Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Prologue
In the big scheme of fuckery that her life had become, she supposed that getting transported into a new, entirely awful universe wasn’t all that of a surprise. After all, it had happened before, when she’d gotten involved with the Spider-Society a few years back. She knew it in her bones that this had little to do with any of that, though, and a part of her was glad. They were assholes, even if they were alternative versions of herself.
Also, she was pretty sure that Gotham, Metropolis, and fucking Star City were not a thing in any of the other worlds she had visited before. The vigilantes here seemed to be off, too; nothing like the Avengers the other Spider-People had mentioned. Of course, she was also the only one doing the hero work back in her own universe, so she couldn’t be certain that it was all that strange. The names were something she had had a laugh about, though.
Green Arrow shot arrows in green, Superman was a super man, Batman was a man dressed as a bat, and Wonder Woman was a wonderful woman. But to be fair, she had gone by Spider-Man, and then Spider-Woman after she transitioned, so who was she to critique?
“Hey, V,” she mentally said, hands flying over the library’s old computer’s keyboard as she investigated this new world. “Remind me once again how this happened?”
“We were on patrol,” Venom replied with what felt like a huff in her mind. “Then we crashed into a brick wall, and that’s that.”
“Right,” Penny sighed. “It doesn’t make any sense, though.”
“Yes, we’ve established that within five minutes of our arrival.”
“No, yeah, I know that,” Penny rolled her eyes, scrolling through another article about the Caped Crusader and their exploits in Gotham. Much cooler nickname, that. “But it’s like we jumped to another multiverse all together. How does that happen? It couldn’t have been an accident.”
“It is not unlikely. You have very bad luck,” Venom reasoned in her ear. “Perhaps this is just another one of your mishaps. Maybe we accidentally stepped on a transdimensional portal.”
“You’re funny, V,” Penny deadpanned. “Any luck making contact with the hive?”
“No,” Venom replied after a few moments, the growl flat as always, but with an edge to it.
“It seems we are all alone, buddy,” Penny sighed, finally turning off the terminal. “Once again.”
There was little she could do from a library computer without getting the administrator alerted. Of course, she could most definitely bypass whatever security they might have in place, especially with how primitive everything was, but there was something odd about the librarian which made her wary of trying anything. Her senses screamed danger every time she laid eyes on her, and every time in the past she’d ignored them, she ended worse for wear.
“She’s a cripple,” Venom grunted dismissively.
“Yeah, and Connors was missing an arm,” Penny rolled her eyes. By now she was used to sharing her mind with the symbiote; their separated thought processes made it bearable. “Didn’t stop him, did it?”
“…Point.”
She walked towards the history section and took out a few books on recent events, as well as a very shady looking book about Gotham’s general history. She supposed that until she found a way back home, if she found one at all, she would need to play the part.
Sitting down in a study desk on a far corner of the library, hidden behind one of the shelves, she began reading the material. She started with Gotham: A History of Crime by Victoria Vale, and yeah, maybe they had died and they were in super hell.
She had her suspicions on her way to the library, the city was built as if the name Gotham had been the parting idea for their architecture; she’d been in cemeteries more lively than this place. But now, as she read about some of the sickos that roamed these streets, she was sure of it. Gotham’s crime rate tripled that of Queens before she had taken over, and they had multiple vigilantes.
She had faced her fair share of evil men over her life, but these were something else. From what Vale had written, they all believed the city was sick, which admittedly, it was, but their proposed cures were the stuff Norman Osborn would have wet dreams about.
The list of fucked up shit went as followed: Multiple bioweapons that made people lose their minds, be it inducing fear or an extreme rictus grin, used to cause massive harm to civilians; a crime lord obsessed with symmetry that would kill half the hostages depending on a coin flip, simply because he stumbled into acid; this universe’s version of Sandman but made of clay that would use shape-shifting as a tool for psychological torture; an immortal being that had orchestrated multiple genocides over history, and many more that ranged from totally ridiculous to totally deranged. Thankfully, that last one was dead, for good.
No such luck with the rest of them, however. This Joker guy was still alive after killing more people than a fucking plague; he was like Norman but without the enhancements, and ten times more unhinged. To top it all off, they made a habit of escaping the asylum (because honest to god prisons were apparently out of fashion in Gotham), every few months.
“We’ll get him,” Venom growled, apparently as indignant as herself. “All of them.”
“Not all of them,” Penny chided lightly into their link. “They have their own Doc Connors, and his only crime was to be born like that.”
“His name is literally Killer Croc.”
“...Point,” she conceded. “But let’s not indulge in senseless killing, okay? We’ve talked about this.”
“Yeah, yeah. No killing unless it’s the direst of circumstances.”
Because, Spider-Gal did not kill. But if a known rapist went missing in mysterious circumstances, or if only a few chunks of a convicted child molester appeared in an alley, then the world was better off for it, her conscience clean, and Venom satiated. Also, sometimes criminals died because of their own stupidity, like the Goblin. Not her fault.
