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Chapter 5

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Graduation had finally come around, after the ceremony Penny was talking pictures with the journalist club and the chest club all while Uncle Ben was watching her and smiling knowing that she was finally able to smile again after Aunt May's funeral. Once the pictures were finally done Uncle Ben then walked up to Penny and hugged her.

"Haha, Penny I'm so proud of you. I knew you'd make it."

"Thanks Uncle Ben." Harry then tapped on Penny's back to get her attention.

"Hey Penny, my dad got you the apartment in the city!"

"Really? That's great!"

"Ah! The science reward, terrific!" Penny smiled at the sight of Norman Osborn while Harry just looked away in disappointment.

"You did good both of you, especially you Harry." Harry then looked up at his father in shock and Penny gently pushed him forward so the two could talk.

"It's not the first time I've been proven wrong. You should be proud of yourself you've earned this, all on your own."

"Uh, thanks dad, but Penny was there to help." Penny giggled though she was also silently mad as she recalled the many, MANY times she had to let Harry copy her homework to pass a class. The worst part is that it wasn't because he was dumb but because he never tried hard enough in class and as such Penny had to work twice as hard to keep him going.

"Ah speaking of which, Penny I think you'll be glad to know that I'm covering the expenses for your apartment in the city."

"Oh yes Sir! Harry actually already told me."

"Ah perfect! And yes, it will be, lots of space, great view, all the essentials. It will be big enough for the both of you."

"Haha, thank you sir I... wait, both of us?"

"Oh of course you'll be staying together." Harry, who was trying to stay out of the conversation, suddenly looked at his father in shock. Penny was wide-eyed and so was Uncle Ben, even when he went to talk to the other parents, he could hear everything and didn't like it one bit.

"Uh, hey wait Norman."

"Ah, Ben! Good to see you!"

"I wish I could say the same Norman, what's this about you putting Penny and Harry in the same apartment are you insane?"

"Uh, yeah, Sorry Sir, I don't want to ask for too much, but I think I would be more comfortable with my own apartment."

"Oh no need, you'll have your own room with a balcony view! And please call me Dad." Uncle Ben was now glaring at Norman with shock and anger, Penny lost all her colors and was speechless, and Harry almost passed out by how embarrassed he was.

"I- I- I'm sorry?"

"Oh, I don't think it will be long now before its official, Harry talks about you all the time after all. Why, back when he was just a child, he used to daydream about you and him being mar-"

"Dad! Dad!" Thankfully Harry jumped into the conversation before it got worse.

"I think maybe their right and we should get separate places. It just doesn't feel right having a girl as my roommate."

"Oh, come now, it's not just any girl Harry its Penny! Your girlfriend." Harry then looked back at Penny; she was now blushing out of awkward embarrassment which was exactly how he was feeling right now.

"Uh, Dad, she and I aren't dating."

"Really? Well, that's a shame but hey, maybe this is the push needed to get you two more comfortable together."

"Norman I really think all of this is extremely inappropriate."

"Come now Ben, their adults now, we should just get out of their way and let them fall in love at their own-"

"I only ever saw Harry as a brother!" Penny just couldn't take the embarrassment anymore and just flat out said what she's been trying to avoid saying to Harry.

"I love Harry, I really do. But I never loved him romantically, I just saw him as a brother. You know he has my back and I have his." Norman then looked at Penny with a little bit of disappointment while Harry looked at her extremely hurt. Uncle Ben then placed his arms on Penny's shoulders, and she looked at him and smiled knowing he was there for her.

"Sorry Sir, but I would rather have an apartment separate form him to keep things from getting awkward." Harry just walked off looking very mad while Norman just looked at them still seeming a little disappointed but nodded to Penny's request.

"Alright done, I arrange it right away."

"Wait what?"

"Norman?"

"Don't get me wrong it is saddening that a pretty girl like you isn't dating my Harry. However, please know that it still warms my heart that you think of him as a brother. That means you're still family in my eyes, so don't consider it too much for me to help you out every once in a while. Especially for something as little as this."

