Peni was 14 when he showed up. She had been in school when it happened. She had been using her psychic link with SP//dr to work on her next assignment from the program lead. He was new and a real slave driver. He always had something for Peni to work on, to improve on. No matter how far ahead she got there was always more. Peni felt a little bad about it but she had taken to preparing the work ahead of time and holding onto it until it was scheduled to be sent in, rather than ahead of time. It kept her schedule more sane and let her carve out more free time for her own projects and herself. Sometimes she would spend those precious free hours laying in bed, staring into nothing as she listened to music. Other times she used it productively, getting up and going into the kitchen to learn a new recipe or going to her workshop to finish a new gadget. It really was a toss up but regardless she needed that time, she knew that.
While working through the assignment with SP//dr an alert had appeared on the screen of the mech, lights flashing and text appearing. The dim red lighting of the cockpit flashed in warning that was more distracting than helpful. SP//dr startled and Peni quickly had to direct the spider back towards the screen, let her see through his eyes.
Villain Sighting
Villain: Unknown
Abilities: Unknown
Location: Last seen in the area of Central Park
Peni’s nose wrinkled in confusion. She quickly raised her hand, excusing herself from the classroom and dashing to the nearest bathroom. A moment later she was pulling herself out of the window, ever so grateful for her small frame. As she tumbled out she caught sight of a plume of smoke in the distance. Looks like she was already too slow.
She tapped at the device around the shell of her ear and watched a personal holographic screen pop up, showing her the equivalent of a phone screen. Almost as soon as she does a message appears from SP//dr with a location. She takes off, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and tightening it as she goes. She skids to a stop in front of the mech where it’s hiding in an alleyway. A moment later she’s in the cockpit of her mech and swinging through her city towards Central Park. As she ran through the repetitive and familiar action along a route she had chosen on instinct, from years of learning the layout of the city, she pondered. Villains of the week usually didn’t warrant such an alert, yes Peni was called in still but usually it was a simple notification. This was an emergency notification, the kind they used when the police couldn’t even attempt to engage. Not just any villain got that classification and none of them should have lacked any information whatsoever about their abilities or even a name. Peni was going in blind, in a way she never had before. It was scary.
She swung around the corner of one of the tallest buildings in the city and her eyes widened as she spotted the source of the chaos. It was a Doc Ock, but instead of her D0C 0CK it was….well, for starters, a woman. No wonder they hadn’t been able to classify her. No wonder they had deemed her an emergency level threat. They didn’t know what to do with a villain from another multiverse appearing. Peni had opted not to explain to anyone what had happened in her short absence in Miles’ universe. Something had told her not to and after being a hero for a few years with a Spidey sense, you learned to trust your instincts.
She touched down with SP//dr a few mech sized paces away. This Doc Ock was smaller than her own. Her own had his own mech he sat inside on a much larger scale. This one was smaller, with just the tentacles being robotic and sized to fit her person. Theoretically, it should’ve been easier.
But things were never that simple.
It turned out, this Doc Ock in particular was a pain. Beyond the basic tentacles she could cloak her love, effectively disappearing at a moments notice. Well, that certainly explained the choice of blue rings along the arms. She would slip away and appear within Peni’s guard. Peni would try to switch to heat vision and see her only for her to somehow not come up! What the actual hell?? How was this FAIR! Not only did she have all this tech but she could counter Peni’s tech? How was she supposed to beat this?
A dark thought crosses her mind as she takes another hit from the Doc Ock variant. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to win? Maybe she couldn’t win since she wasn’t this Doc Ock’s Spider-Man? Was she just not capable of winning? What if she did win? What happened then? Would she have to watch the Doc Ock glitch out of existence, suffering a painful fate that Peni herself had narrowly avoided? Could Peni do that?
Before she could be consumed by doubt she felt a familiar warning reverberate through her skull. Except, it didn’t tell her to move. Instead the feeling felt more warm and familiar, like when she had met the others in Miles’ universe. Her head snaps up and she turns the head of her mech to look in the direction she knows they will appear from, though she isn’t quite sure how. A moment later an orange, spiraling portal opens up. A blue and red Spider-Man, but not a design like Peter or Porker’s, comes hurtling out of it. The man has claw-like attachments and blades along his forearms that reach out for the Doc Ock that had been about to strike again. Peni gasps as she watches the new Spider-Man tackle Doc Ock off of the front of her cockpit, just barely stopping her from smashing in the screen. They go spiraling towards the ground, forcing the Spider-Man to disengage for long enough to swing himself back onto a solid surface. Doc Ock falls a bit longer before managing to set herself right as well.