She continued on with her reading, and found herself relieved to know that there was a large team of vigilantes that usually took care of the rogues when the Jakes couldn’t, which was pretty much always. She frowned when she saw some of the pictures, though, because those were children.
“You were a child, too,” Venom said.
“Yeah, but I could lift a car without breaking a sweat,” Penny argued back. “These kids, they just know how to fight. Hell, the Joker even got one of them.”
“You would fight too, if you were in their position,” Venom shot back.
“Maybe,” Penny said, frown deepening. “But they’re not all alone like I was. This bat dude is actively endorsing the children. If I was in his position, then I wouldn’t allow it.”
“If you were in both their positions at the same time, you would know that trying to stop you from doing it would be useless, so you would want to give yourself the tools and skills to survive.”
“Whatever,” Penny sighed, knowing well by now Venom liked to contradict her out of principle with the sole purpose of riling her up. Even if they did have a point. Sort of.
“You are no fun,” Venom grunted once it became obvious she wouldn’t reply.
“I’m reading.”
“Sure.”
Penny pointedly ignored them as she moved on to read about this universe’s American history. It was a good thing she did, too, because she would’ve never guessed that super heroes had been around to fight World War II. It seemed all too idealistic and too good to be true, but apparently it was. They were the predecessors of the Justice League she’d seen on the internet, and of which Batman was a member of.
It had to be nice to have a team of competent people able to assist when things got too much. Penny only had Felicia, and then Johnny and Reed to help her. She hoped they were fine, and that their first test flight with the Marvel-1 went without any issues. Felicia would get in trouble again, but this time Spider-Woman wouldn’t be there to help her out of whatever ridiculous situation she managed to get herself into.
The sound of an approaching wheelchair at the other end of the library broke her out of her reverie, and she hastily wiped the tears she hadn’t realized had begun to fall off her face. She barely managed to stop crying by the time the scary librarian reached her desk, and she just knew that her face made for a very interesting sight, what with the black eyeliner she favored now smeared messily over her eyes.
“Are you okay?” The scary librarian asked, her tone deceptively soft.
Penny wiped her face again, and reveled in the comfort V’s clothes suddenly provided her. “Yeah,” she said, and cringed at how deep her voice had sounded. Coughing in an attempt to pitch it up again, she continued, “yeah, just, history makes me emotional, you know?”
The librarian looked down on the page she was reading, and raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I hate when Harry Truman’s administration pulls on my heartstrings,” she deadpanned, but her eyes softened. “Sorry, it’s none of my business.”
“Ha, you’re funny when you’re not being all scary,” Penny chuckled, shaking the last of the grief away. “Stuff happened recently, I’m not fully over it yet. Harry Truman’s administration just happened to trigger a few memories.”
The scary librarian gave her a sympathetic nod, before registering what she had said. “Wait, I am the scary one?” She repeated in disbelief. She looked pointedly down at her legs, and very slowly, she said, “afraid I’ll run over your toes?”
“Yeah, you don’t fool me,” Penny said, smiling now. She extended her hand, hoping her still healing knuckles would go unnoticed. “I’m Penny.”
“Barbara,” she smiled back, shaking her hand in a firm grip. “The library is closing soon, I just wanted to let you know. You’ll need a library card to take those.”
“Nah, I was just refreshing my memory,” Penny said with a wave. “I’ll place these back and then I’ll be on my way. I wouldn’t want to die in a library of all places.”
“Well, then you better hurry,” Barbara said, fighting back a smile.
“Yes, ma’am,” Penny nodded solemnly, and moved to do just that.
“She’s watching us closely,” Venom noted, and yeah, she could feel her gaze following her. “She noticed your bruised hands.”
“Damn,” Penny cursed. “Told you she was scary. Spooky sharp eyes, too.”
“This wouldn’t happen if you’d just allow me to heal you. Foolish woman.”
“We have a deal, V,” Penny reminded them as she started placing the books back on their respective shelves. “Unless it’s life threatening, I’ll do the healing myself. I don’t want you to over exert yourself, V, and you already have enough on your plate.”
And she wasn’t being needlessly self-sacrificing this time. Her biology meant it took more out of them to heal her than it did with a regular human. And since V was already taking care of her HRT, her suit, and her webbing, she wouldn’t accept anything else, lest they strained themselves too far. They were already doing more than she could ever repay, so what was a little pain in exchange?
“I can give us everything we need and more,” Venom grunted haughtily.
“I know buddy,” she said softly. “But I need you too much to risk you over injuries that I could easily sleep off.”
Venom remained silent after that, and she quietly finished arranging her study material in the same places she had found it no more than two hours ago. She kept an ear fixed on Barbara, who had remained close for a few minutes before moving back to her station. Penny wasn’t sure what her deal was, but wasn’t really all that eager to find out, either.
She placed the last book back and made her way towards the exit. There, behind the counter and looking like a regular librarian, sat Barbara. She was looking through something on her monitor, tongue sticking out in concentration. Her computer looked as primitive as the ones available to the public, and she lamented the fact that she hadn’t even bothered to check how advanced technology was here. It was 2017, same as in her original dimension, but Penny hadn’t seen devices like those in well over a decade.
