Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney Studios, and/or their otherwise respective owners.
Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! Welcome back! Here is (the official) chapter two! :)
Title comes from Call It What You Want by Foster the People.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,
~TGWSI/Selene Borealis
~the spinneret saga~
~birth of a heroine~
~chapter 2: call it what you want~
The following Wednesday, Penny showed up to school feeling like she was practically vibrating, barely able to contain her excitement.
All it took from Harley was one look for him to realize what was going on. "No way," he said, practically gobsmacked. "You didn't get your permission slip signed, did you?"
In response, she took the permission slip from out of the front pocket of her backpack and showed it to him.
"You did!" he gasped. Then, he looked back up at her, his eyes squinting. "Wait, did you get it signed, or did you get it signed?"
"You just said the same thing twice, Harley," she said.
He understood her answer for what it meant and let out a laugh. "No way," he repeated, nudging her shoulder with his fist lightly. "Guess Ms. Goody Two-Shoes Penny Parker isn't that much of a goody two-shoes after all."
Meanwhile, MJ pursed her lips. It was an unexpected move from her, and one that made Penny pause. "Everything okay, MJ?"
"Yeah," the other girl said. "Just...are you sure that you're not gonna get in trouble over this?"
It was a fair question of her to ask. Penny bit her lip anxiously. "I don't think so." She'd worked on writing her mother's signature so many times ever since Friday night, her hand honestly kind of felt like it was going to fall off. Besides, "Even if I do, it'll be worth it. And I don't think I'm going to get in that much trouble."
MJ didn't exactly look convinced, but she accepted her answer. "Okay, if you're sure."
The real test came when she and Harley got to Biology. She watched her friend sit down out of the corner of her eye as she approached Mr. Harrington's desk, where he was sitting. Feeling like her heart was racing a mile per minute inside of her chest, she set the permission slip down in front of him. "Here you go, Mr. Harrington," she said.
Her teacher's eyes went down to look at the slip. When he looked back up at her, there was no trace of doubt in his eyes. "Glad you could make it, Penny," he told her.
When she turned around and headed over to her seat, Harley gave her a shit-eating grin. She smiled back at him, feeling equally as pleased.
It looked like she was going to Oscorp after all.
Two and a half weeks later, she, Harley, and MJ were herded outside and onto the buses along with the rest of the freshmen class that was able to go, because like how it would've been for her had she not done what she'd done, there were a few people who couldn't attend for whatever reason. The teachers announced before they let them get on the buses that whoever they sat with on the bus was going to be their partner for the worksheet that they would have to fill out on the field trip, but this was a loophole that they were willing to exploit. MJ sat in the window, Harley between them, and Penny on the edge, right next to the aisle. It was a tight fit, but they made it work. Mr. Dell, their World History teacher, looked exasperated at their antics, but he didn't say anything about it even though it was technically a safety violation, just moved on to another group on their bus that was being a problem.
The bus ride to Oscorp was fine. Flash and Ned were on their bus, but they were sitting way in the back while she and her friends were sitting way up front, so there was a nice divider between them. Because she was the one sitting in the aisle, it was fine for them getting off, too, because she was one of the first people to get off the bus while they had to wait for everybody in front of them to do the same. Harley and MJ got off after a couple people between them instead of right behind, but she assumed from the irritated look on Harley's face that it was because of his leg. Even though it was robotic and had been for over two years now, he still had phantom pain from it on a regular basis – so he'd said, at least.
They were shuffled into the building once they all got off the bus, the teachers handing out their worksheets to them along the way. The building was a sleek black save for the large white letters of OSCORP on its top and along the right of the side of the building's main entrance, which was where they were entering. Penny craned her neck to look at the letters up until she couldn't see them anymore, fascinated. This was it. She was really here.
The inside of the building consisted of shiny white floors and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. There were a little less than two hundred Midtown students that had been able to come, but the lobby was big enough that putting them all off in a corner was feasible and didn't take up too much space. A college-aged intern with a microphone attached to her shirt so that they would all be able to listen to her came over and told them what they would be doing. Apparently, instead of having a usual tour, they would actually be left to their own devices for most of the trip so that they could do a scavenger hunt and get up close and personal with the research of three specific scientists: Dr. Olivia Octavius, Dr. Curt Connors, and Dr. Michael Morbius. They were some of the best scientists that Oscorp had. They would be given around two hours to fill out their worksheets, after which they would have lunch, then a time for questions with some of the interns, and then they would go back to Midtown.