"Uh, thank you Sir, I'll check on Harry." Penny then ran off towards Harry but saw that he was with MJ and Flash, both of which were having some kind of argument.

"Oh, come on MJ this is such bullshit! You're such a gold-digger for leaving me now that you've graduated!"

"Hey, lay off Flash it's not like she actually needed you."

"Screw off Osborn."

"Hey leave them alone." Once Flash saw Penny, he actually shook a little out fear, Penny actually wanted to smirk at the sight of him being afraid of her and it not being the other way around anymore. However, she continued to glare at Flash with disappointment as right now the most important thing was standing up to Flash for MJ and Harry's sake.

"Uh... ah! You know what, whatever MJ I can just date Penny!"

"Wait what?"

"Wait what?!"

"Yeah, I mean it works out she's hot now and I know she's had a crush on me since first grade." Flash walked over to Penny and wrapped his arm around her shoulder on Penny which not only made her uncomfortable but also deeply aggravated her.

"Hey come on Penny, what do you say? Wanna date Flash the man?" Penny just glared at Flash in anger, he only had a second to express the fear in his eyes when she punched him in the face, instantly knocking him out. Flash fell to the ground hard and everyone gasped at the sight, Penny was left there feeling bad but secretly not regretting what she did.

"Penny! What did you do?!" However, her mood changed right away when Uncle Ben came running toward her.

"Ah! I was uh- He- uh."

"He was harassing us! Penny helped us!" Uncle Ben then looked at Mary Jane in confusion but then his expression changed to skepticism.

"Really?"

"It's true Mr. Parker! She did help us, tell him Harry!"

"... I didn't need Penny's help." Harry then walked away, leaving Mary Jane confused, Penny shocked and hurt, and Uncle Ben disappointed.

"... Alright, alright I believe you, but you better hope the police do to since this boy's parents are definingly not going to be happy about this."

After Flash's dad tried to call the police but Norman actually threatened him to stay silent, Penny pretended to be grateful but in reality, she was very scared of Norman's influence while it left Uncle Ben even more untrusting of him. Afterwards Penny and Uncle Ben went back home, and Penny went straight to her room, only after a few minutes did Uncle Ben follow her.

"Penny? Are you still packing? You know you still have-" Uncle Ben then made it to her room and saw her sitting silently on her bed.

"Time... You ok Penny?"

"Yeah, I just... wish she was here, celebrating with us."

"Yeah, me too. And I'm sure she wishes that as well as she's up in the clouds watching us form heaven."

"You know I'm an atheist Uncle Ben."

"Hm, you say that like it's a bad thing. Are you saying that she's just gone?"

"Isn't she?"

"Of course, not Penny, even if you don't believe in an afterlife that doesn't deny that the people we lost, they are still with us. They're in the place they always needed to be and will continue to be in order for us to properly love them." Uncle Ben then raised his hand and poked Penny on the forehead.

"In our memories so they are never forgotten." Uncle Ben then poked Penny on the chest where her heart was.

"And in our hearts so they are always loved. It doesn't matter what you believe happens after we're gone Penny, what matters is who the person meant to you in life." Penny then smiled as a tear shed form her eye, as she leaned her head on Uncle Ben's shoulder and used one arm to hug him.

"Thanks Uncle Ben, you always know what to say."

"Well when you become as old as me you learn a thing or two. I have no doubt you'll be quite smart when you reach my age."

"Aren't I smarter than you right now?"

"This coming from the girl that thought underground wrestling was a good stress reliever?" Penny then looked at Uncle Ben and pouted in annoyance.

"I was actually doing it to get extra money."

"Oh right, cause that makes it better." Penny then groaned in annoyance as she let her head fall on Uncle Ben's lap, Uncle Ben then laughed as he gently patted her head.

"Look Penny you just made some dumb choices, but you can always learn from your mistakes to do better. Every victory makes us stronger, but every failure makes us wiser. You just need to keep fighting for what you believe in and you'll be alright and so will everyone else."

