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The rolling screech of the subway slowing down was familiar to Penny Parker. The low hum and slight whistle of it picking back up was familiar to Penny Parker. The cars always being full and overcrowded, especially during rush hour in the morning, that was familiar to Penny Parker, and it was a small relief in a world that recently hadn't been.
It had been...it had been a rough six weeks. Rough, awkward, and everything washed with a dull gray that had made life feel like a dull painting. Everything had been like that since May had died two months ago. It had been Penny's fault, just like how Ben had been her fault too. It had to be, because otherwise it didn't make sense. Why would she lose so many people if she hadn't done something to deserve it?
It had been just after Mr. Stark--Tony, as he was trying fruitlessly to get her to call him--had taken the suit back, just after she'd fucked up and nearly cost more lives than she already had.
The teen had been walking home dejectedly, embarrassed and tired and guilty and wanting more than anything to not have to face May's anger and disappointment. Looking back, she'd take it a thousand times over now if it meant she got to talk to her again, but she didn't get to, because she'd been dead when she'd gotten home.
A stroke. Her aunt had died of a stroke. A stroke that wouldn't have happened, or would've happened around people at least, if Penny had just been at school. If Penny hadn't run off to try and fail to play hero. So her aunt had died alone on the floor of their apartment while she'd been causing stress and danger and being everything the woman had raised her not to be.
Penny had to blink tears away as she stood in the subway, barely even trying to hold onto the metal pole as she was squished in from all sides. Crying in New York wouldn't be much of a display to the residents of the city, but she'd still rather not arrive at school tear-stained and puffy-faced from sobbing about her dead aunt. Not only would she get looks from the other students, but Principal Morita would call Mr. Stark, tell him she was having a bad day, and she'd likely end up back at her guardian's new Queens apartment.
Oh yeah, that was the other thing. Mr. Stark was her guardian now, but he hadn't been for very long.
After Penny had found May's body--she shuddered at those words--and called the police, she'd been taken to a foster home. She'd been taken to five actually. Her meager bag of belonging's had followed her from a nice couple in Harlem who had four foster kids and barely a bed for her to sleep on while she waited for a more permanent option all they way to an overcrowded and worn down but reasonably well kept group home in Staten Island.
Harlem. The Bronx. Some severely rundown apartment that she'd been supposed to stay in but had been closed down due to poor conditions. Queens. Harlem again. And then finally Staten Island.
A new move just about every week, and it hadn't even mattered. What was the point anyway? She had nothing but the clothes on her back. No family, no familiar school with her best friend, no phone to text them with (she'd been grounded for some unknown reason, and her old, cracked phone had been taken away. She'd moved again and they'd forgotten to give it back), and nothing to do but stare at a wall and wonder; Why me?
A knock had come at her door during one of her 'staring at the peeling wallpaper for who knows how long while silent tears ran down her cheeks' session, and she hadn't even responded. Who the hell was knocking anyway? Mrs. Wright always just walked right in. But then there'd been another knock, soft and hesitant.
Penny had rubbed away the tears at her eyes before rasping out a quiet, "Come in."
The door had clicked open and she'd almost gasped in surprise when she'd caught sight of Mr. Stark's face. As it was, she had been on her last legs and hadn't been able to do anything but blink in confusion, as if the man in front of her had been an illusion.
"Mr. Stark?" she'd dared, her eyes flicking the between the man and the wall, as if the spot she'd been staring at for days would save her from what was surely to be an awful conversation.
But Mr. Stark had smiled, though it'd looked more like a grimace, "Yeah. That's my name, kid." He'd walked into the room uncertainly, and never thought she'd see Tony Stark look so hesitant to sit next to her. Well, she'd never thought she'd see him again at all.
"What're...what are you doing here?"
"I came to find you," he'd explained, "I just heard about...about May, and I'm sorry, kid. I'm sorry, I...I didn't know. I should've checked on you sooner."