Peni’s eyes are wide with shock and hope as she watches the two measure each other up. Surprisingly, it’s the spider variant and not the villain that strikes first. Electric red webs extend from the spider-man, reaching for Doc Ock. It would’ve hit if not for the arm from Doc Ock that came up to intercept it. The two glared at each other as they played tug of war. The Spider-Man had more bulk but the Doc Ock was level and using her other arms to anchor herself. Seeing the stalemate snapped Peni out of her shocked silence. It was frankly embarrassing for a hero of her experience to be taken aback for so long, in the midst of a fight no less. Her mech shifted and melded into a more slim frame. Ballerina form, Peni’s prototype. On thinner legs she rushed forward, twisting her mech with a grace that the standard form couldn’t allow. Her fingers dashed across the panels and controls. While SP//dr could usually keep up in Standard form, Ballerina was almost entirely on Peni given the reaction time and control needed. She ducked beneath an extending arm from Doc Ock and swung herself up, crashing into the woman with a firm kick to her core. The woman goes flying back, crashing into the glass windows of a skyscraper behind her. The other Spider-Man manages to react quickly to Peni’s assault, releasing his hold on the villain.
Peni doesn’t hesitate for a moment in the midst of her reprieve. She had been given the opportunity to switch forms safely thanks to the new Spider-Man. With the new form it was a new ballgame and one that Peni was eager to play. Swift steps carried Peni up to where the villain had crashed through. Peni’s Spidey sense informed her that the Spider-Man was only a few paces behind her. She touched down gracefully in front of the pile of rubble the villain was pulling herself off of.
“You weren’t part of my simulations!” The Doctor hisses at the Spider-Man as he landed next to Peni. The eyes of his mask narrow as he pulls out a device Peni hadn’t seen before, which was saying something. Peni wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with technology after all. He tossed it forward and while the Doc Ock scrambled to get away she wasn’t fast enough. Some of her arms had been damaged beyond use and she didn’t register it until it was too late. Red, electric walls popped up around the villain, forming a geometric pattern for the cage. Peni stared at it for a moment, watching to ensure her containment before turning towards the other Spider-Man. She watches him silently as he walks over to the villain, tapping at a device on his wrist. An orange, swirling portal appeared next to the cage. It vaguely reminded Peni of the collider, which made sense given what she had been able to grasp from the situation. She watched as the red cage was pushed through the portal. The man turned back to her where she had remained silent and stationary. Even through the mask she could see him appraising her and could feel the confusion radiating off of him.
“…don’t you want to ask questions?” He asked after a moment. His voice had some kind of accent that was distinctly different from Peni’s but she couldn’t place.
“Sometimes it’s better not to know.” Peni replies through the broadcast system of her mech. It was true, sometimes knowing hurt more than ignorance. Though Peni considered herself a scientist and an engineer, occupations that looked to understand and push the envelope, Peni had learned to stay quiet. Some things, like politics, investments, social events and such didn’t require her input. Not only that, her input didn’t affect anything at the end of the day. It was easier to save her energy and not face the disappointment of inevitably being brushed aside.
The Spider-Man seemed to contemplate her answer for a moment before turning to face her properly. Now he didn’t look like he was about to leave, rather that he was waiting for her.
“And if I told you?”
It was a vague question with multiple layers. If he told me about who he is? Why he’s here? How he travels dimensions? Why a villain from another world was here? Why Peni didn’t know but he did? Regardless of which specific questions he intended, the answer remained the same.
“Then you would be deeming that I need to know, and I would listen.”
The Spider-Man crosses his arms, nodding in approval.
“Alright then, Peni Parker,” he says, causing Peni to flinch on instinct. The only other person beyond the scientists and investors to call her that while she was in her mech had been Mysterio. “My name is Miguel O’Hara, and I lead an elite team of heroes to defend the stability of the multiverse. Are you ready to join us?”
It was a question, no doubt. One that had two answers, yes or no. And yet, just like when she was at parties and ‘asked’ to participate in drinking games or have some candies that left her feeling dizzy for hours, there was only one right answer.
“Yes.”
