𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥?

"With great power, comes great responsibility,

A motto she lives out willingly.

And it's this selflessness we admire,

In a world where goodness needs to aspire."

Penny Parker leapt off the roof of Needlework Nirvana. Those below only saw a flash of blue and red as she swung from building to building. Webbing shot from the indentation on her wrist and attached to the brick wall of an old volunteer fire station. Penny crawled up to the very top and looked down at the dark Crime Alley.

The suit she wore was almost identical to her original when she was only 14. It was made of a red hoodie with the sleeves cut off and a blue undershirt and sweatpants. In the center was a  spider sewn in black thread. It was quite a pitiful sight to behold. The only mechanical part of her suit was the voice modulator attached to her mask. She had first created it after the medial labeled her as ‘Spider-Man’. In an effort to further protect herself and her family, she took on the identity of a male. The voice modulator was made out of a broken computer that Penny had found in the dumpster behind Wayne Enterprise. She had found that if she was in need of technology, the place to look was behind her job building.

Suddenly, as Penny was deep in thought, she heard another pair of feet land behind her. Her spidey-senses tingled and in an instant, she ducked. A bullet from a semi-automatic pistol sailed over where her head once was. She spun around to see Red Hood standing there, weapon raised.

”What the fuck are you?” He questioned.

”Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.” Penny spoke, her voice sounding several octaves lower due to the modulator. Before she could speak again her senses went haywire. She twisted out of the way of another oncoming bullet, much to the surprise of Red Hood.

Using his shock to her advantage, Penny leaped towards him and managed to knock the gun to the side. Now, with no weapons, they were on a level playing field. Or rather, they would be if not for Penny’s enhancements.

”Big mistake, kid.” The elder vigilante snarled, raising his fists.

The first strike was fast and its purpose was to knock her out. Penny was quick, however, and jumped out of the way. She responded with a punch of her own, the impact sending Red Hood stumbling back a few steps. He swiftly recovered and attempted to kick the girl in the stomach. Penny managed to catch his leg and slam him to the ground, not hard enough to seriously injure him, but hard enough to hurt. What the teenager was not expecting was for Red Hood to slam his helmet-covered head onto hers. She was knocked to the floor, which gave the man enough time to scramble to his feet and dive for his guns. Before his outstretched hand could reach them though, webbing enveloped his fingers. His gaze shifted between his now captured hand and the teenager. 

”It’s you.” He muttered, much to Penny’s confusion.

“Huh?” She questioned. Red Hood had heard from Batman about the mysterious individual who had taken down the Joker. The person who did not exist. In that moment he knew what he had to do.

He jumped towards the red and blue hero, taking her by surprise. The two tumbled to the ground, Red Hood reaching for Penny’s mask. The girl instantly retaliated and managed to kick him off of her small frame. Before the elder vigilante could continue the attack, Penny vaulted herself over the edge of the building. Red Hood ran to the ledge and looked down, expecting to see the new protector of Crime Alley running out onto the streets. Except she wasn’t. She was nowhere to be seen.

Unbeknownst to Red Hood, Penny was pressed against the wall directly beneath him. One hand was on the wall, holding her in place while the other was held over her mouth to muffle her heavy breaths. With the shadow that was cast over her, she was practically invisible to the naked eye. Her enhanced hearing allowed her to pick up on the man above her muttering.

"Tim's gonna have a field day with this."

Penny's eyebrows furrowed at his words.

Her Tim?

The girl's mind was racing at a million miles a minute. How would Red Hood know her Tim? She shook her head, brushing away the thoughts. There had to be hundreds of Tims in Gotham and the elder vigilante could have been talking about any one of them. As soon as she could no longer hear Red Hood above her she jumped to the floor of the alleyway below.

She still had a neighborhood to protect, regardless of the thoughts rushing through her head.

▀▄▀▄ ••••••••• ▄▀▄▀

Tim Drake was absolutely ecstatic when Jason Todd returned to the Manor with webbing surrounding his hand. Dick Grayson on the other hand was utterly terrified. The giant spider had struck again.

He was shocked to find though that it was not a spider at all, but a man. A web slinging vigilante. Tim, having always assumed that the webbing was artificial, was not quite as surprised. He was though when Jason made the claim that the new hero could not have been older than 18. According to the former Robin his mannerisms resembled that of an adolescent more than an adult. As well as that, his voice sounded as though he had only recently gone through puberty.

”Can you get this off of me?” Jason questioned, waving his webbed hand wildly. “None of my knives could cut it.”

”It should dissolve on its own.” Tim informed him.

”Well, forgive me Replacement, but I don’t really feel like walking around with this shit on my hand for the rest of the day.” Jason stated.

”Rest of the day?” Tim repeated before shaking his head. “No.” He pauses before finishing his sentence. “A few hours at most.”

