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Penny had a plan. It was a somewhat shaky, not entirely thought out plan, but a plan nonetheless. It was the kind of plan that would definitely get her killed one way or another; either by the person she was trying to take down, or by Mr. Stark when he found out. Regardless, there was a serial killer in Queens and someone needed to take them down.
It started a few months ago, and at first, no one had thought anything of it. Sure, Queens certainly wasn’t the roughest neighborhood in New York, but it wasn’t the safest either. As tragic as it was, one person getting murdered wasn’t exactly making national headlines. Then it had turned into two people, then three, and as of last night, two months from the first killing, it was seven. The police hadn’t been sure they were connected at first, but Penny was.
All of the victims so far had been women, with the youngest being seventeen and the oldest being twenty-three. Each woman had been found in an alley within the same 3 mile radius, and their time of deaths had been placed between 11:00pm and 3:00am by forensics. They’d all been found with deep cuts littering their arms and legs, forcing them to slowly bleed out while they could do nothing, due to the fact they all also had drugs in their system.
The amount of drugs forensics determined had been in their system was a chilling amount, and not because it was insanely large. It had been just enough to effectively incapacitate a regular person, but not quite enough to knock them completely unconscious for very long, meaning that the women were likely aware during their torture, and unable to fight back. As disturbing as it was, it was going to help Penny in this case, as any drug that could barely even knock out a non-enhanced person would have minimal effect on her, and probably only for a few minutes. She could trick the killer into thinking they’d incapacitated her and then catch them when they least expect it. Basically, she was going to walk around the danger zone at night and hope the killer decided to target her.
It was a Wednesday night and Penny had been walking around for almost two hours. She wished this serial killer would hurry up and target her already, it was getting late and she had homework to do.
It seemed Penny was going to get her wish, as she felt her spider senses begin to tingle. Up ahead was a dark alley and she would have bet money that killer was hiding inside it. Her spider senses blared louder as she approached the alleyway, and she was finding it hard to continue acting normal. Every step forward went against her instincts, which were screaming at her to run, but she had to do this!
The attack came just as she expected it. Just as she was about three quarters of the way past the alley, a man, looking to be in his mid-thirties, stepped out behind her. The man quickly clamped his hand over her mouth and Penny faked a cry of fear, though her spider-senses were actually going wild at this point. She flung her arms around wildly but made sure to reign in her strength and not actually hit him. She felt a needle prick her neck as expected and began to stop fighting.
“You’ll be an extra fun victim to play with.” He whispered disturbingly. Penny’s blood ran cold. What did he mean by that? Panic started to set in as she realized she was no longer faking her drooping eyelids. The drugs should’ve barely affected her, yet she felt on the verge of passing out. It didn’t make sense.
“I’ve been waiting for you… Spider-Woman.”
‘Oh. Shit.’ was the last thing Penny thought before her vision went dark.
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When Penny came to, the first thing she felt was cold. She noted through her foggy mind that her jacket and long skirt had been removed, leaving her in a short sleeved shirt and bike shorts. Thank god she never wore skirts without shorts underneath. Still, she shouldn’t have been this cold, it was only just September.
As she grew slowly more aware of her limbs, she began to comprehend the reason for the violent shivers that wracked her body. Much like the other victims, Penny was covered in small but deep cuts. It looked like the killer had only gotten to her left arm and leg so far, but the blood loss was getting to her already.
Penny felt a sharp pain in her arm and, with much effort, turned her head slightly to the side to find the man kneeling next to her, smiling sadistically at the blood seeping out of a fresh cut on her right arm. She let out an involuntary whimper, making his smile grow wider as his dark eyes met hers.
“Hello Penny,” the man said in a spine-chillingly pleasant way, as if he was happy to see her awake so that he could watch her suffer. Penny opened her mouth to scream or cry or say something, she wasn’t even sure, but nothing came out. She was pretty sure she’d had a nightmare like that before, and she definitely would after this.
“I’m sure you’re wondering how I knew your secret huh?” The man spoke as if he was trying to sooth a small child, but it was still somehow the creepiest thing she had ever heard. “Well, I didn’t, until I caught you, but I knew that Queens’ hero would never let a serial killer remain on the loose. I started killing women in your suspected age range, figuring it wouldn’t be long before you tried to lure me out. The funny thing is, I was luring you out the entire time! Don’t you see Penny, all of this was for you.”
The last part especially caused her an almost irrepressible urge to vomit. All those women… just to lure her out of hiding. Why? What did he need her for? She fruitlessly attempted to voice these questions, but he simply laughed at her weak attempt to speak.
“Don’t try to talk, it won’t help you any.” He whispered disturbingly close to her ear. If Penny made it out of this alive, she was going to take a three hour long shower as soon as she could. If she made it out of this alive.
The man resumed his work on her right arm, seeming to greatly enjoy every whimper and gasp of pain as she desperately tried to hold back her tears. Spider-Woman isn’t weak! She doesn’t just sit there and cry while people hurt her. But she couldn’t move, and she was losing the battle against her tears as the drugs wore off slightly and the pain became more present. Even with the drugs affecting her slightly less, she was in no shape to retaliate with her limbs still bleeding sluggishly. Penny had never felt so helpless in her life, except maybe when Ben died.