Peni’s eyes scanned the screen of the mission briefing. Rarely were missions with the spider society something that required or allowed this level of preparation. After all, anomalies needed to be dealt with swiftly. In this case, though, the villain was amassing powers. They had adapted to the situation terrifyingly quickly and there were even suspicions that they were in control of their dimension hopping. Whether this was true and within the canon or not had yet to be determined. Due to all the unknown factors, the society had taken their time to choose a team tailored to all possibilities and prepare a plan of attack. Given the uncertainties around whether the multiversal travel of the villain, a technological spider had been deemed necessary. Peni had been the best choice at the end of the day. With the likely army of followers they would be dealing with, Peni and SP//dr would be best equipped. Between their crowd control and overall durability, they were a necessity.
She sat on top of SP//dr right now, one leg dangling as she swung it lightly. Her eyes were riveted on the report as she listened to Miguel talk. Her brow furrowed as she read and she quickly turned her head to the rest of the spiders assembled. Surely someone else had seen it. She watched them all continue to listen to Miguel without bothering to read the report itself. Her fingers played with the hem of her skirt as she felt anxiety bubble up in her chest. What if she was wrong? What if it did make sense and she made a fool of herself? What if they found her rude for correcting them? Or believed it to be not a big deal? What was Peni supposed to do at that point?
“Woah woah woah!” With a blip, a small orange figure appears at Miguel’s shoulder, facing Peni. “That’s some crazy BPM over there Peni, you good?” The AI asks, directing the attention of all the other members present to Peni. Miguel’s brow furrows as he turns his attention to her, seeming to analyze her state for himself. He didn’t seem to like whatever it is he found based on the minute shift in his expression. It made Peni’s already accelerated heart rate spike.
A familiar, warm feeling drifted through her mind from SP//dr. A reassurance and a reminder to remain calm. Promises of a happy ending to this situation and pride if she only manages to speak up. Her voice catches in her throat, eyes wide and panicked under the gaze of the other spider variants. They were all older, all among the more experienced members too. She swallowed hard, mouthing falling open in an attempt to force the words out. Her mouth felt dry and she had to pause, taking another deep breath and focusing on the warm feelings from SP//dr.
“Peni?” Miguel.
“…There’s an inconsistency in the report.” She manages to force out. Miguel’s head snaps over to the document itself a moment later, scanning it himself as Peni speaks. “The description of its location when it was first spotted doesn’t align with how those coordinates look in this universe. As if someone who hadn’t been there themselves but had been somewhere similar had written the report.” She continues, her words somewhat rushed. “I suspect this was written by the villain. We should proceed under the assumption that everything written in there is a lie or a trap and that… the local spider may be dead if the villain has access to the inter dimensional communication devices the society uses.”
Miguel reads through the report in silence, a grim expression on his face as the rest of the team erupts into whispers. A few look queasy at the mere thought of a dead spider. Peni almost laughs at them, her shot nerves prevented it though. After a few moments Miguel turns back to Peni.
“Well spotted.” He praises and as an almost instantaneous affect, the weight on Peni’s chest disappears. It’s like she can breathe again. What surprises her even more is when Miguel turns to address the team. “We will be proceeding under Peni’s suggested assumptions. We need to reevaluate from this perspective, Lyla could you-“
The words fall away as Peni feels overwhelming relief flood through her. Her head tips back a bit as she lets out a quiet but heavy sigh. SP//dr sends her feelings of encouragement and pride that makes Peni smile. She had spoken up, Miguel had listened, and her input had meant something. Maybe she had even saved lives by speaking up.
After adjusting the plan everyone filed out of the room, a few people waving to Peni or thanking her on their way out. The later tended to be the spider variants who came from rougher universes, they understood how vital information was for keeping people safe. Just as she was about to climb into the cockpit of SP//dr and leave she felt a hand land on her shoulder. She turned half way to see Miguel and blinked up at him, concerned. Was he going to scold her? He had seemed fine with it earlier but maybe he didn’t want to make a scene? Maybe Peni should’ve waited until they were in private to point it out instead of publicly addressing it in the middle of his explanation. Maybe-
“Thank you, Peni. You probably saved us a lot of lives with that observation. You should be proud.” He says, pausing for a moment. “You were brave, today.” He said, before moving away and heading back to his office. Peni stands there for a moment, stunned at how well that had gone. She climbed back into SP//dr, still somewhat dazed as she ran on auto-pilot (more like co-pilot). He hadn’t yelled or scolded her, he had acted on her input, and in a surprising display of empathy, he had praised her for speaking up despite being afraid. At least, that’s what she had assumed the last remark about her bravery had meant.