She'd shrugged, "It's okay." She hadn't been able to think of anything else to say. Mr. Stark had practically carried that conversation from start to finish. She wasn't quite sure how it'd come up, but he'd mentioned something about her living with him and she'd stared at him like he'd grown another head.
"With...with you?" she'd stuttered.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," the man had rushed to assure, "I just...with your enhancements, I can see you having problems, and I don't want to leave you alone. Not...not again."
Penny still wasn't quite sure how, but she'd gone back to the compound with him and then moved into a newly bought and furnished apartment in Queens the next day. She guessed he wanted her to feel more at home by putting her in her old neighborhood, but the expensive penthouse wasn't home.
But at least she still went to the same school, with the same friends, and Mr. Stark--Tony--was super cool and super nice. But he wasn't May. He wasn't home.
Holding back a sigh, she snapped back into her thoughts at the sound of the subway screeching to a halt. She blinked back to reality, checking the time and realizing it wasn't quite her stop yet. Six more to go. She ended up wishing it had been her stop. Creepy men on the subway weren't something she was entirely unused to, but there weren't words vile or descriptive enough to express how much she hated them.
A tingle ran up her spine just before an uncomfortably warm and unfamiliar hand wrapped around her waist, resting just above her butt. The teenager immediately froze, her shoulders squaring and her body tensing. But there was nowhere to escape too. Bodies were already cramped agonizingly close together, the sight of an older man and a younger girl cramped next to each other wasn't uncommon.
"Hey, baby," the man whispered, squeezing her closer, "Where'r you going?"
"School," she muttered stupidly, her voice trembling, "Can you--please let go."
"What, why? It's cold today, I'm cold, see?" He squeezed her closer tighter, and it was like she were trapped in a vice. All of the sudden she wasn't strong, she wasn't powerful, she wasn't Spider-Woman. She was Penny Parker, frozen in a throng of ice.
"I'm fine. My jacket's--it keeps me warm. It's good," she tried to resist, wishing she could find a way to shield herself from the way he stared directly at her chest, his gaze reminding her of a hungry predator.
In that moment, as the hand moved farther down, coming to an excruciating stop and squeezing painfully, the train stopped. She escaped, in a rush of fear and adrenaline, she managed to move with the crowd onto the stop that wasn't hers. When she got out the door, she didn't look back.
A voice in her head told her she should call Tony--she'd always called May after anything like this had happened. He aunt would rush her home in a flurry of assurances and mumbled apologies about the world. It had only happened a couple of times, but it was enough to remind Penny just how much she needed help in this moment. Still, she closed out of the text app, plugging her earbuds in and moving with the crowd, doing her best to blink away frivolous tears.
She ducked and dodged around a bit, going to a different subway station, where the next train was delayed. Penny waited around for ten minutes, her foot tapping anxiously as she waited, only for the announcer to tell the large crowd that the train had in fact broken down.
Amazing. Great. She was going to be late to school and her face was still red with tears.
With a dejected, angry sigh, the teenager pushed her way through the crowd, rushing up the stairs and back out onto the street. Only ten minutes until school started. She was twenty-five away. The girl suddenly wished she'd taken her suit with her to school. Or at least her webshooters. As it was, all she could do was hoof it as fast as she could, praying that her enhanced speed would allow her to get there on time.
It didn't.
Penny arrived ten minutes late, the gates closed and the bell long past having rung. She thought about calling Tony for a minute--just to tell him that her train had broken down and that she needed the excuse--but immediately thought better of it, instead just resorting to leaping over the fence and slipping through one of the back doors, which was remarkably unguarded.
The hall, unfortunately, did not bless her with such luck.
Her face was still red and blotchy, a mix of a few shed tears and sweat from sprinting for so long, she hiked her backpack up her shoulders, making to just get to her first period when--
"Hey!" a teacher called. But not just any teacher. Mrs. Mitchel. Penny didn't have her for any classes, but the woman just always seemed to have it out for her. One time she'd told Penny her shirt were too tight, and had given her detention, all the while saying that 'Just because your foster father is Tony Stark doesn't mean you can get away with everything.' She'd been wearing a regular ass t-shirt with a flannel on top! But that hadn't really mattered. She guessed all that mattered was that Mrs. Mitchel hated Mr. Stark and so the woman now held a grudge against her that she couldn't figure out.