To this, Penny only had one thing to say: "So cool."
She said this quietly, but not quietly enough. Both Flash and Ned were standing close by to them, and they turned their heads around to glare at her. She gulped at the sight, but tried to act like it didn't bother her as much as it actually did. Being bullied back at their school was one thing, but being bullied while on a field trip...
"So, which one do you guys want to look at first?" Harley asked when the college intern was done with her little speech and they were directed over to the set of rooms where the scavenger hunt was.
Penny shrugged; she didn't really have a preference. But MJ's eyes narrowed as they all saw Flash and Ned head off to Dr. Morbius' exhibit. "Let's go to Dr. Connors' one," she suggested lightly.
So they did, walking through the exhibit and answering the questions on the worksheet as needed. It was fairly interesting. Dr. Connors was a herpetologist, which meant his research was entirely dedicated to reptiles. But, though he researched reptiles of all types, his specific focus was on certain species of reptiles and their healing factors and limb-regenerating properties, like how geckos could drop their tails when threatened and then grow the appendage back around thirty days later. A plaque said he wanted to do it because he wanted to see if their genetics could offer insight in how to regrow limbs in humans, so that people like him wouldn't have to have a finality in an amputated limb.
MJ and Penny both observed Harley carefully as they read the plaque together. "What do you think about that, Harley?" Penny questioned him.
The boy made a face. "I don't know. On the one hand, a robotic leg is cool, but it doesn't really compare to the original, not even when it was built by Tony Stark..." he said quietly. "But on the other hand, messing with genetics in general sounds like a bad idea. Even if what he does wind up working, I don't know if I'd want my DNA to be messed with aga – I mean, at all."
She and MJ shared a look at the last part of his statement. The world knew quite a bit about Harley Keener due to who his adoptive parents were, but they didn't know everything, especially when it came to how he'd overcome stage IV cancer. But just because his parents were famous, that didn't mean the world had a right to know. Not even they did, even with being his friends. Privacy was something understandable and to be valued.
"I get that," Penny said. "And he even admits that cross-species genetics is incredibly dangerous. It says they haven't gotten out of mice trials in years. That can't mean anything good."
"They shouldn't be experimenting on animals at all," MJ muttered darkly, crossing her arms.
"Yeah," Harley said.
"They really shouldn't be," Penny agreed. Just another reason to dislike Oscorp, besides what Harley (and her mom) had said...
Where it was said she was allowed to, she took a couple pictures of the lizards in their enclosures, being careful not to disturb them or touch the glass. They were cute. MJ didn't do the same, not even to have some references for her to base drawings off of later, but Penny couldn't blame her after what they had just read.
They went to Dr. Morbius' exhibit next, since Flash and Ned had already left it and they weren't now in Dr. Connors' – presumably, they were going to Dr. Octavius', which meant that there wouldn't be any intersection between their two groups. Dr. Morbius was a hematologist, but since both Dr. Connors' and Dr. Octavius' exhibits were dedicated to animals, or so the main plaque of his exhibit said, he'd decided to do the same with his, which meant that his exhibit was dedicated to bats. Vampire bats.
Now, Penny loved bats, probably a lot more than the average person did. To her, many of the species, like the flying foxes, were cute. And species like the flying foxes, which fed specifically on flowers, nectar, and fruit, and the ones that fed on mosquitoes, were often misunderstood. Yes, they could be carriers of rabies or other diseases that made their bites deadly, but fruit-eating and mosquito-eating bats would not attack unless they were provoked. Often, they were just as terrified as humans as humans were of them.
But even she could admit that there was something...unsavory about vampire bats. With their upturned noses and beady little eyes, they weren't cute like the other species she thought of in that way. And yes, like other species of bats, vampire bats rarely bit humans, but just the fact that they could bite humans for the sake of feeding made her feel a little jittery.