A smile broke out onto her face as she leaned back in her seat, pumping her fists wildly as she cheered silently. She felt amused feelings radiating off of SP//dr and echoing in her own mind over her antics. The mix of joyful emotions caused a laugh to bubble up, a stark counter to the anxiety she had felt to the same earlier. Her input mattered here. People wanted her to speak here, at the spider society. The thought filled her with a warm, content feeling.
Peni launches herself in front of the oncoming lightning, taking the blow for a young Spider variant. They were older than Peni, by a couple years, but they were green. Very new to the business and not yet an official member of the society. After all, they hadn’t experienced their canon event. Because of that, Miguel had originally been the one to go on this mission. He had jumped in to face the Electro anomaly, knowing it was only right that he, as the leader, went. The Electro proved to be too much for him, though. Electricity was quite a counter for the man and even if it was a young villain having his suit glitching out on him and being unable to use anomaly containment was unfairly difficult. Lyla had pinged Peni for help a few minutes before Miguel would ask for it.
She’d spent that time fiddling with one of her homemade anomaly containment cages. She’d taken to studying the tech around HQ and copying elements from other spiders. It’d been the inspiration behind the blades on SP//dr and now…these. It had much the same design when activated (if a bit larger) and the adaptation had been more about applying her time period’s technology to the idea. It had also made them more compact, able to fit in her palms easily. They were still prototypes but as she fiddled with the piece of technology she quickly tried to make an adjustment. The cages were weak to electricity, just like Miguel’s. It was a design flaw she would have to work on but it honestly wasn’t a high enough priority for her to dedicate her limited free time to that. She still had Compact form to add, a weapon materializer (also based on Miguel’s technology), and a project for the program she had to work on.
She looked up as an orange portal appeared in her workshop. She’d already seated herself inside the cockpit of SP//dr and with a press of a button the screen fell into place. She reached over to one side of the cockpit as SP//dr entered the portal. She dropped the new cage on the panels off to the side. She needed her hands free. They stepped out of the portal, falling through the air almost immediately after. SP//dr launched a web, sticking it to the side of a nearby building and swinging to stick to the surface itself. Peni ran through the typical adjustments for the universe, pressurizing, adjusting gravity, and tuning the filters for the new atmosphere. In the meantime, SP//dr took over, swinging down to the fight and landing a strong hit on the semi-solid Electro variant. The surprise was short lived and the success only moderate as it sent the villain tumbling back. But he was far from incapacitated.
“SP//dr.” Miguel.
The mech doesn’t look away from their opponent. Even with Spidey sense it was a foolish thing to do in a fight. Nonetheless, she turned on the 360 degree vision of SP//dr and watched as it condensed into one screen. In one section of it she spotted Miguel, his appearance slightly warped from the screen.
“You’re my wingman.” He says simply, getting a silent nod from the mech itself. Miguel takes off a moment later, engaging in the fight with Electro. Wingman procedure was simple. It designated a primary assailant and a support or defensive wingman. In this case, Miguel would be the primary assailant. He engages the fights and it's Peni’s job to adapt to his moves and help him. It was a simple procedure but tricky to do well. Luckily, Peni thrived in this position. She had a versatile tool set and was used to working with a partner. It wasn’t much different to be a wingman than it was to be a co-pilot. She already had all the skills she needed to observe and sync up with Miguel. As Miguel dives in she watches him. She sees on her screen a graph pop up, warning her of a shift in the air just as she catches a whiff of Ozone. She shoots out a web, hitting Miguel and dragging him out of the way just as a bolt of lightning strikes where he had just been. She swings him to another building and he lands, pulling the web off him and jumping straight back into the fight. It was almost surprising how well they worked together. Though maybe it shouldn’t have been. Peni and Miguel were experienced and understood doing what needed to be done. They had similar fighting styles while being distinct enough to cover each others weaknesses.
At some point the local spider tries to rejoin them, injured but clearly determined to do the age-old adage justice.
‘Spider-Man always gets back up.’
Peni leaves Miguel’s wing with a warning. Miguel immediately adapts, falling into a more avoidant fighting style as she breaks away. She grabs the local spider and puts him somewhere safe before tying him up. He didn’t seem like the type to sit still. He was too new and too injured, it just wasn’t smart. Plus, Peni and Miguel had a method that was working, he could throw it off.