“Would you like to get a library card?” Barbara looked up from her work. “It would allow you to take the books home, so you can cry about American history in the comfort of your bed.”
“Ah, nice try Ms. Barbara-the-scary-librarian. But you’ll have to find another way to get my personal information.”
“Fine, I’ll find it somewhere else,” Barbara played along with a huff that could’ve been a laugh. Then her face straightened. “It is dangerous to get out this late, especially in Gotham. Do you need a ride? I can call someone to drop you off wherever you want.”
“You’re very kind,” Penny said with a genuine smile. “But as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I can take care of myself. Goodnight, Ms. Barbara.”
The librarian’s eyes flickered down to her hands, and then quickly up to her face. She gave her a reluctant nod accompanied by a sad smile. “All right, then,” she said. “Goodnight, Penny.”
“Night night,” Penny said, exiting the Gotham’s Library. “I’ll know if you follow me!”
She heard Barbara scoffing, before her senses were assaulted by Gotham’s evening atmosphere. Penny had to actively suppress her super human awareness, lest she suffered from sensory overload in the middle of the street and somebody got the jump on her. V would take care of it, of course, but she would prefer if no muggers died on her first day here.
She shivered as a chilly gust of wind hit her, and Venom shifted around her so their leather jacket form transformed into something more adequate for this weather. She smiled, hugging her arms in appreciation for the new and much warmer hoodie.
“Thanks, V,” she said, and received only a grunt in response.
Now it was only a matter of finding a motel or a place clean enough for her to spend the night. She really should’ve used the computer for that, now that she thought about it. Whatever, forgive her for not thinking of everything after just being dumped in a parallel multiverse. Would that make this a meridian universe? Huh.
Slowly letting go of the tight hold she was keeping on her senses, she let them guide her through Gotham’s quickly darkening streets. It smelled of piss, gunpowder, and a secret third, acidic thing. All in all, the smell wasn’t that different from what she’d smelled in some areas of New York. The sound, though, was another thing entirely. At first, as she expanded her hearing outwards, she had thought someone was celebrating the fourth of July in the middle of February. But then she heard it as clear as day; gunshots. In every direction.
“What the fuck,” she muttered into the air as she made sure her spider-sense was functioning at top capacity.
It whispered danger, run away, hide, like a constant background noise, interrupted only by the occasional gunshot or siren. She had never sensed anything quite like it, and she could feel a headache starting to form behind her eyes. Alas, she would have to get used to it if she planned to stay. Which she did, because she had been dropped here for a reason, and maybe she would get to go back if she stuck around for long enough.
Then, ice coursed through her veins as she heard the screaming, painfully familiar in the unique way it carried dread and horror and desperation. She ran the five blocks separating her from the scene in less than thirty seconds, cataloguing each heartbeat as she got close enough to hear them; two excited, one erratic.
“Stay out of this, V,” Penny commanded as she arrived at the dark alley. She leapt into the air, landing in a silent crouch right behind them.
“Shut up, bitch,” one of the bastards, the one holding her against the brick wall, spat. “Don’t make this harder than–”
The words died on his lips as her hand shot out from the darkness, tightening around his throat in a grip strong enough to block his airways but not enough to break anything important. She pulled the bastard away, slamming him against the wall in the same movement. He ricocheted right into the side of a dumpster, falling limply into the ground.
The other man was holding a knife, and made the foolish decision of pointing it towards the girl, who, fuck– She was blonde, and Penny saw red.
In a single stride, she was in his face, and her fist was connecting with his midriff. She felt bones shattering upon impact. Before the bastard could even begin to double over, another fist caught him on the jaw. He dropped like a stringless puppet. She lifted her foot, ready to drive it directly into–
“Indulging in senseless killing already, are we?”
She stopped right before her boot made contact with his broken face. The man was unconscious, and she had been about to execute him, just because the lady looked like–
“Are you all right?” Penny asked, stopping the thought from even forming. “Do you need to see a doctor?”
The blonde was shaking, eyes darting from the unconscious men, to her, and back to her attackers. She swallowed thickly, “you are not one of the bats,” she said, voice rough and reluctant.
Despite the circumstances, and what she had been about to do, she snorted. “What gave it away? It’s because I’m not a child, isn’t it?” She asked, and the blonde let out a startled, broken laugh that bordered on hysterical. “I’m Penny. What’s your name?”
“I’m Vicki. Vicki Vale,” the blonde said, extending a trembling hand.
“No way,” Penny said in recognition, taking her hand in a gentle hold. “I read your book about Gotham’s fucked up history.”
“You would be the first to do it,” Vicki mumbled, looking away from the broken men.
“It was a very interesting read,” Penny complemented, lightly guiding them away from the alley. “Want me to walk you home?”
“I’d be an idiot to decline that offer,” Vicki replied with a shudder. “They– They said they would–”
“But they didn’t,” Penny interrupted, not unkindly. “There’s no point in dwelling about what ifs. You’re safe now. Let’s get you home, okay?”