"Did you quote that from an ancient general or something?"

"Ah, maybe? It sounds like something a general would say. Probably in the Art of War or something. Anyways I'll leave you to it for now but please don't forget-" Penny then got off of Uncle Ben's lap and sat up.

"With great power comes great responsibility?"

"... I was gonna say, that you're a Parker and that means you get back up after you fall. But yeah, that too. Why did you think I was going to say that thought?"

"Because it's what Aunt May said, the day she died."

"... Did she now? I assumed she didn't know about the wrestling thing but... maybe she did, and she was just trying to convince you to use all that strength for something other than beating people up for a quick buck. Maybe get you thinking about using it for something more, helpful. But what do I know, she said it to you not me." Uncle Ben then walked out of the room leaving Penny alone. Penny started thinking long and hard about Uncle Ben said about Aunt May's words. Maybe he was right, Aunt May might have known what Penny was up to and wanted her to do better but where would she even start, it's not like she was good at using her strength and even if she was the best, she could do was become a heavy construction worker or something related. It would be much easier for her to try to work her way up as a researcher of Arachnologist. Penny then sighed and let herself fall on her bed, she promised Aunt May she was going to better herself, but she didn't even know where to start. However, before she could ponder anymore Peter used his webs to slowly descend on her face and landed on her nose.

"Oh hey Peter, what's up?" Peter then hissed at Penny in while pointing at his abdomen.

"What your still hungry? I gave you a whole can of crickets this morning." Peter then hissed in anger and started jumping on her nose to further show his annoyance.

"Ok! Ok, take it easy you greedy brat." Peter then hissed at her one last time before using his webs to crawl back into the ceiling. Penny then got up, walked to her window to open it, reached out her hand, and shot a web at a little trap she left outside. Upon pulling the trap up to her she looked inside saw was disgusted to see lots of different bugs.

"Ugh, hope you like exotic food." Penny then poured all of the bugs form the trap into the glass box, Peter then used his webs to slowly descend down into the cage and started feeding.

"Yuck, you savage." Peter seemingly sneered at Penny as it stabbed its fangs into a worm while using its hind legs to make a web to wrap the rest of its body to eat later.

"Hm, you sure have no problem using your power for evil, do you? I guess that's why most people don't like spiders." Penny how ended up thinking about this a lot longer than she originally thought she would. Then she realized what she looking at everything all wrong. She was trying to use her new strength based on realistic standards but there was nothing realistic about being able to shoot webs out of your wrist, climb on walls, or being strong without exercise.

"With great power comes great responsibility." Penny then looked at the suitcase where she hid the costume she used for her underground wrestling. She was ashamed of this costume since it was the one she used to cripple that criminal, she doesn't pity him since he killed Aunt May but that doesn't deny what she did was unforgivable. However, she did promise she was going to better herself so she might as well start by washing this costume and using it for something good.

"Hey Pete." Peter had just got done devouring a Ladybug when Penny called him out, making him looked up at her in confusion. Penny smiled at him and raised the costume up for him to see.

"Wanna help me become a superhero?"

Penny had moved into her new apartment without issues thought it was a little tough to say goodbye to Uncle Ben and leaving him alone at the old house. None-the-less Penny made sure to spend the next few days training with her strength and her webs. She felt a lot freer now that she wasn't restricting herself to fighting with her fists like a wrestler anymore, not that she was really good at it to begin with. She made sure to visit the library and everywhere she could to learn more about fighting. She learned back at wrestling that she was actually really good at kicking, so she decided to learn about martial arts and fighting styles that related to kicks. This led her to reading about Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Karate, Wushu, and even Capoeira; Penny was actually kind of annoyed to know that some of these contained fighting styles that were beloved in wrestling, especially one's based on kicking.