She returns to the fight, pausing as she spots Miguel and realizes maybe it wasn’t working as well as she thought. As a pilot to a mech she didn’t have to worry very much about stamina and pain tolerance. It was easy to forget that the other spider variants, although superhuman, did still have to deal with these drawbacks. Her head spins with data as she tries to come up with the best solution. Her eyes close for a moment to let her concentrate better. She had a plan. But could she do it? Would Miguel react well? Would he be insulted? Would he even do it? Could he do it?
SP//dr sends her feelings of reassurance, following her train of thought and coming to the same conclusions as her. The reassurance encourages Peni to swing down, rejoining Miguel. She presses a button to activate the broadcast system as she lands next to Miguel. He was breathing heavily. It had been a long fight thus far and the fact that he still wasn’t showing signs of slowing down was impressive. She ran a quick medical diagnostic on him as she spoke.
“Wingman me.” She says in a tone that was clearly an attempt at authoritative but fell short. Miguel gave her a quizzical look through the mask before rolling his shoulders and sighing.
“You have a plan, Parker?” He asks, eyeing the mech and trying to catch his breath without being too obvious about it. Peni’s heart is practically beating out of her chest at this point. He had reacted well to being corrected in the meeting but what if it was different in the battlefield? After all, she had no guarantee that this would work and it wasn’t as concrete of an analysis. She was basically asking her commander to follow her, a mere soldier and her plan.
“Yes, Mr. O’Hara.” She says despite her anxiety. Miguel nods, agreeing easily as he crouches down.
“Let’s try it your way then.” He says, prompting Peni to move. She turns off the broadcast system and lets out a slightly shaky sigh of relief. A moment later she is swinging away, back towards Electro. The modified cage rested on the side panels still, just barely in Peni’s peripheral as she piloted. She switched to the Ballerina form in the midst of a leap and landed on pointe. Miguel’s methods had been to use his bulk and power, things SP//dr shared. It hadn’t been particularly effective though. Blades erupted from the forearms and calves of the mech as it threw a kick at its opponent. The Electro ducked beneath the assault and tried to get underneath the mech. Peni lifted the other leg of the mech, using the momentum from the kick to send it horizontally spinning. She landed a few meters from where she had started, following up the assault with a strike from the bladed arms.
Ballerina form was lithe and sharp. Effective at getting where Peni needed to be quickly and better at avoiding hits. With a villain like Electro, any hit could be fatal so it was better to just not be hit at all than to try to tank like Standard form allowed. With Peni taking point, she could get closer. In the meantime, Miguel could rest a bit and focus on watching her back.
Peni’s Spidey sense went off, screaming at her to move. She looked behind her to spot a bolt of lightning forming. Before she could move the lightning hurtled down towards the earth. At the last possible moment a large pipe appeared over her head, directing the electricity to it instead as it went sailing over her. It clattered to the ground on the other side of her. Miguel stood, breathing heavily and clearly still recovering from having thrown such a large object. Peni snapped out of it, realizing she needed to take advantage of the recharge time before Electro could do that again. She rushed at him, limbs striking out as she engaged in a game of dodging and weaving. Electro was quick, as would be natural for an electricity user. Peni bit back her annoyance at how long the fight was dragging out, after all she was essentially forced to wait for an opening. Forced to wait and know that Miguel was watching her do what was apparently futile work. She hadn’t had the time to explain her plan and now she rather regretted it. She imagined the judging gaze of her leader and tried hard not to let it affect her performance.
Eventually, she was rewarded for her patience. Electro lunged up, trying to get at the cockpit of the mech and take it down with a large surge. As he appeared in front of the screen Peni surprised everyone by OPENING the viewing window. The door hissed open, revealing a 14 year old Peni Parker with a smirk on her face. Her hands left the controls and reached out for the specially made cage. Her brown eyes sparkled with pride and amusement as she realized now was her moment and suddenly she was confident, anxiety melting away. She tossed the cage and waited for it to be right in front of the Electro before it sprung open. The red electricity danced around him, ensnaring him and forcing him to crash back down to the ground. The electric villain attempted to short out the cage only for it to merely light up the cage. The electricity danced off of each other harmlessly. Miguel landed on the shoulder of her mech, looking at her in confusion as his mask melted away.
“How did you do that?” He asks, raising an eyebrow at her.
