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Where do you see yourself in five years?
It was a pretty common question on job applications and that sort of thing, and one Penny had been thinking about a lot lately. Where did she see herself in five years? In five years she’d be twenty-one so… college? MIT? Maybe. Before she got her powers, her future was always a little uncertain. May, Ben and her hadn’t exactly been rich, and college was expensive. But there was financial aid and student loans, and if Penny kept her grades up and did well on the SAT, she had a good shot at scholarships at some pretty good schools. After she got her powers however, things got a little more complicated. May was pretty insistent that she still had to go to college and pursue a normal life, but how could she leave Queens when it needed her? People counted on Spidergirl to protect them, and she wasn’t sure how she would be able to deal with the guilt of abandoning them. It had been something she’d pondered quite a bit lately. As of about an hour ago, however, it was looking like she wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.
The knife had gotten her in the left thigh. Penny wasn’t an expert on anatomy by any means, but she was pretty sure she remembered reading somewhere that there were a lot of important blood vessels in the leg, which probably explained why she was so lightheaded.
She had been walking home from Ned’s when it happened. He’d wanted to call her a cab or get his mom to take her home but she’d insisted that she’d be fine. She was Spidergirl! A literal superhero! Unfortunately she hadn’t actually had the suit with her, meaning that she couldn’t really be spidergirl since she had to protect her identity.
She’d been almost halfway home when her spider senses went off. It wasn’t a second later that a hand had been clamped over her mouth and she was dragged backwards into the alleyway. Why was it always a dark alleyway? It felt kind of cliche at this point. She instinctively started raising her hands to try to get him off but she stopped at the last second. She couldn’t give away her identity. Hopefully he just wanted some cash and it would be over quickly. She wasn’t sure what she would do otherwise. The man shoved her against the wall and held her left wrist in his hand.
Not much to her surprise, the next thing the man did was pull out a knife. He raised it quickly to her neck, pressing hard enough for it to hurt, and for the first time since he’d grabbed her, Penny felt a shiver of fear move down her spine. She had her powers, but there wasn’t much she could do if he decided to shove the knife into her throat. She was fast though, she assured herself, if it came down to it she could shove him away in time. Probably.
“You know what’s going to happen next?” The man growled at her. She had to fight not to say about five different quippy remarks as she would have if she were spidergirl. ‘You’re not spidergirl right now’, she reminded herself, ‘you’re a 16 year old girl with a knife to her throat’. Penny decided it was probably her best choice to just not answer, even letting out a fake whimper to really sell it, and it seemed she was right as the man kept talking.
“You’re going to give me your wallet and that expensive looking gold necklace.” Penny’s blood went cold. Her mother’s necklace… she’d worn it everyday since she’d died… she couldn’t lose it.
“Please… my necklace… it was my mother’s”
“I don’t give a shit about your mother” the man whisper-screamed at her, pressing the knife harder into her neck. She whimpered for real this time, trying to stop the tears that rushed to her eyes. He reached his hand up and grabbed the necklace as if to rip it off, and she panicked.
“NO!” She screamed, reaching up and prying his fingers off the necklace, probably breaking some of them. The man screamed in pain as she shoved him backwards, and she reached a hand up to her necklace, making sure it was still there. It was. Unfortunately, so was the man. Apparently not one to give up easily, the man lunged forward again, still holding the knife in his uninjured hand. Penny tried to move back a step, only to find herself backed into the wall. She could climb it, were it not for her secret identity being, well, a secret. She sidestepped him at the last second, and the man stumbled straight into the wall.
“Brat!” He spit out, making another dive for her. He tackled her this time and suddenly she felt a burning hot pain in her upper left leg and she let out an involuntary scream. The man scrambled off of her, staring at the now bloody knife in his hand as if he’d forgotten it was there.
“Shit” he whispered, looking almost as shocked as she did. Had he not meant to stab her? “Shit” the man repeated, backing away and turning around. The man ran then, apparently forgetting about the money and the necklace. Penny scooted her way gently to the wall, hissing in pain when she moved her leg. There was a rapidly growing red stain in her jeans and was it just Penny or was it getting colder out here? Probably not a good sign.
‘Think’, she told herself, trying to stay calm and remember what she was supposed to do, ‘Phone... You need to call Mr. Stark’. She reached into her purse, glad that the man hadn’t taken it, to find… nothing. Well, not nothing, her wallet and keys were still there, but no phone. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She’d left it at Ned’s.
‘Okay… that’s fine… new plan,’ she thought, ‘go to the street and get help’. Penny put her hand on the wall and started trying to pull herself up. It became immediately clear to her that this plan also wasn’t working, as the moment she put even a little pressure on her leg, the pain flared up an impossible amount and she crumpled to the floor again. ‘Plan C,’ she thought, ‘Plan C… plan C… yell for help from the alley.’
