"You should be thankful."
The man's words draw Penny's gaze from the window, the cloud cover makes the landscape nearly impossible to see at this altitude as the plane climbs higher and higher. Her gaze lands on the man across from her. Norman Osborn is reclined back in his white leather seat, toying with a delicate fork between his fingers. The cockpit behind him is hidden behind a faux polished wooden panel.
The dish in front of him is all 'rich people finger food' as Tony ever so dryly called it. Nothing of substance, just unnecessary gold leaf, and eggs. It's almost funny. Penny tries not to focus on it.
"I am thankful." She says with as much enthusiasm as she can muster, it isn't much, but it's something. Penny forces a smile, running her fingers across the champagne glass settled in front of her on the polished table top. She picks up the glass, taking a slow sip from it.
The taste of champagne tickles the back of her throat. The urge to throw it at Norman is just under her skin. All it would take was a flick of the wrist. He'd be soaked through entirely.
"I did rescue you from a terrible situation." Norman continues, probing for accolades from a woman he purchased. Penny hates how numb she feels in the moment. Her anger has been snuffed out from being funneled through the human trafficking ring.
"You did." Penny echoes casually, hiding a scowl behind the glass, letting her gaze drift back out the window. She wasn't exactly attached to the place she was before, but her mind jumps to the other girls in captivity. Penny desperately hopes her one last bid with her suit reactor going off will get them to safety somehow. The trackers Mr. Stark put into it would activate one last time with the reserve power still there.
Her gaze drifts back up to Norman as she winks at him. "It cost you a pretty penny." The joke is awful in the back of her throat. Made more awful by the fact Norman doesn't even really know her name.
"Sometimes a man has to splurge on the finer things in life." The older man chuckles lowly with a shrug as he digs his fork into his meal, bringing it up to his mouth.
"Glad it was me." She muses in turn, flattening her smile into something sweeter and more convincing. It's a lie as much as it is the truth. Oscorp has a New York headquarters, if she's going to get home, it's with Norman. "I've always wanted to see the world."
Norman's lips quirk into a smile, he reaches out to take her free hand. He kisses her knuckles, just smudging gold leaf across them. "Anything for you."
Penny wants to smack the gold leaf back against his face, instead she giggles a little. "Whoops!" She acts like she's admiring the gold leaf on her skin, when all she can see is the golden band on her wrist that keeps her here. She's inhibited and she knows she can't outright trick Norman into taking it off.
"Looks like I'm still a mess even now." The man jokes, releasing her hand to pick up a napkin to wipe off her hand. "Let me clean this up for you, my dear." He looks up at her with amusement, "My dearest wife."
Penny just giggles again, her grip tightening on the champagne flute. She could crack the delicate stem of the glass between her fingers. Penny forces herself to loosen her grip to put the glass down. "Husband. It'll take a while to get used to it."
"Hopefully not too long." Norman chuckles lowly, he sets the napkin aside. "I look forward to our lives together."
"Me too." The lie tastes like ash in the back of her throat. She looks back out of the window, hating what she can see of her reflection in the glass. Her hair has been cut short just under her chin and straightened. She misses her natural curls, she misses the length. She misses being Penny.
--
Norman if anything is a man of his word. Penny will give him that. He takes her with him on his extended business trip, and their pseudo honeymoon. She gets to see the world, be it from under Norman's thumb.
They spend a week in each city they visit. They don't overstay their welcome in each hotel, bouncing between specific cities Oscorp has headquarters in. Norman spends two days of the week in meetings, whilst Penny is locked in the hotels he's chosen when they aren't on guided private tours. When they aren't on tours, Norman is buying things for her, lavishing her with gifts.
He has guards by the doors to ensure no one gets in or out without Norman's say.
Norman for all the attempts at playfulness and sweetness isn't unaware he bought a person. A person who likely would run if given the chance. Norman isn't a complete idiot.
Penny makes a point to behave. She behaves exactly how he expects her to. She dotes on Norman, asks about where he's going to the men waiting by the doors, she sulks and acts like a pouty child when she can't see him. She never goes into a full tantrum, but she huffs and puffs. The guards all but roll their eyes somewhat at her when they think she isn't aware. Penny may be a college student, but she isn't stupid.
She helped defeat Thanos for god sake. She can figure this out. They ripped the gauntlet off, they defeated him before he could even try to snap.