Vicki nodded silently, hugging her arm in an unconscious attempt to seek comfort from anything. Penny didn’t mind, she was significantly taller than her, than any other woman, really, and her hold didn’t hinder her movement at all. She was simply glad her body was soothing for someone.
It helped that under the street lamps, Vicki’s only reassemblance with Gwen was her golden blonde hair. Gwen had been taller, and her eyes had been the most beautiful shade of steely blue, while Vicki’s were a soft, light green. Thank god.
“So, maybe you should buy a gun,” Penny said conversationally.
“I actually have one,” Vicki admitted. “But I left her in my other purse. I always check for it before leaving, but today I was running late.”
“Her?” Penny asked amusedly. “Does she have a name?”
“Marguerite,” Vicki replied unabashedly, a spark appearing in her eyes. “For Marguerite Higgins, she was a war correspondent during World War II, the Korean War, and then in Vietnam. She was the best to ever do it, and gave her life to journalism.”
“Is that why you live in this hell hole?” Penny asked, seeing that getting her to talk about what she loved was helping. “Do you see this city like your own war zone?”
“Excuse you. Gotham can be very nice during the day,” Vicki replied in faux offense. “But I don’t know. Maybe? This city is all I ever had, you know? Even when I was studying abroad, all I could think about was the fascinating stories Gotham had hidden under the surface.”
“Ah, you love her,” Penny nodded in understanding. She knew the feeling very well, she’d given New York seventeen uninterrupted years of Spider-Gal, and not once did she begrudge her all the pain she had gone through.
“Against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be,” Vicki recited with a long sigh.
“I fucking love Dickens,” Penny grinned at the quote. “Pip’s an asshole most of the book, though.”
Vicki let out a surprised chuckle. “He’s very human,” she nodded. “What’s your favorite Dickens book?”
“I want to say A Tale of Two Cities, but my aunt used to read me Oliver Twist before bed, so it has a special place in my heart.”
“Really?” Vicki raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t take you for a sentimentalist.”
“That’s just mean,” Penny huffed good-naturedly. “I can kick ass and still cry myself to sleep, you know?”
“Yes, I’m starting to see that,” Vicki replied, looking at her with a new intensity. “Who are you, really? I’ve seen the bats up close before, none of them move like you did. Not even Red Hood.”
“Doesn’t he wear a red helmet?” Penny asked distractedly. “But yeah, we’ve established I’m not one of them, already.”
“Then who?”
Penny’s lips quirk in amusement. “Just your friendly neighborhood gal,” she replied.
Vicki rolled her eyes. “Fine, keep your little secrets,” she said. “We’re a few blocks away now.”
They kept walking in companionable silence for a few moments, until Penny realized what she had been doing before finding Vicki.
“Oh, you wouldn’t know a motel nearby, would you?” Penny asked, just as Vicki started pulling out her keys. “I’m new in town, haven’t found a permanent place yet.”
Vicki stopped on the steps leading to the apartment building, and turned to look at her in disbelief. “That’s your plan?” She whispered-screamed at her. “Ugh. I have a couch. It’s comfy, and free.”
Penny blinked in surprise. “Uh, I’d really hate to crash at your place like that,” she hurried to say, awkwardly moving her arms. “I’m sure after tonight you’d rather be alone, anyway.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m letting in a random man, is it?”
Penny closed her eyes. She hated to have to mention it, but she had known for a long time now that some people would never be entirely comfortable with her existence. She knew, logically, that it was utter, bigoted bullshit, but she’d rather avoid getting hate-crimed for hiding it. Even if she would always come out on top, it would leave her feeling like she was some sort of monster lurking behind the facade of a woman.
“I, uh,” she coughed to clear her throat, mustering courage she knew she really didn’t have to. “You should probably know, I am a trans woman. I mean, I am a woman, always have been. But I was assigned male at birth, so, yeah.”
To her relief, Vicki only chuckled. “Girl, you stopped two men from giving me a fate worse than death. I don’t give a damn if you had the bad luck of being born in the wrong shape; I’m happy you were able to amend it,” she said, her eyes softening alongside her voice. “Come in, then. I’m freezing my ass out here.”
“I like her,” Venom grumbled into her mind as they walked down the corridor and into an elevator. “She’s being genuine.”
Penny had known, through Vicki’s unwavering expression and the steady beat of her heart, that she hadn’t been acting. Still, it was always nice to have V’s approval. Despite what it may have looked like, they were extremely good at reading people. That’s why they had chosen her, and then Eddie, and then came back to her to avenge him.
“I’m going to order Thai, do you want some?” Vicki asked as she ushered her into the apartment.
“Only if it’s on me,” Penny said lightly, but she would fight her on this if she had to.
Vicki hesitated, but seemed to notice the hidden determination under her gaze. “Fine,” she relented. She threw a cordless phone at her, which she caught without a thought. “The magnet’s on the fridge, get me the fried rice. I’m going to take a shower, try to scrub the night away.”
“Yeah, take your time. It’ll help.”
“I hope it does,” she heard Vicki mutter wryly.
“Hey V, it’s a little warm here, don’t you think?” Penny asked once she was alone, and smiled when Venom shifted into a simple black sleeveless top. “Thanks, bud.”