Because of her discomfort as well as Harley's, they didn't spend a long time in this exhibit. MJ was unperturbed by the bats, unlike them, but she understood their wariness and didn't make fun of them for it or anything. Penny was glad that she had decided to become friends with them and let them call her MJ, whereas she insisted with everybody else to call her Michelle; she was a really nice friend.
Last but not least was Dr. Octavius' exhibit. She was a geneticist, but rather than humans, her research for the past several years had centered on spiders. Arthropods of all kinds were all over her exhibit, from tarantulas to wolf spiders, to black widow spiders, and to even a species from Kenya and Uganda called the vampire spider. Next to each terrarium was a reason for why she had chosen them, what she thought made a particular species unique and fascinating.
Like with the previous exhibit, Harley hung back, but Penny...this was her domain. This was the reason why she had wanted to come to Oscorp. Because from the deepest reaches of her memories, a specific one came to her mind of Richard's voice saying, "Penny is the princess of the spiders. Has been ever since she was a baby. Our little Arachne."
She smiled sadly at the memory, blinking back tears. For the first time ever since he'd died, it was almost like Richard was right next to her. She could picture him clearly in her mind's eye, unlike the murkiness she'd been picturing for the last several years. "Hi, Dad," she whispered.
MJ was right next to her and gave her a weird look, but like they had with Harley, she didn't comment on it.
The memories of Richard aside and his moniker for her, Penny had always had a fascination with spiders. Thus, she purposefully made sure she checked out each and every enclosure in the exhibit, even the ones that had non-spider arthropods, like scorpions.
But there was one spider in particular which caught her eye. It was a smaller one, no larger than the first two joins of her index and middle fingers. It was a vivid blue in color with a dark red head and three spots along its back. The plaque said that though its color of blue along with the red might make it look similar to the red-blue big-jawed spider, which was an orb-weaver, it was not one of those. In fact, it was one of only a few of its kind – a manmade species, genetically modified into being by Dr. Octavius herself as part of a thesis she'd been writing. Something about seeing how the genetics of different species of spiders could be combined, much like the cross-species genetics that Dr. Connors had been proposing. The species didn't have a name yet, though. Dr. Octavius said she hadn't been able to come up with one that did it justice and didn't want to name it after herself.
"Cool," Penny whispered. Although she'd made sure not to touch the glass of the lizards' enclosures, with this one, she reached out and let her fingers ghost along its surface.
"Penny!" she heard MJ suddenly say.
Penny stood up, her spine straightening, confused.
And then –
– A hand fell upon her back, pushing her into the terrarium. Penny gasped as she lost her footing. She managed to catch herself just in time before the glass cube crashed to the ground, but it still leaned over dangerously. The top of it came off, clattering to the floor loudly. She gazed at it and the terrarium in horror, her heartbeat racing in her ears.
And then she turned around to look at her attacker – because she knew with that kind of shove, the push couldn't have been anything less than purposeful.
Sure enough, Flash was standing in front of her. He was smirking, like he hadn't just endangered the life of a small creature that was no match for him.
Penny could deal with other kids bullying her. There'd been so many over the years, she just viewed it as a fact of her life. She was a weirdo, a nerd even among nerds.
But, one thing she couldn't deal with was when other kids were intentionally cruel to animals. She'd seen it happen before, and each time it filled her with rage.
Right now was no exception.
She opened her mouth, her face reddening, ready to unleash a verbal smackdown in spite of her previous policies against Flash. Just before she was able to speak, however –
"Did I just see what I think I saw?"
Flash's face slackened as Mr. Dell approached them, and so did Ned's, since he was standing right next to the other boy. The World History teacher was angrier than Penny thought she'd ever seen him, his expression thunderous. "Eugene Thompson," he continued – and everyone in the entire room, as pretty much everyone was watching them, knew that meant trouble, because the teachers never called Flash by his first name, they always respected his nickname even though it was stupid, "did you seriously just push Penny Parker into that enclosure?"
Flash did the only thing that somebody like him could: he tried to act innocent. "It – it was just an accident, Mr. Dell," he said. "I didn't mean to!"