Penny slowly turned to face the woman as she marched over to her.
"Class started fifteen minutes ago! Why aren't you in first period? And with your backpack no less."
She stumbled for an excuse. But she didn't have a hall pass, she looked suspicious, and there was no way Mrs. Mitchel would let any of this go, "Sorry. I'm--I was just--"
"Skipping." It was said with such finality that there was no way to argue. She held out a hand. "Phone."
"But--"
"Phone."
Reluctantly, she handed it over.
"Follow me, young lady."
And with no other choice, Penny trudged after her, her head held low and her hair draping in front of her. She felt fractionally safer, shielded by her waves of curly hair, but only fractionally. Tears began slipping down her cheeks again, panicked, soft sniffles interrupting the stony silence of the hallway.
Mrs. Mitchel lead her down the hallway, even past her own class where she caught a glimpse of Ned's worried face before he was lost from view. After a few minutes, they ended up in ISS (In-School Suspension). Whatever they called it, it was just detention. Captain America was already playing on the TV, only just beginning on his speech. Penny nearly sighed thinking about how long she'd have to listen to him until she got to go home. And she'd have to retake a test tomorrow that she missed today.
As directed, the girl took a seat at the back of the glass, keeping her head down as Mrs. Mitchel talked to Coach Wilson, signing her into detention and sending emails to all her teachers why she was going to be absent that day. And, of course, having someone in the front office call Mr. Stark about her tardiness.
Penny buried her face in her arms, trying to block out the world and instead only focus on the coolness of the desk underneath her. It worked for a few minutes, to calm her down at least. Her crying and sniffles finally petered out as the first round of the Captain America PSA came to its close. For the first time today anyway.
As it started back up again, the whispers caught her attention.
She kept her head down, but flicked her eyes up to focus on the boys in front of her. There were three, their desks pushed to huddle together around the middle boy. They were staring intently at something, whispering gleefully.
"Smash or pass?" the middle boy asked. The other two seethed.
"Hard pass."
"Yeah. Pass. I'm not dating a bitch with no tits."
Penny swallowed down disgust and annoyance, picking her head up slightly to see exactly who they were talking about. She narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of one of her classmates on the screen. She didn't know the girl well, but she'd had band with her before she'd dropped out.
Penny blinked back angry tears as she fumbled with her fingers. Part of her felt like she should be defending her classmate and telling these boys to stop, but the other part of her was tired. There was no better way to describe it. What would it help? They'd call her a bitch and then continue on with what they were doing. Teachers were no help either.
She just wished she didn't have to be around any of this. Especially not right now.
And as they continued on, she wished she hadn't even gone to school.
Penny forcefully tuned them out to the best of her ability while they flipped through a collection of images off of Snapchat and Instagram. She was sucked back into the conversation when they became louder with excitement.
"Smash or pass?" the boy asked again. She heard some giggles and a sucking in of air.
"Smash. Definitely. That's an ass," answered one boy, a hoot in his voice. The other two nodded their heads eagerly in unison.
"Yeah, she's thick. Does she actually go to this school? I didn't know nerds here could look like that."
Penny looked up, her eyebrows furrowed, peering around to see whoever they were looking at. Her stomach dropped as she caught a picture of herself. It was one off of her Instagram from the summer. She'd been at the swimming pool with Ned and his family, but they'd cropped her friend out of the picture and had instead focused on her in her one-piece.
"Same," chortled the middle boy, "But she does go here. She's on the decathlon team. With Flash?"
"Oh, yeah. Do you think if I asked her out she'd say yes?"
"You're actually going to ask her out?"
"Duh. She looks small enough, I think I'd be able to get a blowjob."
Penny choked on the air. The three turned, their eyes widening as they caught sight of her sitting behind them. Before any words could be said, she'd already bolted out the door, leaving her bag at her seat. It didn't matter. She didn't need it. All she needed was to get out of here.