“I have an unfair advantage of being from a thousand years in the future.” Peni says with a shrug. “We figure out how to make much smaller neutral conductors that help manage the electricity in the event of a fault despite the differences in polarity.” She explains, restraining herself from explaining more. After all, she didn’t want to seem like she was showing off or that she thought Miguel was too stupid to understand.
Miguel gave her an appraising look before dropping down to look at the technology himself. Peni followed him a moment later as SP//dr took a knee, letting her drop a much smaller distance. She walks over to Miguel, clasping her hands behind her back, as she watches him look at her work.
“You made this?” He asks, ignoring the shouts and cursing from the anomaly within. Peni nods, suddenly feeling self conscious about the quality of the work. It wasn’t as elegant as her final products, she had only stitched it together a few minutes before arriving after all.
“Ah..yeah. It’s not super pretty since LYLA didn’t give me much of a heads up but, it got the job done, right?” Peni offered, shrugging sheepishly in the hopes that Miguel would accept that as a good enough excuse.
“You made this a few minutes ago?”
“Well, the part that lets it keep Electro from escaping, not the cage itself. That I’ve had for a little while. It’s a convenient tool so I tried to recreate it with my time period’s technology.” Would he be mad that she took an idea from him without asking?
“…Well. You’re definitely a Parker.” Miguel says as he stands up, giving her an amused look. “Might be one of the smartest spider variants in the multiverse. You should be proud, Peni Parker.” He praises and Peni lights up, a grin appearing on her face despite her best efforts to remain professional.
“Thank you, Mr. O’Hara! I try my best!”
“I know you do.” Miguel acknowledges before typing into his gizmo. A portal appears beside the cage and he pauses before looking at Peni again. “Take him back, alright? I’m gonna go run damage control regarding the local spider.” He says, looking for acknowledgement before he leaves. Peni quickly nods and jogs back over to her mech, climbing inside. She picks up the cage with ease and begins to step through.
“See you for debriefing, Mr. O’Hara!”
“Call me Miguel.”
Peni kicks her feet as they dangle from the platform in Miguel's office, lovingly referred to as the Spider-Cave. On her lap rested a red laptop with various stickers slapped onto it haphazardly. Peni’s music plays through her earpiece as she sways from side to side, her fingers clicking against the keyboard as she works. They were several feet off the ground and normally this would make Peni nervous. After all, she couldn’t stick to walls or swing herself like most spider heroes can. She could only do those things when she was seated inside SP//dr. Outside of it she was just another little girl. Sometimes it made traveling around HQ nerve wracking. After all, they had to hang upside down just to use the elevator! But here, it was fine. Miguel was just a few feet away, operating his own space and reading through reports and sightings. If she fell, she had no doubt Miguel would catch her in time. Especially given the way he looked rather anxious about her sitting there in the first place. He occasionally threw glances at her when he thought she wouldn’t notice. Peni saw him though, in the reflection of her computer. She didn’t mind it though. It was nice to know he cared. She also didn’t want to encroach on his space anymore than she already had. After all, he was busy. He was on duty, protecting the multiverse. Peni very much wasn’t, despite being here. Peni tended to show up at HQ even if she was off duty. After all, she didn’t exactly have anyone back home. Instead, if she came to HQ, she could be around like-minded and similarly suffering heroes. She had originally tried working in the cafeteria, as it was a public space. It had turned out to be too loud for her. She had then tried to use her private workshop at HQ that Miguel had assigned to her shortly after the Electro mission. It worked there, for a time. Then it had been too quiet. Even with the music playing in her ears she had felt isolated and unmotivated.
It had taken LYLA coming to check on her for something to be done about the matter though. LYLA had herded Peni over towards Miguel’s office, encouraging her to join him. She had been quite obviously nervous that she was interrupting. It had been a pleasant surprise when Miguel had taken it in stride, inviting her up onto the platform itself. It had been a brief awkward moment as Peni tried to find a way up and Miguel took a minute to recognize why she wasn’t swinging up.