"Yeah, you did," MJ disagreed, scowling. "I just watched you walk up to her and push her, and I'm sure I'm not the only one."
"Yeah," another girl, Betty Brant, said. She nodded emphatically, making her long blonde hair move ferociously. "I saw it, too!"
"So did I," Harley added, having coming over to them.
"Thank you, Michelle, Betty, Harley," Mr. Dell said, his tone kind. But the kindness in his tone vanished as he focused on Flash once more. "But I saw it with my own two eyes as well. The level of disrespect that takes, not just to Oscorp but also to our school..." He shook his head. "Flash, come with me. You and I are going to have a talk."
Flash's face blanched. "But – "
"No 'but's," their teacher ordered. Then he looked over at Ned. "You know what, Ned, you can come have a talk with us, too. I've noticed your behavior before, but I haven't said anything. It's about time that I did."
Ned looked downright terrified at the prospect. But he walked away with Mr. Dell and Flash, unable to do anything else.
Penny acted on autopilot, reaching down for the terrarium's top. "It's okay," another college intern said, coming over. "I've got it." She gave her a reassuring smile as Penny stepped away to allow her to grab onto the top. "I saw what happened, too. Don't worry: that boy's going to be in a lot of trouble, even outside of your school. Oscorp doesn't tolerate people like that. Your teacher's probably being approached by one of my supervisors right now."
Penny gave her a smile back, though it was strained. Though this was a mess of Flash's making and his – and Ned's – punishment was entirely deserved, she couldn't help but think their getting in trouble was what she'd been trying to avoid in keeping her mouth shut about their antics. "Thanks."
She walked over to MJ and Harley, who both looked shocked beyond belief. "I can't believe he did that," the girl said.
"I always knew that Flash was stupid, but I didn't think he was that stupid. What the hell?" Harley continued her train of thought. Then his eyes roved up and down Penny's form, looking for signs of any injuries. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Penny reassured both of them. She turned her head over her shoulder to look at the terrarium. "I'm more concerned about that spider. It probably didn't have any idea of what was happening."
As if in confirmation of her theory, the spider was nowhere in sight in the enclosure, not like it had been before due to its vibrant colors, in spite of its size. Her heart ached with sympathy.
"Come on." MJ grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along. "Let's get back up front in case the teachers want to talk with us."
True to her verbal musing, Mr. Harrington did, so the trio spent a few minutes telling him everything that had happened. He reassured them that Flash would be in serious trouble when they got back. They went off along with the rest of the student body to Oscorp's cafeteria for lunch. A couple students came up to them as they were all eating and asked Penny if she was alright; she smiled awkwardly as she reassured them that she was. This was the most attention that she'd ever received at school before. Well, not literally at school, but you knew what she meant.
"Ow!" she abruptly exclaimed just before their meal was over, clamping a hand to the back of her neck.
Both Harley and MJ looked at her worriedly. "What?"
Penny brought her hand away from the back of her neck and examined it. She almost could've sworn –
"Nothing," she responded. "It's nothing."
Because of Flash's antics, the teachers were forced to end their field trip early without them getting to ask the college interns any questions. They were all led back to the buses. Penny took the window seat this time. Strangely...she felt kind of tired. And nauseous. Like she was going to be sick.
But that didn't make any sense. Yeah, she was what her doctor had called "borderline asthmatic," but she had a pretty good immune system. It was only when she became sick that she had problems.
Harley squeezed in next to her so that MJ was taking the aisle. "You sure you're okay, Penny? You look kind of...green."
"I'm fine," she replied sleepily. She took her phone and earbuds from out of her pocket. "Think 'm gonna listen to some music on the way back. That fine?"
Slowly, her friend nodded.
Her arms kind of felt like syrup as she put in her earbuds and turned on her music, but she didn't care about that. Closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around her torso, she hoped to herself that she wasn't getting sick. Not after she'd gone on a field trip that she wasn't supposed to have gone on and gotten shoved into a spider enclosure, anyways.
. . .
. . .
Little did she know it, but fate wasn't going to be on her side here.
(On the bright side, though, this would be the last time she got sick in a long, long time.)
Word Count: 3,591
Next Chapter Title: colors on the walls