Penny moved to the fridge, typed the correct number, and ordered them some food. She ordered the requested fried rice, and green curry for herself, not even wincing at the price. She was a grown woman, a successful biochemist, and as such, carried enough cash with her to be able to get by.
She hung up, a frown forming on her face. “Well, fuck.”
She would need to find a way to get her identity back, not everything, but she wouldn’t lose her PhD alongside everything else. She had been Dr. Parker for more than half a decade, even a renowned scientist in some circles. There was absolutely no way she would go back to being a student. She was too old for any of that, hell, she’d felt old when she was doing it the first time
So, a new identity, new certificates for herself, for her parents, her grandparents, and preferably her great grandparents. Next, their tax records, a feasible historical address, their workplaces. Next she would need to get into a university program’s database and insert herself into their records, then she would need to find a professor, preferably dead, who would be the one supervising her dissertation and then– oh fuck, it would take weeks to do all of that.
“Fuck.”
“Fuck indeed,” Venom said unhelpfully.
“Everything okay?”
Penny startled, she hadn’t heard the water stop running nor the door opening, what with being in the middle of a terrible realization. It didn’t help that her bare feet made practically no noise with every step she took.
Well, everything was bare, now that she thought about it. Only a towel around her waist that was just wide enough to cover her modesty. Really, if Vicki’s house didn’t scream straight Penny would’ve been getting the wrong idea. Not that she would do anything about it, not after the night she’d had.
“Yeah– yep,” Penny nodded, forcing her voice to remain stable. “Just, thinking about everything, that’s all.”
“Right,” Vicki drawled in a tone that said she didn’t believe her at all.
Just then, and as a sign that whatever god there was hadn’t completely abandoned her yet, the bell announced the arrival of their food.
“I’ll get that,” Penny said easily. “You go change. Or not. It’s your house, do whatever you want.”
“Yeah,” Vicki snorted, making her way to her room.
However, the moment Penny took a step to the front door, her senses, that until then had been a low quiet hum of danger alarms, flared. Either the restaurant had sent the craziest delivery boy they could find, or something was really, really wrong.
She took another step, and lifted the damper she usually had on her senses whenever she wasn’t on patrol. Sure enough, she could hear two sets of oddly synchronized heartbeats standing in the corridor outside, as well as smell the very particular scent of gun oil, and a terrible cologne.
“Unless it goes tits up, I’ll handle this,” Penny communicated through the bond, just as someone knocked on the door. “I’m coming,” she said out loud, pitching her voice as high as she could.
She took a deep breath, before opening the door. “What happened?” She asked, eyeing the redheaded twins with a raised eyebrow. “You ate the food on the way here? That’s gonna cost you the tip, man.”
“You ain’t Victoria Vale,” twin number one said with a frown.
“’Course I am,” Penny said without skipping a beat, her hands flying to her black mop of hair. “Just thought I’d try a new hairstyle. Don’t I look great with a pixie?”
“Nah, you’re also bigger,” twin number two said suspiciously.
“Well, ouch,” Penny let out a dry chuckle. “Can’t a woman gain a little weight without everyone making a big deal out of it? Honestly.”
“Where’s Victoria Vale?” Twin one asked in a low growl, moving his coat to reveal a gun tucked into his waistband.
“I tell you, that’s me–”
“Penny? Everything okay?”
She groaned to herself. “Shit.”
The two goons looked at each other, and then at her. In perfectly mirrored moves, they reached for the guns in their waistbands, almost too quick for anyone else. But she caught their wrists in her hands and, using only a fraction of her strength, she squeezed.
Twin cracks reverberating through the corridor heralded the wailing sound of their pained screams. Without skipping a beat, she managed to knock twin one with a single strike, but twin two moved out of the way before she could get him. A knife appeared in his hand, the non dominant one, by the way he was slashing around in panic. She dodged his pitiful attempts with ease, and finished him off with a single, sharp slap to the face.
“Penny? What the fuck’s going on?” Vicki demanded, peeking out of her apartment. Her eyes widened in shock at the scene. “Oh shit. Those are Min and Max!”
“You know Fred and George here?” Penny asked, nodding at the crumpled men on the ground. “They were asking for you. They weren’t fooled by my impression.”
“You tried to pass as me?”
“Well, yeah. I know we’re completely different, but they were armed.”
“That was so reckless! Everyone knows my face around here,” Vicki chastised, coming out more worried than actually angry. “And you, what? Knocked out two of the most notorious criminals in Gotham with your bare hands?”
“Yup,” Penny nodded. “Do you have a bat? Like a baseball one. You know, so it’s easier to explain this to the cops.”
“What?” Vicki asked in disbelief, before shaking her head. “Yeah, I have one. Wait here, or whatever.”
Less than a minute later, she returned with the promised bat and an old cellphone. “Here,” she said, handing her the glorified wooden stick. “I texted the commissioner, he said he’s on his way.”
“That’s good,” Penny nodded in approval.
“What are you doing now?” Vicki asked, more exasperated than anything else.