“Mierda. Verdadero.” He muttered before swinging down himself and offering her a hand. He swung them both back up, setting Peni down gently. She had taken a moment to look around before sitting down. It had been awkward at first, before melting into something comfortable as the two worked in silence. Someone just being around as she worked did wonders on Peni as she focused on her homework from the program. They were pushing her hard recently. Especially when it came to mathematics and sciences, though they had taken to pushing some other subjects harder recently. Public speaking and speech writing had become more prominent in her course work, it seems they were proceeding with the plan to make her a public pilot once she got older. They had also insisted on her studying another foreign language. She already had Japanese but apparently, being bilingual isn’t enough anymore. She had been allowed to choose, though. She had chosen Spanish. After all, from amongst the people she knew and was close with, only Miles spoke another language. Spanish. Maybe, when he joined, she could try speaking with him. The scientists hadn't been super happy about the decision on a global scale but hadn't thrown a fit given how many people in the nation spoke some dialect of Spanish. It was acceptable and her Japanese made her globally marketable, plus English was an increasingly common second language. Especially in Europe. The bases were covered and they could always force her to learn another language once she had Spanish down.
Peni’s finger stopped in their rhythmic clicking as she came across a question she wasn't quite certain on. It was one of those crossword puzzles where she had to figure out the word based on some clues and the letters revealed by other answers. Her brow furrowed and her right pointer finger tapped lightly on the keys. Not enough to make it type but enough to feel it move just a bit with every trap. Her legs stopped swinging and she sat up a little straighter as she wracked her brain for the answer. She understood the hint but she couldn't even figure out what it was, much less translate it. She solved the others and came back to the problem once she was done. She was only missing one letter in a four letter word now and yet she still couldn't figure it out. She just couldn't recognize it for whatever reason and it wasn't clicking for her.
“Es acta.”
Peni’s head turned at the voice. She looked over her shoulder and spotted Miguel, standing a little closer and clearly reading her screen over her shoulder. He paused before sitting down next to her. “Es acta.” He repeats before elaborating. “You probably know acta as minutes, right?” He asks, and Peni nods. She knew acta. “But acta has multiple meanings. It also means certificate.” Peni can't resist letting out an ‘ohhh’ of realization as the hint finally clicks into place. She writes in the ‘c’ to complete the crossword before looking back at Miguel.
“Thanks Miguel!” She says, having to remind herself to use his first name. He had asked her to after all. And it was nice to be treated as a coworker. Like how the adults called each other by first name. It made her feel like she was being taken seriously and treated like a proper hero.
“No hay problema.” He says with a shrug as he continues to look over her course work. “¿Esto es para una clase?”
“Sí, necesito…” She trails off, quickly realizing she doesn't remember the word for learning and fumbling. To fail so early into her attempt at speaking with a native speaker… It was mortifying.
“Aprender?” Miguel offers, tone more gentle than it usually was as he watched her attempts.
“Aprender. Sí, necesito aprender español.” She says, her pronunciation was off out of fear of…well, it was hard to word. But she didn't want to play into stereotypes.
“Español.” Miguel corrects gently, over pronouncing the unique sound of the Spanish language. It was a clear prompt to attempt to mimic him, just like she had when he had told her the verb.
“Español.” She parrots back, over exaggerating just as he did. Her efforts get her rewarded with a pat on the shoulder and a nod of approval.
“You're always welcome to ask me for help if you need it, alright?” He says and Peni nods. He nods back one more time, as if he wasn't sure what else to do. He stands up afterwards, making his way back to his own work and giving her space. Peni turns her attention back to her own work before ultimately realizing she’s lost focus. She turns back towards Miguel, now looking at his work instead of the other way around. She watched him struggle to find an error in the code as he ran it again and again. There was always something off but nothing he changed seemed to work.
Peni shifted the laptop off her lap, setting it on the platform as she stood up. Light footsteps carried her to his own workbench as she peered at the code. She’d been coding even before she had become SP//dr. She had a natural talent for it. People say she got it from her father. She’d been doing classes since she was six and after she had been bitten, they had only gotten more intense. They became a part of her very training, so she could understand and maintain her mech better than anyone else. It was funny they thought she needed a third language when she could ‘speak’ just about any language of code. Including this one.
“...line 2459.” She says as the page scrolls by. Miguel’s brow furrows and he glances at her before pausing the scrolling. He takes it back to the line in question and reads it over. His eyes widen marginally as, with the new specified focus, he now manages to find the mistake himself. He quickly corrects it and runs the code, watching as it goes smoothly.
“Christ… thank you, Peni. I've been stuck on that for the last couple of days.” He says and Peni smiles before shrugging.