The stricken teenager tore down the halls, refusing to look back as she ran. Everything was too much, too much. Today had been too much. This week had been too much. The past two months had been too much!!!
She needed May. She needed Ben. She needed someone who would hold her and wouldn't judge her for getting involved in any of this and she just--
Penny slid to a stop at the door in front of her, taking in gasping breaths as she realized her feet had taken her to the entrance of the school. Maybe not the best way to slip out unnoticed, but she was quick enough. Not that that was what had made her stop.
Behind the clear glass of the entrance to the front office, was Mr. Stark. He wore a sharp blazer and a worried expression, his foot tapping against the floor anxiously as he talked with the secretary. Now she didn't know what to do. Why was Mr. Stark here? Had he come all the way to school because she was late? Was she in trouble? Did he not want her at his home anymore? She wouldn't blame him.
Maybe if she just ran now and didn't look back, he wouldn't have to deal with her. And maybe if she ran far enough, she wouldn't have to deal with creepy men anymore. Maybe she could stop crying. Maybe--maybe Penny could find her way back to May and Ben.
All of her thoughts vanished when Mr. Stark turned around and made eye contact with her.
Tony wasn't going to lie--what good would that do?--the past few weeks had been hard. They'd been more than hard! He would go as far to say that this was the most difficult challenge he'd ever faced. After all, villains and vengeful assholes were usually only trying to kill him and take his suits, he could deal with that, and he could do it pretty well. What he didn't know what to deal with, was Penny Parker.
He cringed as he tapped his foot in the school office. Deal with wasn't the right descriptor, but he didn't quite know what was. How did you describe taking in your teenage superhero mentee two weeks after he'd yelled at her, taken her superhero suit and basically told her she wasn't good enough, and then the girl had returned home to find her last family member dead on the floor. He didn't think there was a way to properly describe that.
The only thing that could describe him right now was worried. After getting an email that Penny had shown up fifteen minutes late to school, despite having left for the subway early, and she hadn't answered his texts for almost half an hour, he'd decided to take matters into his own hands. So he'd hopped in a car and made his way down here, having Friday make sure that Penny's phone was at the school. Which it was, so maybe he shouldn't worry that much, but it was also Penny.
There was always something to worry about.
"Sorry about the wait, Mr. Stark," the secretary he'd been waiting on apologized, "We just transitioned to a new system for attendance so everything's a little out of whack."
Tony waved her off, "It's fine. So Penny's coming to the office now?"
She grimaced, "I called the ISS room, but Coach Wilson said she left."
"She left? Wait, hold up--ISS? Why was she in there?"
"Um," she looked over the paper, "Says here Mrs. Mitchel signed her in for being late and in the halls without a hall pass."
"So she was late to school and now she's missing more school."
"I have no control in it, Mr. Stark, but I can request for Principal Morita to--"
There was the squeak of a shoe and a sharp breath. Tony turned at the noise, his eyes widening as he caught sight of Penny. She looked like a mess, her hair askew wildly, her eyes red and glazed, skin puffy and pink. It was clear she'd been crying a lot, and for a while.
"Penny?" he asked, walking to the clear door and opening it for her. She took a flinched step back--his eyes narrowed in confusion and worry--before she walked in. He noticed a shake to her step.
"Oh, Ms. Parker," the secretary said, glancing at Tony in confusion at the girl's appearance, though she said nothing of it. "I'm glad you made it to the office. You were just about to be signed out."
Tony didn't argue with her. The girl looked like she could use a day at hom--somewhere other than school. Penny didn't say anything, just nodded. A few minutes later, they left the school, and he didn't mention the loss of her backpack as they climbed in the car.
Music played quietly in the background as she curled up in the shotgun, staring out the window, her entire body tense and frought with tight nerves. This was where Tony didn't know what to do. He hadn't known any of what to do the past few weeks, but today was especially hopeless. He wanted to ask why she was like this, but he didn't want to overstep. He wanted to give her a hug, but he didn't want to overwhelm her. He wanted her to feel at home with him, but he didn't want to take away what had once been home to her.