She can tell it's enough that the man relaxes when he sees her. He wanted a young empty headed bride, and Penny will give him that much. He's willing to believe she's everything he wanted. She hates pretending, she hates all of this, but she's going to get what she wants.
Penny finds some solace when she reads about an Avenger and police raid in Romania in the newspaper. The pictures and details match up enough that she feels a little bit of relief from everything. Those other mutant teenagers are likely going back to their families. Mr. Stark makes a few comments directly to the media, but don't explain just how they found the human trafficking ring.
She did one thing right in all of this.
Penny takes what solace she can from that. Any relief is something more than this strange flat feeling she's found herself in.
She makes sure to throw the newspaper away and pour coffee on it among other things to keep Norman from finding it. The man doesn't even question where his paper is, grousing about terrible service. He kisses her on the cheek before he leaves for his next conference.
Norman is more than aware of what happened by the time he comes back from his meetings, but he doesn't mention it to Penny. She overhears him talking to his men about ensuring she didn't try to leave, that she doesn't learn about the raid. She acts like she has no clue, just happy to drape herself over him and ask a million inane questions about anything and everything. He purposely changes the channel on the news when it comes up, and Penny 'somehow' misses it.
Penny can play the long game. She can play bubbly foreign bride. He believes enough for the both of them. He believes in the beautiful lie he's built for himself.
The spider can weave her web, she can tighten the thread until everything stops moving. Norman just needs the right nudge to get them back to New York.
--
She should be in college right now.
She's missed her finals more than twice over. All Penny can think about is MIT. She thinks about the campus, she thinks about her friends, of MJ, and the nights the two spent talking on a rooftop of their dorm.
She thinks about the weight of the textbooks against her back as she runs down the walkway to her next class. She thinks about the smell of beer that permeates certain buildings that were once and always Frat Houses. She thinks about the smell of the library and the crinkling of paper bags students try to eat covertly between the aisles. She thinks of the music pounding through walls as parties unfold as the sky grows darker.
She thinks of MJ, the way her lips curl into a playful smile when she thinks no one is looking. She thinks of Ned. His easy grin, his rapid fire rambling about his own classes over a zoom call.
She thinks about her family. May's bright bubbly laugh as she pulls her niece into her arms to hold her close. Tony's fond huff of amusement as he lays a hand against her shoulder. Morgan's lips stretch into a grin as she runs through the grass with Pepper just behind her.
Her mind is spinning as she lays awake on an expensive hotel bed, just staring at the dark ceiling listlessly. She can feel Norman's bulk against her back, his hand settled loosely against her hip. His warm breath tickles her neck.
--
Even before she feels him, or sees him, she smells his cologne. Norman reeks of it, probably to cover the liquor still clinging to the fabric of his suit. A meeting ran long that turned into rich business men drinking. His hand is a heavy weight against her side, moving across her waist and drifting down to squeeze her hip.
Penny glances over her shoulder as Norman continues just touching her. He grins at her, making eye contact in the mirror in front of them. "I like the curls. Keep them."
Her lips twist into a smile. It doesn't feel real on her face. "Sure, honey."
Her gaze shifts back to her own reflection in the hotel vanity. Her natural curls have come back, making the short bob haircut plume out like smoke around her features. It's all she's been able to think about most of the day, how it looks better now. It's more her.
It's a fire Norman couldn't completely put out.
He reels her backwards until her back hits his chest. His hands tangle in her hair, and Penny can bare it.
She's still Penny. --
Her fingertips skim across the surface of his cellphone, on the edge of picking it up before Norman's hand comes crashing down and smacking her wrist away.
"Mary, a man needs a little privacy." He scolds, his expression tight.
Penny makes an apologetic sound, drawing back. "Sorry, dear. I just wanted to check the time." The lie comes smoothly enough that Norman seems to believe it. All the obvious rebellion, and fear had been beaten out of her back in Romanian. Her captors wanted compliance. She put on enough of a show to end up here.
"It seems to be time I bought you a watch." He answers dryly before picking up his phone to stuff into his slack pockets. "Its 4:30, you should be getting ready for our dinner out."
"Of course." She answers lowly back, letting her gaze drop. "I'll be ready soon."
"I'll be expecting it." He turns away without even bothering to look at her again, striding across the hotel room to disappear into the room connected to it. Penny's hands curl into fists at her side as anger boils under her skin.
She will get home, even if she has to wait.