In response, Penny used the bat to hit the two goons, more of a tap really, on their heads, and then wrists. Vicki winced when she heard the broken bones break again, but otherwise remained stoic.
“Sorry about that,” Penny said sheepishly. “But I really don’t need the police questioning why a random woman can do what I can.”
“It’s fine,” Vicki said, and her voice became steely as she continued. “Those bastards were probably going to kill me for writing the truth about their pathetic boss.”
“You really need to buy a whole armory.”
“I have you, don’t I?” Vicki said teasingly, looking at her up and down. “That’s twice in less than a few hours. You should be careful, a lady might get the wrong idea.”
Penny heard the hidden note of panic underneath the teasing, at the admission that she’d almost gotten badly hurt twice in the last couple of hours. Even if she was trying to act it up by being openly flirtatious, Penny saw through the small cracks that spread around her composure like crawling lightning.
“Hey, I’ll stay, okay?” She said softly, getting closer to wrap an arm around her waist. “I’ll stop whoever they try to send next, don’t worry.”
Vicki’s mask of nonchalance crumbled at her words, and then she was sniffing and crying all over her top, Venom, she reminded herself with distant amusement. She held her while she let the day leak through her eyes, only stopping in intervals to complain about the injustice of it all, about how she was forced to survive in this city, only because of the simple fact that she worked doing what she loved.
“It’s okay, baby,” Penny said over and over again, trying with words to fix what she knew would remain broken anyway. “I’ve got you.”
They stayed like that for a few more minutes, until the commissioner arrived with only three other officers. She could hear them rushing up to them, their heavy footsteps hitting the marble stairs. There was another presence, their heartbeat was erratic as they rushed behind the officers at a much slower pace.
“They’re here,” Penny said into her hair, before extracting herself from the embrace. “I’ll talk to them, if you want.”
Vicki nodded without questioning her, entering back to her apartment just as the men appeared from the staircase, stopping short at the sight. She supposed it couldn’t be very usual to find a woman with a baseball bat leaning against the wall, while two men laid unconscious at her feet, looking as unconcerned as ever.
“Hey,” Penny said, and then turned to the man with the brown coat and the glasses. “You the commissioner?”
“Yes, James Gordon,” the man introduced himself, voice gruff with age, carrying none of the surprise the others displayed on their faces. “And you are?”
“Penelope Parker,” she said, extending a hand, which the commissioner shook firmly.
“Can I see some ID?”
“Of course,” Penny handed her driver’s license, and then grinned when she caught sight of a helmet over the commissioner’s shoulder. “Hang on for a minute.”
She stepped carefully around the knocked out men, dodged the policemen that cramped the small corridor, and finally reached the poor delivery guy. He was pale and lightly shaky, but handed her the food with a stable arm.
“How much do I owe you, sonny?”
“Thirty-three dollars with fifty cents, ma’am,” the boy replied, reluctantly, as if afraid he was going to join the men on the floor.
Handing him two twenties, Penny patted his shoulder gently. “You did well, kid,” she said sagely. “Keep the change.”
The boy nodded eagerly, before making a hasty retreat with a murmured “thank you, ma’am.”
Penny dodged the men again, and headed right to the apartment. “I’ll be with you in a second,” she said to the commissioner. “I need to leave this somewhere so it doesn’t get cold. Just a moment, gentlemen.”
“Is she serious?” She heard one of the cops ask as she closed the door behind her.
And for the record, she was.
“Vick?” She called as she moved to leave the food in the microwave. “Thai’s here. You still hungry?”
She heard a muffled “yeah!” Coming from inside the room in response.
“Alright,” Penny nodded to herself with a small smile. “I’ll speak to the boys, then. I’ll join you later.”
Back in the narrow corridor, the redheaded twins were sitting against the wall with their wrist in cuffs, still unconscious. Large bruises were forming on their faces, swollen and purple, much like their broken bones. She noted with grim satisfaction that the police hadn’t hesitated in squeezing the cuffs as much as possible.
“What can I do for you, gentlemen?”
“Can you explain what happened here?” Gordon said, tone all business as he took out a small notepad.
“These men came knocking on the door. I thought they were the delivery boys, you know? When I asked where the food was, they started demanding to see Vicki.”
“You didn’t recognize them?” Gordon asked for clarification, writing everything down.
“I’m new in town,” Penny shrugged. “I told them that Vicki was me, because they looked real fishy. They didn’t buy it, even tried to pull their guns on me.”
“No shit,” one of the officers snorted. “You don’t look anything like her.”
Gordon shot him a glare. “What happened next?”
“Well, Vicki, she’s a single woman in this hellhole, you know? So she keeps a bat next to the doorframe, just in case,” Penny lied easily, raising the bat on her hand. “And I don’t wanna brag, but I’m a slugger, from when I played for my high school team. So I hit them in the head, and then in the hands, just in case they tried shooting me, and then in the head again, to knock ’em out. They haven’t woken up since then. I checked their pulse, though, so they should be alive.”
“You’re a shit liar.”
“They bought it.” They most definitely didn’t.