“Please,” she finally managed to croak out. She wasn’t even sure what she was pleading for. To be left alone? To be saved? To be put out of her misery? She just needed the pain to stop.
“I would’ve thought Spider-Woman was above begging,” he replied condescendingly, “but I guess when it comes down to it, you’re just like everyone else, weak.”
He dug the knife deeper into her arm as he said that, causing her to whimper once again. He was right, she wasn’t a hero. She was just a child, begging for mercy from a serial killer.
She wasn’t sure exactly how long it took him, but soon enough her right arm and leg were covered in cuts, all bleeding sluggishly and causing her to look like something out of a horror movie. Maybe he was done. Maybe he’d leave her alone to die. But when was Penny ever that lucky.
“Alright Pretty Penny,” He said, Penny shivered again at the disgusting nickname, “One last cut and then you’re done.” Penny didn’t have time to wonder what he meant before the knife was raised to her throat.
The other victims hadn’t had a cut on their throats, but she guessed the man wasn’t willing to risk letting spidergirl live. Penny wanted to live.
“Actually, I think she’s done already.” A familiar voice called. Penny had to fight not to cry of relief as Mr. Stark appeared and she heard the familiar whine of his gauntlets charging up as they were pointed at the man.
The man wasn’t willing to back down easily, it seemed, as he lifted Penny in front of him and pressed the knife slightly harder against her throat. One wrong move and Penny was dead.
“Put the knife down,” Mr. Stark ordered. His body language was calm and commanding, as if he felt total in control of the situation, but his eyes told a different story. “Put the knife down and I’ll consider letting you live.”
“You think I care about that? You think I didn’t know that going after Ironman’s superhero Pseudo-daughter was going to end poorly for me? I want it too. I don’t have anything left because of you.” He looked venomously at Tony, who’s calm exterior was faltering as he began to realize where this was going. “You took my daughter away from me, and now I’m going to return the favor.”
He forced the knife harder against Penny’s throat, causing her to cry out as she felt the blade break her skin.
“Rhodes!” Tony yelled, no longer attempting to conceal his panic. A loud bang echoed from behind her and the arm around her fell limp. The killer slumped forward uncomfortably against her back, but it was only a moment before the weight was removed by Colonel Rhodes, who was holstering a gun.
“Tony.” Rhodey called, voice dripping with concern as she began to list sideways. Even sitting up on her own felt impossible as she continued losing blood. Tony rushed forward and looped an arm around her back.
“Hey kid,” he murmured, mostly preoccupied with assessing her wounds, “it’s okay… you’re gonna be okay,” He continued muttering reassurances as he looped another arm under her knees and picked her up. “She’s losing too much blood, I’m gonna fly her to the tower.” He said to Rhodey, who was in civilian clothes. Penny struggled to keep up with the conversation as she felt her eyelids grow heavy, and before she knew it, she was in the air.
“Mr. Stark…” She muttered.
“You’re safe kid, We’re gonna fix you up okay?”
“M’kay” With the adrenaline leaving her body, Penny felt her eyes flutter shut, and this time she didn’t attempt to open them.
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It was morning by the time Penny woke up, maybe even afternoon. She wasn’t sure of the exact time. Either way, the sun was shining. Penny groaned as she grew more aware of her body, or, more specifically the cuts that covered almost every bare inch of it. Luckily her abdomen had been left alone, but her arms and legs alarmingly resembled those of a mummy.
Next to Penny sat a tired looking Mr. Stark, who was glaring daggers at the wall opposite her and didn’t seem to notice she had woken up.
“Mr. Stark?” His head snapped towards her voice, but his glare didn’t soften as she’d expected, “what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” He repeated, “what’s wrong is that you took upon yourself to track down and lure out a serial killer without ever calling for backup or even telling anyone your plan!”
“I… I wanted to help.” Her voice came out small as she tried to explain.
“I know kid,” he stated tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. All of the sudden Penny felt terrible for making him stress. “You’re a good kid… but you can’t keep treating your life like it means nothing! It’s not fair to the people who-“ he paused for a moment, and Penny wondered what he was going to say, “who care about you.” She nodded, keeping her eye trained on her lap. “Do you think May could survive losing her last family member? What about um…” he snapped his finger, “Ted?”
“Ned,” she corrected.
“You think Ned would be ok with losing his best friend? I’m not trying to berate you, I just...” he trailed off for a moment, seeming unable to find the right words, “I care too, Penny. I’m responsible for you, as Spider-girl, but it’s not just that. I care about you. And I’m… bad with feelings and stuff, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something bad happened to you. So just… be careful. And please, for the love of god, call me if you are planning on tracking down a serial killer.” Penny chuckled a little at the dramatic exasperation of the last part, but sobered up quickly thereafter.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t think-“
“No, you didn’t,” he interrupted playfully.
“I’ll call, if I need help. I promise.” He stared at her for a moment longer before nodding, seeming to accept her answer.
“Alright. What flavor?” He asked.
“What?”
“I’m going on a jello run, what flavor do you want? If you pick orange I’m throwing you out.” He joked. Penny giggled in response.
“Um… red,” he narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before speaking.
“Acceptable. I’ll be back, and don’t track down anymore serial killers while I’m gone!”