Chapter 3
“These are awful! I’ll give you $150!” J. Jonah Jameson shouted at her. Penny knew a lot of the other employees were scared of him, but she couldn’t help but think that his unbridled anger was a little funny. She nodded her head. “Great! Here, get out!” he shoved an envelope with her payment in it at her. She took it and left. She already paid her rent for the month so that much money should be able to get her through a couple weeks if she spends it wisely. She shoved the envelope in her bag and she walked down the street.
She didn’t have much to do during the day. She wasn’t enrolled in school at the moment, not since Aunt May passed, so her days were spent doing whatever she could do to entertain herself. She tried patrolling during the day for a week, but combined with her already patrolling at night she quickly realized that it wasn't sustainable. She could go to the library, she thought to herself, but she still has that overdue book she hasn’t returned and she doesn’t want to face the wrath of the scary librarian. She eventually found herself sitting on a park bench overlooking a pond. She watched the ducks swim around for a bit until she heard footsteps approaching. It was a man with dark skin in what looks like jogging clothes. He seemed to be taking a break walking when he noticed her.
“Shouldn’t you be in school?” he had a slight southern drawl to his voice and he seemed to just be trying to make polite conversation. She doubted he actually cared either way, yet she still lied just to be sure.
“I’m homeschooled,” that was always her go-to because no one could question it. He didn’t seem to believe her but nodded his head anyway. She went back to staring at the ducks. She looked back at him when she realized he had stopped walking and was staring at her. When she looked at him he seemed concerned and it wasn’t until she followed his eye contact that she realized why.
“What happened?” he asked, gesturing to her left leg which had a large bruise on it. It was a nasty black and purple and it took up most of the side of her thigh. She had forgotten she had gotten that two nights ago when she got thrown against a dumpster while out on patrol. She cursed herself in her mind, she needs to be more cautious when she chooses her outfits. She tried to think of a lie but when she couldn’t think of one she chose to stay quiet and go back to looking at the ducks. Maybe this was another question that he didn’t really care about the answer to, and even if it wasn’t she didn’t need to justify herself to some stranger. It wasn’t his business. He seemed a little off put and slowly approached her like she was some alley cat. “Do you need me to call someone?”
“No,” she responded in the most neutral tone possible, hoping he would take the hint that she had no interest in talking to him. He nodded his head and looked out at the ducks she was looking at. She was caught off guard when he extended a hand to her.
“I’m Sam,” she stared at his hand for a few seconds before she took it in her own and shook it. Damn the manners Aunt May drilled into her! He smiled and reached into his pocket and pulled out a little white card, a business card she recognized. “Here, if you ever need help you call this number, got it?” she thought this was silly but she took it anyway and nodded her head. He smiled at her one last time, still with that concerned look on his face, before walking away.
She looked at the card and noticed it was a number to child protection services. She laughed and shook her head. She was definitely not a child, and there was no way in the world she would ever willingly call CPS on herself. She stared at the card for a minute before going back to looking at the ducks. She let her mind drift. It was around three pm right now, she wouldn’t go out on patrol for at least seven hours, but at least tonight she was going to be teaming up with Matt. He wasn’t too nice at first, he kept avoiding her and telling her to go home, but once he realized that she wasn’t going to give up being a vigilante he became nicer, and sort of like a mentor, even though he’s a complete mess himself. He let her come around the office sometimes. She didn’t do it too often though because it got boring. She liked his friends though, Foggy was nice and Karen was funny. She hoped she could have friends like that one day. She considered going to his office before deciding against it and choosing to go home to watch TV instead.
“What did I tell you?!” he whisper-shouted as she pressed her hand against her thigh. It had a bullet hole in it and was gushing blood. Her and Matt were currently ducking behind a brick wall while the thieves shot at them. There were only three of them but Penny may have gone against his order of staying in the shadows to wait, and may have jumped right in when she thought they had their guard down… and she may have gotten shot because of it. Semantics.
“Oh please, like I haven’t seen you do things a thousand times more stupid than that!” she whisper-shouted back. “It seemed like a good idea in the moment!”
“Yeah? And how’s that good idea feeling right now?” he asked condescendingly. She rolled her eyes and went back to pressing into the wound, it already healed a good amount, just a few more minutes and she’d be good to go.
“Just shut up and make yourself useful, throw your baton at them or something,” she gritted out. He shook his head but snuck around the wall regardless. She heard some shots and grunting but then it was silent. She could tell he took them out and she was proven right when he came back in her line of sight.
“Do you need me to call Claire?” he asked gently. She shook her head, the bullet had gone straight through so no surgery would be needed. She moved her hand and glanced at the wound, she had been right, it was almost completely gone now. She slowly pushed herself off the ground and stretched. “Ready to head in for the night?” she pulled out her phone and glanced at the time, it was only two am. Daredevil tended to finish patrol earlier than she did though, he had a real job after all. She nodded her head, she would feel bad if he missed trial because he stayed up too late. They jumped rooftop to rooftop before they went their separate ways when they reached Hell’s Kitchen.
She turned and headed back to Brooklyn. On her way there though she was stopped by the sound of repulsors. She groaned and turned around and saw Iron Man flying towards her. She considered continuing to swing away, but she doubted she’d be able to get away from him, especially after she just got shot in the leg. He came to a stop about five feet in front of her. “Man, he was right, you are tiny,” were the first words out of his mouth. Penny furrowed her brows at that, not understanding what he was saying, and also… rude.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“Hawkeye,” he said simply, as if that explained everything. Penny strained to think for a moment before it hit her. Last night, that man… craaaaaap. Of course she had to go and get involved with not one, but two Hawkeyes. At least she didn’t make too bad of an impression. And then his first comment came back to her. Tiny? Oh no.
“What do you want?” she asked shortly, she was not in the mood to deal with this, not that she was ever in the mood to deal with The Avengers. She tried everything in her power to avoid them at all cost.
“All I want is for you to answer a question, just one. It’s been causing some trouble at the tower ‘cause birdbrain had to go blabbing his complaints to Widow who went blabbing to Brooding who went blabbing to Spangles who came blabbing to me as if Birdbrain didn’t originally blab to me, so I’ve been blabbed at twice and I’m tired of it,” Penny was completely lost but nodded her head anyways. “Good! It’s an easy one, promise. How old are you? ‘Cause he seems to think that you’re some brat, and looking at you… it isn’t hard to see why.”
“I’m 20.” She answered without missing a beat. She couldn’t see his face but she bet that he raised his eyebrow at her.
“20, that’s what you’re going with?” he asked in annoyance. Penny stayed silent and nodded her head. He sighed and readjusted himself like he was about to start the repulses again. “Fine, I’ve asked what I’ve needed to, don’t come crying to me when you get one of ‘em following you, cause they’re not gonna believe you’re 20 for a second,” he waited as if he was hoping she’d volunteer a different answer, but she stayed silent and he grumbled something and took off. Penny watched him until she couldn’t see him anymore. When he was out of her sight she sat down on the edge of the building and sighed.
“Crap.”