There wasn't really a handbook for this kind of situation.
They sat in the soft silence for a few minutes before he pulled the car over, parking in front of a small bodega. He unbuckled, turning to the kid, "Do you want to come in?"
She shook her head.
"Okay. I'll be right back."
Tony left the car, returning a few minutes later with grocery bags laden with sweets and fizzy drinks and a plan. He slipped back into the car, leaning back and grabbing one of the bags he'd bought of sour gummy worms. He reached over slightly, moving to tap Penny on the shoulder and pass the candy to her, but the moment his fingers brushed against the back of her shirt, she flinched away. No, not flinched, this was more like cowering. An attempted escape that launched the girl into the door.
He snatched his hand back immediately, keeping them raised in the air in a nonthreatening gesture as the girl's wide eyes turned to stare at him. Her chest heaved and her body shook as fresh tears began to stream down her face in a flurry of fear. She was terrified, and his heart ached for her.
"Just me, kid," he tried to assure, "It's just Mr. Stark. See? Not gonna touch you again. I promise."
She nodded in hesitant understanding, clearly rushing to keep up with the situation.
"Okay. Good. We're okay, right? I'm not--" he swallowed, "I'm not going to hurt you, kiddo." After a few moments, a bit of clarity returned to her eyes, and she released. Her shoulders drooped with the loss of tension, but he noticed how her eyes remained wary. Constantly on edge, as if waiting to be attacked. "There's some candy there for you, kid, if you want some. I know you like sour worms."
The girl glanced down at the bag, and after a moment, she reached out to grab a pack of candy, muttering, "Thanks."
He waited a moment for her to sink back into the seat, munching hesitantly on the candy. He grabbed a bag for himself, not wanting her to feel weird.
"So," he started, "Why were you late?"
She stiffened. "The uh--the subway broke down."
He narrowed his eyes. The situation was pretty feasible, but the hesitance in her voice made it obvious that she was lying. "Yeah? No other reason?"
"No."
"Okay, if you're sure," he conceded. For some reason, she broke down. Sobs tore from her throat, the pack of candy falling to the side as she hugged her sides, curling her knees to her chest. "Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong? What happened, kiddo?"
She didn't answer at first, but after a few moments she muttered, "It's just been a bad day."
"How so?"
She shrugged. He'd never seen someone so hesitant as she answered, "It's--um... People just wouldn't leave me alone today."
"Who?" he asked immediately, a little more bite in his voice than he intended, but he couldn't help it. This was his kid. He didn't want anyone to bother her. He just wanted her to be okay.
"I, ah--nobody."
"Penny," he said, "This isn't nobody. They've clearly hurt you, and I just want to make sure they won't again. Is it that Flash kid, 'cause believe me I can--"
"It's not Flash," she cut across, swallowing, "It's ah--it was just a guy on the subway, and these boys in detention." He felt his blood run a little cold at the tremble in her voice.
"What did they do?"
She squirmed, and he didn't press any further. She wasn't comfortable, and he knew he was not the best option for this. So instead he offered her a small smile and another bag of gummies.
"I'm sorry this happened, kid. I'll look into it, and I'll take you to school tomorrow. Okay?"
"You don't have to--"
"I want to. You're my kid, and I just want you to be safe. Okay?" She nodded slightly. "Great. Now, what's your favorite ice cream flavor? Or would you like cookies instead? Donuts?"
"Donuts? What--"
"Good kiddos who've had a bad day get to eat whatever they want. So, what do you want?"
He was surprised and happy to see a small smile tugging at her lips, "Chocolate chip pancakes?"
"Then we'll make some chocolate chip pancakes."
Right now, they weren't each other's home. But as days turned to weeks, nightmares turned to nights on the couch, days were spent training or running around New York, and Penny began to laugh again. She began to live and recover and find they joy that even Tony had been missing. And if anyone tried to mess with his kid, well, maybe it's better you don't know what happened to them.