It took all of Jason’s patience to prevent himself from strangling his younger brother. Dick’s cackling in no way helped with his restraint. Tim approached Jason’s hand and, using a heated knife, sliced through the a small section of the webs.

“At least now Penny has more of it to experiment on.” He murmured.

”How’s she doing with it?” Dick queried, leaning forward absentmindedly.

”Good.” Tim responded. “She’s getting close to figuring it out.”

”Who the fuck is Penny?” Jason interjected, making the two look over to him.

”A friend of min-“ Tim’s reply was cut off by an excited Dick.

”His girlfriend!”

”She’s not my girlfriend.”

”I’d hope not. I would pity the poor soul that you would take out on a date.” Damian Wayne’s voice echoed throughout the Batcave. The child approached his elder brothers with Titus at his side. Titus was a vast dog named after the bloodiest and most violent Shakespeare show Titus Andronicus. It was quite comical to see such a large canine next to such a small boy. If anyone were to comment on it though they would find themselves at the end of a katana faster than the blink of an eye.

“Gee thanks.” Tim said, sarcasm coating his words. “And not that it’s any of your business, but Penny and I are just friends.”

▀▄▀▄ ••••••••• ▄▀▄▀

Penny Parker and Tim Drake may potentially be mortal enemies. Ever since he approached her with the remains of her webbing she had been on high alert. When Red Hood mentioned a person by the name of Tim she was even more so. The day after her first patrol in Crime Alley, Tim came to her with yet another chunk of webbing. It was in that moment that she knew Tim could not be trusted. The only person who could have collected any samples of her webs was Red Hood, the same vigilante who attacked her.

She took the webbing with a smile and told him she would begin to work on figuring out the chemical mixture. She said she was getting close to finding out the answers he was looking for.

She lied.

Tim was completely oblivious to his friend’s suspicions. Then again, there was nothing to alert him that anything was wrong. They still met outside the school every morning and he still walked her to her first period. They still sat next to one another during their second period and ate lunch together. Nothing seemed any different.

The day before winter break Tim had approached Penny with an offer.

”Do you want to come over?” He had suddenly asked in the middle of their walk to Honors English 12. The girl looked over to him and raised an eyebrow, confused as to what he was asking. Tim noticed and quickly elaborated. “To my house? Tonight? Alfred would pick us up from school and would be able to drop you off at your house.”

”I don’t know.” Penny mumbled, thinking the request over.

“Please? It would only be for a little bit.” Tim pleaded. Penny, though still suspicious of the boy, eventually nodded her head. The Drake boy’s eyes lit up. Quickly, he grabbed his phone and began to rapidly text Alfred.

Although they might be enemies, Penny can’t help but smile at how exited Tim was.

”He’ll meet us outside at 3:30.” He told the girl, placing down his phone and grabbing his steaming cup of coffee. “Do you need to stop at your house or anything before we go to mine?” He questioned.

Frantically, Penny shook her head. The last thing she wanted was anyone going to her place of residence and realizing she lived in an abandoned tailoring shop. At her sudden motion Tim raised his hands in surrender.

”Alright.”

”Sorry, my…” Penny trailed off, racking her brain for an excuse. “Father has the night shift and he sleeps during the day.

Tim nodded his head and understanding. Penny breathed a sigh of relief when his back was turned, thankful that he fell for any other one of her lies.

The rest of the school day passed too quick for Penny’s comfort. Before she knew it she was standing beside Tim outside the school building, waiting for his butler to show up. The girl knew her friend was rich, but she didn’t know he was that rich. She only grew more shocked as a sleek, black limousine pulled up in front of them.

An elderly man stepped out from the driver’s side door, garbed in a stereotypical butler’s outfit. His hair was an ivory white and thinning at the top and his skin was pale, but not sickly so.

”Master Tim, I apologize for my tardiness. Traffic in Gotham has never been worse.” He spoke in a thick British accent. Tim brushed off the man’s concerns with a wave of his hand.

”No problem, Alfred.” He told him. Tim then stepped up to the door of the backseat and opened it. “After you.” He said to Penny, causing the girl to smile against her will. She climbed inside, her hands rubbing against the leather of the seats as she crawled over to the far left. Tim hopped in after her and the two buckled their seatbelts in unison.

Penny had never driven in Gotham before, relying only on her feet to get her places. She stared out the window in awe as the building’s passed by. Though Gotham is a violent city, she cannot deny that many of the towers that inhabit it are works of art. Unbeknownst to the girl, Tim was watching her with a smile. And Alfred, who was silently tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, continuously glanced back at the two teenagers with a faint grin.

The car then stopped. Right in front of a vast gate and stone wall which surrounded a colossal mansion.

A mansion owned by one Bruce Wayne.

Her boss.