"Yet no one was willing to cheer me on when I did the same. Man, I hate underground wrestling." Penny made sure to go to the roof every day to train herself into properly fighting but not just fighting but also web slinging as well. She only ever swung on her webs when she was trying to get the bastard that killed her Aunt May and she only did it well because she was being fueled by adrenaline alone, in order to properly control her webs, she needed training. Penny started by placing cans on the edge of the roof and trying to use her webs to not only shoot them but bring them back to her like some kind of grappling hook. Penny was she is able to control weather the webs will stick to her wrist or not, so she used this to her advantage during training. She was able to shoot webs at the cans and pull the webs back by simply swinging her arm back and thanks to her increased reflexes she could catch the can. Once she got used to it, she tried to see if there was anything she could do with her webs.

Her first experiment was to see if it was possible to create something else besides a string of webbing; for this, she tried to see if pressing on her wrist in a certain way could cause her webs to come out in a different way. Unfortunately, all this did was cause her to shoot out webs in random directions and a couple of times in her face. Peter was on the roof with her and was letting squeak noises to show he was laughing at her which deeply annoyed Penny as she tried to get the webbing off of her face. Later that day she concluded that it was just impossible to change the way the webbing came out directly so she needed some kind of tool instead, so she started sketching out how such a tool would work and be made. Next, she wanted to focus on her ability to stick to walls and see how it could be used in combat. Apparently, it wasn't just her hands, her feet could walk on walls as well her body could balance off of it perfectly, the only problem was that she had to be bare foot in order to do this. Thankfully with the costume Peter made for her she was able to use both her hands and feet to walk on walls, so it wasn't a big deal, it just meant she was at her strongest in the costume.

She tried improving on her web swinging and wall climbing as well thought it really didn't take much training and quickly became simply to her as walking was. Surprisingly despite being a small spider Peter was able to catch up with her, though she still wasn't sure if he could be considered a sidekick since he was, well a spider. Finally, the last thing she felt she needed to improve was her kicking and other combat skills. She was good and landing a strong kick, strong enough to break a brick wall in fact, but she was still lacking in the wideness of her attacks. Penny was not a ballerina and so despite being an excellent kicker in fighting, there was only so much she could do with her legs. So, she made sure to do stretches and yoga every day so that her body would get more flexible and hopefully be able to raise her legs high and do a perfect split one day.

About two weeks had passed and she felt like things were going great with her hero training, thought the same couldn't be said for her civilian lifestyle. She still didn't have a job, there weren't a lot of openings for photographers, her time in college was eating up her schedule, and she was currently running out of the money she earned from the underground wrestling. Penny sighed as she was heading to one of the local stores to get some cheap food but suddenly someone bumped into her on the way there.

"Ah! Sorry miss! Don't go that way some psychos are robbing the store! They'll shoot anyone trying to stop them." Penny was shocked and honestly a little ashamed of herself by how excited she was getting; this was her chance to see if her training was finally paying off. She quickly ran into the alleyway to take her costume out of her high school backpack. She made sure to take it everywhere with her since her costume's fake muscles were so thick that hiding it under her clothes would be impossible. Thankfully it was rather easy to put on and in no time, she was ready to fight the robbers. She made sure to hide her old clothes in the backpack and hide that behind some trash, afterwards she quickly shot a spiderweb onto the side of a building and swung out of the alleyway.

Now that she was doing so for a legitimate reason, web swinging was actually quite fun; better yet, because of the commotion she was able to quickly see where the crime was happening. Once the robbers left the store with a bag full of money she quickly swung down and kicked one of them hard, making him land hard onto the ground, she then quickly backflipped off of him to face the other robber. Before he could raise his pistol, she jumped up and spun kicked it out of his hands, in the next second on she landed on one food and used it to keep her body balanced as she used her other leg to kick the robber right below his lungs. This not only knocked the air out of him but also made him go flying until his back hit a light pole. Penny then shot some webbing on him to keep him there till the police arrived. She finally looked back to the first robber who was slowly getting back up, walked up to him, side kicked him in the face hard enough to make him pass out, took the money bag, and threw it at the store owners.