The corridor was silent. The cops were looking at her slack-jawed, and Gordon held her gaze with single-minded intensity. It lasted for all of ten seconds, before he let out a long sigh, and finished up writing in the notepad.
“If you used the bat, what happened to your knuckles?” Gordon asked, but Penny knew by his tone that it was only to satisfy his own curiosity.
“This wasn’t the first time tonight that they’ve tried to attack her,” Penny replied, and her tone dropped its playful quality. “Last time, I didn’t have a bat with me.”
Gordon rubbed his face tiredly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he apologized sincerely. “I’ll have people stationed in every entrance until it’s safe again.”
“From what I understand of Gotham, it’ll never be truly safe,” Penny muttered, mostly to herself. Aloud, she said, “thank you, commissioner.”
Gordon nodded, probably having heard both her statements, but choosing to ignore it. “One last thing,” he said as his men started to carry the twins down the stairs. “What brings you to Gotham? I can’t imagine you came for the sights.”
“She came to visit me, actually,” Vicki appeared from behind Penny, just as she opened her mouth to tell another lie.
To emphasize a point, Vicki slithered an arm around Penny’s waist, bringing her closer. “Yeah, you didn’t think I’d do all this for just anyone, right?” she joked awkwardly, losing the fight against the blush that crept up her face.
Gordon smiled at them. “Ms. Vale,” he said, relief audible in his voice. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
“Thank you for coming in such short notice, commissioner,” Vicki said politely. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
Which probably meant that she didn’t know who to trust with something like this. Was she saying that regular policemen weren’t trustworthy? Perhaps she was overanalyzing her words, but with what her senses had picked up on the street, well, dirty cops would certainly explain most of it.
“You did well in calling me,” Gordon reassured her. “And here. Thank you, Ms. Parker.”
Penny took her licence back, and shook his hand again for good measure. “Have a good night, commissioner.”
“And you, Ms. Parker, Ms. Vale,” Gordon said with a bow of his head. “I’ll have officers stationed outside. The good ones.”
With those parting words, the commissioner and his men disappeared down the stairs, dragging the twins down with them. Vicki did not let go of her waist until they got back into the apartment, and she got the feeling that it was only because they had to sit in opposite chairs to eat. Penny tried not to read too much into it.
“Gordon seems legit,” Penny said, as she finished the last of her delicious green curry. “He didn’t seem overly surprised, though.”
“Gordon’s a good man,” Vicki nodded. “But this city… it kind of wears you out, you know? He’s been doing this for more than thirty years, and barely anything has changed for us regular people, even with the bats. It’s also not the first time they tried attacking me for something I wrote.”
“Fuck,” Penny cursed, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Should I have broken more of their bones? Would that have made the message clearer?”
“And what message would that be?” Vicki asked with a raised eyebrow.
Penny grabbed their plates and empty cups from the table and into the sink. “That you’re under my protection now,” she said as she started rinsing the dishes.
There was a beat of silence, and then: “Are you a meta?”
Penny paused at the sink, turning to look at Vicki, whose eyes were more intense than what she had seen all night.
“I’m not sure what that is,” Penny replied truthfully. She knew she had read it at some point back in the library, but she hadn’t been focused on technicalities then.
“Like, do you have powers or something?”
“Oh,” Penny said, and hesitated for only a second before continuing. “I mean, maybe? I feel like I should give you some sort of plausible deniability. I can leave if you–”
“No,” Vicki cut in smoothly, unnaturally so. “That’s fine. I just needed to satiate my curiosity, that’s all.”
“Ah,” Penny chuckled, resuming her duty. “You’re a journalist through and through.”
“Yes,” came the unabashed reply. “Why did you come to Gotham, really?”
“Didn’t mean to. I’ll be sticking around for a while, though.”
“Do you have a job?”
“I used to be a biochemist. Still figuring that out.”
“What’s your middle name?”
“May,” Penny frowned. She’d need to set a new headstone for her to visit here if she was going to be staying for as long as she thought.
“When will you go back to New York?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t have much left there.”
“Really? No family or friends?”
“Only friends, and they’ll be fine without me,” and they would.
“Liar.”
“Shut up.”
“Why did you help me, back in the alley?” Vicki’s voice trembled slightly, but it was enough for her super hearing to pick it.
“Because if I can do something, and I don’t, then whatever happens next is my fault,” Penny replied without a second thought. “Are you done?”
Vicki took a deep breath. “Yeah, I think so,” she nodded, satisfied for now..
“Good,” Penny said, placing the last plate on the dish drier. “It’s late, and you look dead on your feet. You should get some rest.”
“Look who’s talking,” Vicki snarked, but a yawn escaped her. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get you some clothes to sleep in.”
“Oh, that’s really not–”
“You’re not sleeping in jeans, Parker.”
“...Fine.”
Vicki returned from her room a minute later, carrying the most unappealing change of clothes Penny had ever seen. She didn’t care about the hello kitty designs on them, she’d worn worse. The thing was how small they looked compared to what she would usually wear.
“I won’t fit on that,” she said flatly, eyeing the shorts and then the black tank top. “It’d look ridiculous.”