“Help!” She screamed as best she could. Her voice was already weak and she was getting lightheaded fast. “Someone help!” She tried again. Not a sound. It was only about 11:30, but she hadn’t quite made it to the bustling city yet, as Ned lived in the suburbs. Of course, despite living in the city that never sleeps, it seemed that everyone around was sleeping. The alley was between two businesses and both were closed, meaning that there was pretty much no one around. Great. On top of that, Penny hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, which seemed to be slowing down her healing factor. It was pretty much the perfect storm.
Okay. She couldn’t move, there was no way she could contact anyone, and judging by the puddle of blood that was spreading around her already soaked jeans, she had maybe twenty minutes until she passed out from blood loss. Maybe she could wait this out? She’d texted May before she left that she was on her way home, and she normally should have been home already. May would know something was wrong and she would call Mr. Stark and it would be fine. Pressure… she needed to put pressure on it. It was already getting hard to think. Penny took of the light jacket she’d been wearing and pressed it to the wound, inhaling sharply when it made the already unbearable pain even worse. She bundled the body of the jacket onto the wound, then took the sleeves and wrapped them all the way around her thigh and tied them together on top of the wound. Now there was nothing to do but wait
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Penny tried to think about it, not daring to close her eyes. Five years… maybe MIT? Could she still be Spidergirl in Massachusetts? Would Queens be ok without her? Penny’s eyelids were getting heavier by the second.
‘Stay awake!’ She told herself, ‘someone will come.’ She really hoped that was true. She wasn’t sure what would happen in the next five years, but she at least wanted to live long enough to find out. Unable to hold on any longer, Penny began drifting in and out of consciousness. It felt like hours she had been doing that, involuntarily letting her eyes drift shut as she started to lose consciousness, and then jerking herself back awake as best she could. She had to stay awake. Her eyes closed once more and this time she couldn’t open them, until a voice pulled her back to reality.
“Penny?” She heard a familiar voice calling her name. Opening her mouth, she tried desperately to respond, but it felt like she didn’t have enough breath to make sound. She remembered reading somewhere that shortness of breath was a symptom of blood loss.
“Here!” She cried as loudly as she could.
“Pen?” The voice sounded more alert now, as if it had heard her. She knew the voice, but her brain was so foggy.
“Help” she said weakly, praying they heard her again. To her relief, she saw Mr. Stark turn the corner into the alleyway, wearing his iron man armor with the faceplate retracted. He spotted her and immediately stepped out of the suit, scrambling over and kneeling beside her.
“Pen? What happened?” He asked urgently, seeming to notice the alarming large pool of blood surrounding her.
“Knife… my leg… hurts” she choked out. He brought a hand to her face, wiping a thumb under her eye. Was she crying?
“Okay,” he said gently, “it’s going to be okay… I’m going to carry you to the tower okay?”
“Mhm” she whimpered. She felt so tired… and cold, was it cold outside? It shouldn’t have been… it was July. Mr. Stark got back in the suit, and then wrapped one arm around her shoulders and snaked the other under her knees, picking her up bridal style. Even though she knew he was being as gentle as he could, she could help the cry of pain when he moved her leg.
“I know, I’m sorry” he said softly, “We’re going to go to the tower and get you fixed up. It’s going to be okay”
“‘m cold… hurts.” she whined.
“I know kid, it’s going to be okay, I promise, we’ll get you a blanket at the tower and patch you up.” He soothed, launching off the ground and heading towards the tower.
“Hey kid!” He yelled urgently over the wind, “I need you to stay awake for me.” Had she closed her eyes? She couldn’t remember.
“Mis’er Stark?” She started, trying to keep herself awake but finding it so hard to talk, “five years… will you…” her eyes drooped again and she stopped talking
“What? Pen! Stay awake!” He commanded.
“Will… will you still… be…” she trailed off again, but Mr. Stark seemed to have at least somewhat of an understanding of what she was asking.
“I’ll still be here, Pen, in five years.”
“Even if… I’m not…” she choked out between violent shivers.
“Even if you’re not Spidergirl,” He interrupted, “I’ll always be here, Pen, Always.”
They arrived at the tower fairly quickly, and soon Penny was being set down on something… a stretcher? She whimpered when her leg was moved again. She heard other people bustling around her… doctors. She heard a female voice talking beside her.
“She needs fluids, she’s dehydrated from the blood loss! She needs to be put on oxygen!” Helen ordered, and soon she felt something be placed over her mouth and nose.
“‘m tired” she whimpered under the mask.
“I know honey” Mr. Stark said, and his hand slipped into hers.
“She can sleep now, we’re monitoring her.” Helen called.
“Hear that kid?” Tony said gently, “you can sleep now. Get some rest, and it’ll be all better when you wake up.” And so Penny let herself rest, in pain but finally calm for the first time in weeks because she knew that no matter what happened in the next five years, Mr. Stark would be there.