"Have a-" Penny then realized she was still talking like a girl and quickly deepen her voice.

"Ahem! Have a nice day you two!" Penny quickly shot another web onto a high part of a building and swung away, she felt good that her training was starting to pay off thought she quickly landed on a roof and started to ponder.

"Why am I still pretending to be a guy?" Penny was so focused on everything else that she never bothered changing her costume at all. It's not this was wrestling anymore, and she needed to hide her gender to do anything, so should she just change her costume and become Spider-girl? or something like that?

"Hm... but then again, if I'm pretending to be Spider-Man, then no one would ever suspect that Penny Park is secretly the one behind the mask." Penny didn't like this idea but thought it was the best logical course of action to help conceal her identity.

Another few weeks had passed, and Penny was starting to feel really good about herself, she had spent so much time helping people and stopping crime that she couldn't spend the day any other way than to smile. Sure, she was still looking for a proper job and still losing money, but she was no longer stressed about it because of all the good she felt she was doing; honestly, she felt like she could still be doing more. She then made it back to her apartment where she ended up running into Harry but in doing so also made him drop the paperwork he was holding.

"Ah, shit!"

"Ah! Harry sorry about that let me help!" The two of them started picking up the papers and once they got up Penny gave Harry the papers.

"Uh, hey Penny."

"Hi, Harry. How have you been doing?"

"Well, you'd know if you'd visit more often."

"Harry..."

"Sorry, sorry. I'm not mad Penny, and... Honestly I'm sorry that I walked off on you back at graduation like that, I was being a massive jerk."

"Well, thank you for admitting it." The two of them laughed joyfully together but then Norman walked in.

"A-ha! I knew this would happen eventually!" Penny couldn't help but frown, ever since the last awkward encounter she had with Norman she wasn't exactly happy being around him.

"Uh, hey dad, Penny was just-"

"You don't need to explain it son I'm just glad it's finally happening. you two dating and all."

"What?"

"Dad, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Penny is the girl, right? This mystery girl you're dating." Penny then looked at Harry confused while he tried avoiding eye contact with either of them out of embarrassment.

"No dad, it's not Penny. Its Mary Jane." Penny looked at Harry in shock, but she was also kinda hurt, she couldn't help but feel jealous knowing Harry was dating MJ.

"Oh... I see... Well in that case when can I meet her."

"Um, well you two are busy so I'm just gonna-" Penny then got past both Norman and Harry wanting to leave as soon as possible. She could hear Norman still trying to talk to her, but Harry thankfully stopped him. Penny then got to her apartment and locked the door; she sighed in disappointment as she felt guilty for being mad at Harry for dating Mary Jane.

"Ugh... Come on Parker, it's not like you were ever going to confess to her, besides maybe Harry will be a good boyfriend to her."

"Penny who are you talking to?"

"Ahh!" Penny held her heart out off only to see Uncle Ben sitting on her table reading the news.

"Ah... oh, Uncle Ben, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just coming for a visit but then I decided to tidy up the place a little since you apparently can't do that yourself." Penny then looked at her living room and saw how clean and neat everything was, which was nothing like how she left it. Penny sighed out of shame and walked over to Uncle Ben to properly talk to him.

"Thank you, Uncle Ben."

"Any time kiddo. By the way how's your job hunting going?"

"Oh uh... still searching since... I was late to work today, and Dr. Connors fired me."

"Huh... just like the last one."

"Hey! The last guy was a pig who wouldn't give me my paycheck unless I slept with him!" Penny quickly covered her mouth as she didn't want Uncle Ben to know that. However, it was too late and now Uncle Ben was looking at Penny in shock, he then stood up and cracked his knuckles.

"Where is this bastard?"

"Ah! Uncle Ben easy! I already left the job."

"It's just not for you Penny, do you know how many girls out there are probably desperate for money and that bastard is taking advantage of them, he deserves to rot."

"Uncle Ben seriously please don't start a fight with him. Besides uh..." Penny looked around for something to change the subject, thankfully she saw the newspaper Uncle Ben was reading where it was showing a blurred picture of her as spiderman.