“Having someone that can look at your code for you is nice. Sometimes you get stuck in the same patterns of thinking, especially when all you're writing is a bunch of patterns.” Peni says, gesturing to the code. “I'm happy to help make things a little easier for you.”
“...I'll keep it in mind.” Miguel says, eyes taking in the much younger hero and her earnest offer. She had changed a lot but he supposed that's what kids were supposed to do at her age. Explore and change until they settle on a version of themselves. Looking at her now, he felt secure in the idea that whichever version of herself she ended up being, it would be a fantastic one.
“Mierda, Peni. Come on, you know this is how the canon works. You've always accepted it before and we have saved millions if not billions of lives by putting anomalies away and maintaining the status quo!” Miguel shouts, eyes bleeding from brown to red as he glares at the girl.
Her own wide, brown eyes were set into a less intimidating but no less scathing glare. Her lips were drawn back in her own snarl as she leaned forward to meet his aggression.
“You don't know that we saved them, Miguel. You don't know that it wouldn't have been okay if we had helped or if we hadn't done anything. You don't know the rules you're guessing and ignore all the obvious signs that the theory doesn't make sense!”
“No theory perfectly encompasses all situations but the current theory allows us to stay within the margins.” Miguel lectures in a way that was horrifyingly familiar to how he would lecture her after a bad mission. Ones where she got injured for pulling a stunt or being too risky. Or how he lectured her when she showed up to HQ obviously deprived of sleep. “We can't be perfect but we can try to get close and this is the best way. We can't find a better way without endangering everything! Happy people with wonderful and simple lives will suddenly be snuffed out because you and Miles decide you want to experiment with their worlds? With their lives? And you think that isn't unethical?” He shouts at her, arms spreading wide to gesture to the millions of small worlds displayed around them.
“You know what I think is unethical?” Peni asks as he glances at the display before settling her gaze back on Miguel. “I think it's unethical and immoral to think that some people exist just to die. That their purpose in life is to die for some greater story. To allow this self fulfilling prophecy to play out time and time again because it's what a lot of us went through. The multiverse is infinite and there is a world where every variable is different. Why in the world would the story of one person be the thing holding the world together? That doesn't make sense, Miguel. It's egocentric as all hell! For all we know, Miles is just the first universe we've found where canon doesn't apply. Where canon plays out differently. For all we know, canon doesn't even apply to him as an anomaly. You know what we do know? For certain? That Universe-42 exists despite never getting a Spider-Man, and the bite is the first canon event. You know what else we know? You were never bitten either!”
Peni gasps for breath as her chest heaves. Her eyes are watering, holding back tears that don't stem from fear of grief. Instead there are merely the materialization of too many emotions in too small of a body with too large of a heart. Her hands are clenched into fists that shake with tension as she doesn't break the stare down from Miguel.
Miguel’s jaw clenches as he leans up, an attempt at a detached expression falls into place. It can't hide the still lingering rage beneath. Not to Peni at least. She knew that look. She just hadn't ever expected to see it on Miguel instead of the scientists of her program.
“...go home, Peni. We can talk about this more when you've cooled down.” She says firmly, turning his back on her.
“No! You don't get to just stop the conversation! I-”
“Yes, I do.” Miguel interrupts, glaring at her over his shoulder. “Because I am the leader of the Spider Society and I am telling you to go home. And you, are a member. You listen when I tell you, you're dismissed.”
Peni’s eyes widen with shock and betrayal as she takes a half step back. Miguel looks furious. Miguel looks too much like everyone back home. Miguel wasn't listening. Miguel was ignoring her input. Just like she had always feared he would. She had dared, she had hoped, she had tried. And look where it got her. Disappointed and betrayed in addition to ignored.
She swallowed hard, eyes darting across his face as she looked for any sign that he cared. At this moment, she found nothing as she took several steps back. Only then did she turn around, stalking out of his office. Tears began to spill down her face as she marched through the halls of the spider society. SP//dr waited for her at her workshop in HQ but she didn't even glance at the unfinished gadgets on the table. She typed into the gizmo on her wrist and continued to glare at nothing as an orange, swirling portal appeared.
She stared at it for several moments, just watching its hypnotic movements. It wasn't quite a pattern. It was always a little off. Never exactly the same. And yet, if you didn't look too closely it seemed like it was. Peni let out a slow breath as she forced her face to relax. If words weren't enough to get people to listen, maybe actions would be.
“C’mon, SP//dr.” She whispers as she steps through.
She had to prepare.