𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥?

“With every web-sling, she dances with grace,

Defying gravity in a boundless chase,

Yet, in her heart, a perpetual ache resides,

A longing for normalcy, the mask she hides.”

Park Row was only called such by the prim and proper. Most just referred to it as Crime Alley. Penny found out very quickly that it was not called that for no reason. Her first night spent in the abandoned tailoring shop was filled with the sound of gunshots and screams. When asking Barbara why the great Batman does not help, she is informed that even the Dark Knight has given up hope for Crime Alley.

Red Hood was Park Row’s designated vigilante, but his solutions were simply more violence. Penny had planned to stay out of it. To not intervene.

That all changed when she was walking home from school one night and a hand slapped down on her forearm. She was dragged into an alleyway and slammed against the wall. Three men surrounded her, two of them aiming guns at her head. Penny could smell the alcohol on their breaths as well as hear their irrational heartbeats. Her spidey-sense was going haywire.

”Where do you think you’re going, little girl?” The man holding her against the wall interrogated. Penny recoiled as his face got entirely too close to hers.

”Well, I was planning on going home.” She responded with a glare. The man seemed shocked at her blatant disrespect, but could not prevent the laughter that bubbled from his mouth.

”Brave, huh?” He asked. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, kid, but Batman ain’t gonna be here to save you.”

”I don’t need him.” Penny snarled before head-butting the man square in the face. He stumbled backward, blood gushing from his now broken nose. Before one of the two men holding the gun could fire a shot the vigilante with the red helmet dropped down from the roof above. The weapon’s aims were now on him. Red Hood was prepared to take on both men, but before he could Penny leaped onto the back of one of the attackers and pulled him to the ground. His weapon was sent flying to the side. Swiftly, Penny knocked him out. It was an out-of-character action for her, but it was the only solution at the moment. With Red Hood so close and with no mask to protect her identity she could not risk webbing the men to the walls.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and the man Red Hood was fighting was lying on the floor with a bullet in his brain. When the vigilante turned to Penny she stumbled backward, unaware if he would deem her a threat or not.

”Are you alright?” He asked, his voice muffled slightly by his helmet.

”What did you just do?” Penny questioned, mortified. She and guns never got along, ever since the death of Uncle Ben she was terrified of them and what they could do. Red Hood was confused at her question, looking between the dead man and her.

”Dealt with him.” He responded grimly.

”And you couldn’t have just knocked him out? You had to kill him?” Penny interrogated.

Red Hood scoffed. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

”Does it matter?”

”You’re going to have to learn that here in Gotham killing is sometimes the only option.” The anti-hero explained. Penny stared at him for a brief moment before turning around and walking out of the alleyway she was dragged into. “What? No, thank you?”

”I had it handled!” Penny called back as she turned the corner.

As the girl approached her apartment in the middle of Crime Alley she had made her decision.

Gotham needed Spider-Man.

▀▄▀▄ ••••••••• ▄▀▄▀

As Penny approached the vast building that was Wayne Enterprise she began to rethink her life choices. What if someone found out she is nothing more than a birth certificate and a social security card in this world? What if they asked questions that she didn’t have the answer to? What if, what if, what if.

Then she thought of Tim. The boy was the one who encouraged her to compete for the internship. She couldn’t let him down now.

With a deep breath the girl, carrying only her notebook of ideas, entered the tower and walked over to the front desk. A woman was seated there, her hair golden like the sun and curling down her head in ringlets. Upon her chest was a name tag with ‘Lily’ typed neatly in black. At the sound of someone nearing her, she looked up from her computer.

”How can I help you?” She asked in a customer service tone. Her words were coated in a Southern accent.

”Um, I’m Penny, Penny Parker. I’m here for the internship.” Said mutant explained, causing Lily’s eyes to light up in recognition.

”You made the AI!” She exclaimed, startling Penny. Lily instantly noticed this and calmed down. “Sorry, dear. It’s just that everyone’s been talking about you since the competition. You’re kind of a celebrity around here.”

Penny blushed and a silence washed over them.

”Oh! You need directions!” Lily realized. She opened a drawer and pulled out an ID card as well as a pamphlet. She handed both over to Penny. “This card will let you use the elevator and give you access to the labs. Make sure you keep it safe.”

Penny opened the pamphlet and looked it over. There was a map of the building as well as information concerning higher-ups.

”You’re going to head on up to the second floor and go to lab B-6. Nathan should be there to meet you.” Lily explained. With a quick thanks to the receptionist, Penny walked over to the elevator and swiped her ID card. The doors slid open instantly. Penny entered and pressed button two. She stood silently as light music played throughout the enclosed room and it began to move upwards. She held her notepad close to her chest, trying to calm the beating of her heart.

A loud ‘ding!’ alerted her of her arrival on the second floor. The doors opened, revealing a long hallway of rooms. As she walked she read the signs on the wall, pausing when she read ‘B-6’. She swiped her new card in the scanner, watching as it flashed green. Hesitantly, she opened the door and crept inside.

”Ms. Parker!” An unfamiliar voice called. Penny’s head whipped around until her gaze landed on a man in his mid-thirties standing a few feet away. He was garbed in a white lab coat with black ink stains all over it. His hair was in a state of disarray, standing on its ends and pointing every which way. He looked the spitting image of a scientist.

”Mr. Nathan?” Penny asked, causing the man to smile.

”Just Nathan, please.” He requested as he held out his hand for Penny to shake. The girl hesitantly did so. “Nice grip.” He complimented, making the teenager quickly let go. “I must say, Mr. Wayne was really impressed with your invention for the competition.”