"You know! Maybe Spiderman will catch him." Uncle Ben was confused by what Penny said at first, though his expression quickly turned to disappointment.

"Spiderman huh?" Uncle Ben just sat back down on the table, since she was feeling a little tired Penny decided to fix up some coffee for the both of them.

"Uh, yeah, you know that new hero that's been helping people."

"Hm... Well, I won't deny that crime has seemingly been going down ever since you started saving people as Spiderman, Penny."

"Yeah, you see, he's a hero who... what?"

"Though if I'm being honestly, I would prefer if you were more honest about who you are. Cause seriously Penny? Spiderman? You're not a man, are you?" Penny dropped the cup she was holding as Uncle Ben was staring at her in disappointment. Though the reason for his disappointment was for her being called Spiderman, while the reason for her shock was the fact that he even knew she was Spiderman.

"Wha- wha- WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"Penny! Cut it out! Stop yelling so loud!"

"Uh-! I-! Ack-! You-! I-! This-! I-! How?! How did you know?!"

"Ugh, ok, ok. Penny, please sit on the table and calm down while I clean up the glass and make us some Coffee. I think you need some and Lord knows I need some." Uncle Ben then walked to the kitchen and cleaned the glass up before starting on the Coffee; Meanwhile, Penny was still stunned with shock was wobbly walking toward the table. She then sat down and finally managed to take a breath but was still shocked by the fact that Uncle Ben figured it out so quickly.

"Uh... I... Um..."

"You want to know how I figured it out so quickly?"

"... Yes please."

"You left your training journal on your bed so while I was cleaning, I found it." Penny's mouth opened but she had nothing to say, it was true she made a training journal to help her keep track of how to improve herself with mobility and combat as Spiderman. Since she never cleaned it made sense that she also never organized her stuff and hid her important belongings like her journal.

I have to say I am proud of you for all the ways you are trying or already have improved yourself. Though I still think you got a long way to go. Especially with your time management. You really need to make a proper schedule to balance out your civilian life and your hero life."

"... Yeah."

"But still Penny. Why Spiderman?"

"I just..."

"I mean is that who you are?"

"What?" Uncle Ben was finally finished with the coffee placed a cup in front of Penny then sat down on the table across her with his cup.

"I mean, I don't want to overwhelm you with questions but. I have heard that there are some people who... believe they were born in the wrong body and so they go through certain surgeries to change themselves into the correct gender so to say. Now I'm just asking if you ever felt like maybe you were meant to be born as a boy then please know I will support you and-"

"Uncle Ben... no."

"Ok, I was just making sure. But I mean if that's not the case then why Spiderman? Why not Spider girl?"

"Uh, well... first of all its was my persona as a wrestler."

"Of course, it was."

"But! I figured, hey if I'm Penny Parker and the hero is Spider-MAN then no one would ever believe the two are the same. So, my identity is safe."

"... Sure, but I mean you don't need to go that far to hide your identity? I mean what about Batman, or Superman or... oh I don't know, WONDER WOMAN?" Penny just grunted in annoyance at Uncle Ben while he took a sip of his coffee.

"*sigh* Ok look Penny. If you want to keep using this persona as a hero then I won't stop you, just like how I would rather break my own legs than stop you from being this city's defender. But please remember that with great power comes great responsibility but that responsibility is not just for those around you but for YOU in general. Before a great hero saves others, they must save themselves. And that means being your true self, so please, give it some thought, who knows, maybe the neighborhood would love a friendly and heroic spider girl." Uncle Ben then took another sip from his coffee and Penny just looked at her cup, she then looked out the window view to see a little bit of the city. Penny was thinking earlier that maybe she was missing something while being a hero, maybe this was it and Uncle Ben was right, but it would take a while to make a new costume and even if she left it to Peter, she just couldn't see the benefit of wasting time. Sorry Uncle Ben, she thought, maybe one day but not today.