetly. "Otherwise, I'll do the same thing to you that I did to my niece and nephew when they were babies and I was visiting: I'll give you the airplane routine."

Tony coughed in a futile attempt to hide his laugh.

She took the protein bar from Clint, not willing to be fed by somebody else yet. The food tasted awful to her: she chewed it mechanically, swallowed it, then took another small bite and repeated the process.

(Rinse. Wash. Repeat.)

Natasha came back into her room, two water bottles instead of one clutched in her hands. Penny's eyes widened at what she was wearing: a black bra/crop top combo and alpha women's boxers of the same color, which accentuated her every curve. Steve and Clint were a sight for the eyes too, just like Tony don't get her wrong.

Acutely, she was made aware of the fact that she had the four alphas of the Avengers all in her bedroom, considered by the tabloids and everybody else that didn't know better to be some of the world's most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, in their underwear. But they weren't eligible bachelors and bachelorette, because they were all hers.

It almost made her want to jump the gun.

Almost.

They could all wait just a little bit longer.

Natasha handed Clint one of the water bottles, placing the other on the nightstand. He opened it, exchanging it with her for the discarded cling wrap from her protein bar. Again, she drank a fourth of it before handing it back to him, her throat spasming like it was threatening to close.

"Can we...watch something?" she requested.

JARVIS was all too happy to oblige her. He turned on the TV, turning down its brightness and volume as he switched the channel from her House reruns to one showing the movie The Proposal. It made her snort. "That's Wade's doppelgänger."

Her mates all stared at her blankly.

"Who?" Steve asked.

...Right. She hadn't gotten around to telling them about Wade and Matt yet, either.

"I'll tell you later," she murmured.

They got most of the way through the movie before Penny started to feel the drag of sleep again. She prodded at Clint for the water bottle, drank some more of it, then after he'd put it back, said, "Alright, we're going to need to do some rearranging."

They all knew what she meant. Clint switched positions with Steve, and Tony did the same with Natasha. They'd decided it would be best for the super soldier and the spy – since, as Penny had learned, she was "technically" enhanced due to the Red Room – to go first, then Clint and Tony, then however they needed it until her heat was over.

And they would need breaks. She didn't care what they thought about that.

Natasha inhaled deeply. "You do smell good, Omega."

She gave a small smile. "I'm glad."

Twelve hours.

Word Count: 3,642

Next Chapter: wham bam shang-a-lang