”Really?” Penny queried, eyes wide.

”Everyone was.” Nathan informed her. “Thousands of scientists and engineers have been attempting to make AI for longer than you’ve been alive.”

”I guess I’m just lucky.” Penny shrugged her shoulders.

”There’s no such thing as luck in this field, kid.” Nathan stated. He then seemed to notice the notebook gripped tightly in the girl’s arms. “What have you got there?”

Penny looked down at one of her few belongings and smiled sheepishly.

”Just a couple of ideas I’ve been working on.” She told him.

”Do you mind if I have a look?” Nathan asked. The mutant thought for a brief moment before handing over the notebook. Nathan opened it and began to read over the blueprints for Penny’s inventions. He stopped at the page detailing something called an ‘arc reactor’. “What is this?”

Penny looked at the creation Nathan was looking at and smiled. Memories came flooding back of Mr. Stark showing her how he made the reactor and how he utilized it in the making of clean energy.

”It’s a fusion type power source.” Penny began to explain. “It can be used to power an entire city.”

”And you designed it?” Nathan questioned, shocked.

Penny shrugged her shoulders. “With a little help from a friend.”

“Looks like Mr. Wayne made the right choice with you.”

▀▄▀▄ ••••••••• ▄▀▄▀

Aunt May had taught Penny how to sew the moment she was able to hold a needle. It was a craft that Penny thoroughly enjoyed. She loved using her old clothing to make something completely new. Neither Ned, MJ, or Mr. Stark knew of this talent of hers. It was something she hid for reasons unaware to even herself. May knew though, and May absolutely adored everything Penny made. It was something between them, that no one else knew. It was something special.

Penny even used the skills she learned from Aunt May to create her first Spider-Suit. Granted, when she did she knew absolutely nothing of how quickly it would be destroyed. Cotton does not hold up against a gunshot or a stabbing. She learned though, very quickly she learned.

Now, here she was. Alone with nothing but a bag of fabric and a barely functioning sewing machine. The bag filled with pieces of cloth that were scavenged from the dumpster behind a tailoring shop in the wealthier section of Gotham. She gained disgusted looks from those that passed by the alley she was in, but she paid no mind to them. It had been a long while since she made her suit without the supplies Mr. Stark provided, but she would make do.

Blue and red fabric was expertly stitched together with white thread. The empty room that Penny was in was filled with the rumbling of the sewing machine and her light humming. She could not help but feel as though she were 14 again, just recently recovered from the spider bite and preparing to become Queens’ newest vigilante. It was different though. She was not making this suit because she wanted to. She was making it because she had to.

Crime Alley needed a hero. Penny would not deprive them of one.

▀▄▀▄ ••••••••• ▄▀▄▀

Tim Drake stared at his now cold cup of coffee. Hours had passed since he first got it, but only a few sips had been taken. He was deep in thought, too deep to hear the footsteps nearing him. Suddenly, a hand clasped his shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise.

”Whoa! Just me!” Dick reassured, a goofy smile upon his face. “Just wanted to check on you. You were looking at that coffee like Damian looks at, well, anyone.”

”Just thinking.” Tim responded. Dick climbed on top of the table and crossed his legs. It was a habit of his to be higher up than just the floor. Tim brushed it off as a result of his years in the circus.

”About what?” He queried. The Drake boy sighed, wondering if he should confide in his eldest brother. If he were to tell him anything the rest of the family would soon know. Eventually, he replied.

”Penny.”

”Who’s Penny?” Dick asked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

”A friend. She just got the internship at Wayne Enterprise.” Tim explained, ignoring Dick’s suggestive motion.

”The AI kid, right?” The Grayson man questioned, causing Tim to nod his head in confirmation. “Heard from Dad that he’s thinking about giving her her own lab.”

”Seriously?”

”He said that her boss Nathan told him that she needs more space to create some of her inventions.” Dick elaborated, repeating Bruce’s earlier words. “Something about a reactor.”

“A reactor?” Tim repeated. He immediacy followed up with question after question. “What kind of reactor? Nuclear? Batch?”

”Hey, I’m just relaying the information.” Dick said, raising his hands in a surrender-like motion. “All I know is that your friend is smart. Really smart.”

Tim nodded his head in agreement, sinking down in his seat as he thought. Penny was intelligent, more so than most of Gotham Academy. Suddenly, his eyes widened.

”What if she helps with the case?” He suggested.

”You want to bring a civilian into this? What are you, Dad?” Dick joked, causing his younger brother to scoff.

”I wouldn’t tell her everything, I’m not an idiot.” He stated. He rose to his feet and approached his lab station. A small glass box sat there, containing the last piece of webbing from the Joker’s hideout. He tossed it over to Dick, who caught it with ease.

”What’s this?” He questioned, looking it over.

”That is the last of whatever stopped the Joker. If I gave it to Penny she could probably figure out the chemicals it’s made of.”

”Where are you going to tell her you got it from?” A new voice entered the discussion. The two adoptive brothers turned to see Bruce approaching them, tugging his Batman cowl off of his head.

”I’ll say it was a bet that someone in my Chemistry class made with me. If I can figure out what it is made of then then they give me $20.” Tim lied with ease. Bruce and Dick shared a glance with one another.

”You have to be careful.” Bruce told his son. “If she starts getting suspicious you have to tell one of us.”

Tim nodded his head in agreement.

”I’ll make sure she’s kept in the dark about all this.” He said.

The last thing he wanted to do was put the innocent Penny Parker in danger.