Chapter 2
Penny managed to get home at four that night. Home might be a stretch of a word to describe where she lives, it was a small apartment that she only got because the landlord is an older woman who couldn’t care less that she was 14, as long as she paid her rent on time, which she did thanks to the cash she gets from selling pictures to the Daily Bugle. Her living room didn’t even have a couch, just a small old box tv that sat on a table she found by the road. It didn’t bother her though, she liked sitting on the floor, if she put a pillow down it was practically the same thing as a couch anyway. Her bedroom was in a little better shape, she had a bed thankfully, it took a couple months to be able to afford one, but she’s thankful she could because sleeping on the floor was no fun during the winter. Besides her bed her room was mainly occupied by books, she didn’t have anywhere to set them so they just sat piled along the walls.
She stripped out of her suit and threw on a sweatshirt and some pajama pants and plopped herself down on her bed and let her eyes fall closed.
“Why are you so interested all of a sudden? Last I checked you were one of the ones saying we should just let the vigilante’s do their own thing.” Tony said, sighing as he put his laptop down. He couldn’t get a moment's peace around here. Clint rolled his eyes.
“For the last time, I’m telling you, she looked young!” he said, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. He loved his teammates, but they could be some of the most thickheaded people he had ever met. “And before you cut me off, not Kate young, but like, young young.”
Tony took a deep breath and released it slowly, rubbing a hand across his face. “So to be clear, you saw Spider-Woman from about 20 meters away, standing on a rooftop, and you’re confused as to why she looked a little…small?”
“For the love of- Just tell me what you’ve got on her, smart ass.” Tony shrugged his shoulders and picked up his laptop again. He typed for a moment before turning the screen to Clint. “What is this? Is that seriously it? Just a shitty photo of her in costume and some basic facts about her powers that everyone already knows?”
“Yep, a bit of a hit to the ego to be honest. I’ve tried hacking security footage around the city, but she seems to know where all the cameras are and she avoids them. Tried bugging her hangout spots too, she spots them in seconds and destroys them, the little vandal.” Clint groaned as Tony was clearly not taking this seriously. Tony sighed for the millionth time and shut the laptop. “Look, she’s a girl, she’s small, I mean look at Nat, small. What’s the issue? You seriously think she’s some 16 or 17 year old running around at two am fighting the Russian Mafia?” Clint shook his head and sat down on the couch next to Tony. “You know what I think? I think that you met Kate and took her under your wing and now you’re trying to expand your little flock.”
“Oh God, I hope you’re right, I don’t think my heart could handle another Kate.” Clint laughed.
“Face it, you have a thing for collecting self sacrificial girls. But hey, if you’re right about this, I’ll take this one of your hands. I’d do anything to find out how those webs are manufactured.”
"Well, I hope I'm wrong."