“Tough shit,” Vicki deadpanned, throwing the clothes at her. “It’s all I have. Go change.”
Penny huffed rather childishly, and complied. She definitely did not pout, she was a grown woman. She only frowned, and maybe her lower lip stuck out a little, but that was all.
She stepped out of the bathroom feeling very self-conscious. The clothes hadn’t been that tight, after all, they just revealed more skin than what she was used to. She hadn’t dressed like this since the first few years of her transition, back when she would try to overcompensate by wearing stuff that would sometimes border on the improper.
She could feel Vicki’s eyes on her as she walked towards the couch, and suddenly she was very aware of how her top barely covered half her belly, or how the Hello Kitty shorts looked more like boyshorts on her, or how freakishly muscular she probably looked, how scarred she actually was, and the–
“Damn,” the words sounded as if they had fallen out of Vicki’s mouth, unbidden. “Those look ten times better on you than they’ve ever looked on me. It’s really unfair.”
Heat raised to Penny’s face, because of course it did. She’d never been good at receiving compliments, not that she got them very frequently. Mostly from Johnny and Felicia, but she’d gotten somewhat immune to them after a while.
So, Penny did what she usually did outside those moments.
She chuckled awkwardly, and deflected. “Thanks. I was wondering if you had any blankets? It’s fine if you don’t though,” she said, trying not to choke on her words.
The blonde flushed, as if having just now realized what she’d said. She nodded, ducking back into her room.
Penny sat down on the sofa, noting with a small chuckle that there was no way she’d fit. Her feet would have to dangle over the arm rests, but it was fine, she’d once slept webbed to the corner of an abandoned building. This was nothing.
The walls around the living room were decorated with framed newspaper articles, as well as a few paintings from artists she recognized but had never bothered to learn the names of. A bookshelf filled with classic literature and a few atlases and other encyclopedias sat on the far wall, which also supported an old TV on top. Next to the TV, candles and other trinkets littered the surface. There was even a cute little handcrafted spider made of recycled metals.
A light tap on her shoulder was enough to distract her from her observations. She had heard her light feet moving closer, of course, but to visibly notice that would’ve been weird. She’d gotten pretty good at ignoring her instincts when the situation required it. V would say something if it was actually important.
The sight that greeted her when she turned around was not what she’d been expecting, though.
“Vick?” She asked with a frown. “Is everything all right?”
Vicki was nervously biting her lip, and looking at her with an odd, vulnerable expression. Her hands were empty of any blankets, and Penny briefly wondered if she was going to be asked to leave. She would understand, of course, even if it hurt.
Then she opened her mouth, and then closed it, before huffing. “Nothing,” she finally said. “It’s stupid. I’ll bring you the blankets. Sorry.”
“Hey,” Penny grabbed her wrist lightly, not enough to actually stop her from leaving, but enough to draw her attention. “What’s wrong, Vick?”
“I– Will you stay with me?” Vicki said in a rush, and her eyes were starting to water around the corner. “For tonight, at least? It’s just– I close my eyes and I see those men grabbing me and throwing me around that alley and– Please?”
“Hey, of course I’m not going anywhere tonight,” Penny said softly. Still, she felt she was missing something.
“You’re unbearably obtuse when you want to.”
Vicki stared at her for a second, tears flowing freely now. “I meant with me,” she said again, placing special emphasis on the last word.
Ah, Venom might be right.
Penny stood up from the couch. “Of course,” she repeated with renewed intent. She hugged Vicki, because it felt right, and because she didn’t like seeing her cry. “I’ll stay with you.”
They moved to her room in silence, the usual need for words uncharacteristically absent as Vicki crawled under the covers, Penny mimicking her only moments later.
“I’m sorry,” Vicki mumbled with a short sniff. “I’m sorry, this is probably weird.”
“It’s not,” Penny hurried to say. “You’ve been through a lot.”
Then, Vicki was snaking an arm around Penny’s bare stomach, her head moving to rest on her shoulder. Her hair smelled like tulips and a rainy day.
“Is this okay?” She asked hesitantly.
She sounded so fragile that Penny did the only thing she could think of. “Of course,” she whispered back, kissing the top of her head. “Sleep, Vick. I’ll be here in the morning.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
She held her until her heartbeat calmed down and her breathing evened out. Soon, light and stable snores filled the silent room.
“Tomorrow, we begin,” Penny said into the bond. “We’ll need money, and a decent laptop.”
“We hunt, then.”
“Yes, but no killing, and no spider theme yet,” Penny said sternly. “No need to ruin our image before we even start.”
“The silly theme was always your thing, anyways.”
“You love it.”
“I do not,” Venom denied, as they always did. “Now rest. We will need the energy tomorrow. More so now that we have her to look after.”
Penny closed her eyes, and felt the events of the day settle heavily on her chest. Her thoughts were on her home, on her friends, and lastly on Vicki. She allowed the quiet rhythm of her breathing to slowly guide her to Morpheus’ realm.
In the morning, she would have to worry about the future. Right now, though, she could finally rest.