CHAPTER FOUR

BETTER LAWYER UP.

"Holy shit..." Penny gasped as the pair stepped inside the museum. Multiple men were carrying around toolboxes, fixing broken pipes, displays, floor tiles. "We're not in Kansas anymore."

Steven elbowed the girl before gaping at the mess himself. The duo turned toward J.B. who happened to be roping the place off. "Bruv, hey. It's proper mad in there." He hurriedly whispered.

"What happened? What is it?" Steven inquired, approaching his coworker as Penelope simply kicked a few broken pieces of linoleum around.

"They're saying burst pipes, but it don't look like that to me." J.B. blew air out of his cheeks with a chuckle.

"Has anyone seen the security footage?"

"Well, yeah I was about to." The man spoke softly.

"Alright, I think I should go with you, yeah? I may have some information about it." Penelope's head perked up as the two men started the walk away. She shuddered at the thought of a werewolf still looming somewhere in the building and quickly ran after them.

••

"Do not tell Donna that I let you into this arena." Was all that Penny heard as she followed the men in.
"Uh-uh-uh!" J.B. raised a finger at her to stop the girl. "Employees only."

"Oh please." She rolled her eyes as she grabbed a rolling chair and scooted up in front of the computer. J.B. scoffed before turning to Steven for help, but Steven only continued to give the man a fair warning about the 'craziness' about to be seen.

Nothing on screen happened for the first ten seconds, only Steven assuring the two to "wait for it."

"How long am I waiting?" J.B. deadpanned as Penelope snorted.

Steven suggested a different angle which didn't show anything out of the ordinary. "Mr. Steven, are you sure you weren't like, I don't know, hallucinating?"

J.B. nodded in agreement. "What are you doing, you donut? You messed up the loos! Larry in maintenance is going to absolutely shoot you!!"

"Was it like a Shitzu puppy? Maybe that's why we couldn't see it?" Penny suggested.

"Egyptian Jackal, it was a Jackal!"

As J.B. changed camera angles again, the image of Steven slowly approaching the camera overtook the monitor. His eyes were dark, shoulders pushed back as he strode with confidence, he came from the back bathroom that he had disappeared into just moments before.

"That's not me.." Steven muttered. His voice shook as he blinked curiously at the screen.

"The hell do you mean? Sure looks like you," Penelope muttered, "were you having one of your off days?" She combed through her hair nonchalantly with her fingers.

Steven sputtered. "One of my off- what are you on about?" He made eye contact with JB, both having the same exasperated look on their faces.

"Y'know. The days where you don't bring me coffee, the days where you take the stairs instead of the elevator..." She looked between the two men, realizing that they both had no clue what she was talking about. "You're kinda mean those days, maybe you need more sl-"

JB made a move to grab his walkie talkie as Steven listened intently to Penelope. "Yeah, Donna? I found the perpetrator.."

Penny and Steven both looked up at the man, shock written across their faces. "How dare you!" Penelope started.

"C'mon mate, that's not me! Can't you see?"

"Might want to start packing your things." - JB's parting words as he left to retrieve Donna.

••

Penelope rested her head in her hands as she sat atop the marble steps leading toward the history museum. One of the higher-ups requested a meeting with Steven, leaving Penny to fiddle her thumbs.

Her mother still wasn't back and Penelope had given her neighbor, Gladys, the job of checking in on her grandfather. Gladys always was caught giving him googly eyes and he would give them right back. Why not play a little matchmaker?

Lost in her thoughts, Penny didn't realize somebody moving to sit next to her on the steps. "You know there are like three empty benches within view, right?" She spoke without looking up.

"You looked lonely."

Her eyes widened as her head shot toward him. A blush started creeping up her neck. It was Miles. "Oh, sorry. Just on edge. How- how are you?"

He smiled softly. "Why're you on edge? Something with the neighbor guy?" He ignored her question, which she found a bit odd.

"Uh, yeah. Not sure if I should be telling you this, but he got himself into a heap of trouble. Probably going to get his ass fired." She laughed snarkily, clearly upset with his circumstances.

"Huh." Miles nodded, "that's not very good."

Penelope eyed him, "What are you doing here?" Her posture relaxed a bit.

"Have nothing better to do. 'Sides, the park is beautiful." He looked away as he spoke, scratching the back of his neck. "I can't even explain how happy I was when I saw you."

"Me? Why?"

"Well, you're the closest thing I have to a friend around here. Dad's too preoccupied with work things so I don't get much interaction from him." His face fell. Penny cleared her throat at the awkward topic, putting her hand down by her side. As she expected her hand to meet the cool ground, the surprising feel of warmth shocked her.

"Oh, so sorry!" She squeaked, quickly moving her hand from atop of his. "That was- my mistake, sorry."

Miles laughed at her flustering. He bumped his knee with hers, letting her know it was okay. "You can- you can do that again, if you want?" He also grew red, "but, you don't have to!"

Penelope pursed her lips, deciding to be confident one for this moment. She delicately laid her hand back on his.

A throat being cleared. Everything was going too well! Penelope turned around, seeing Steven there with his arms crossed, tapping his foot against the ground.

He motioned to their hands with his eyes, kickstarting Penny into retracting her hand. "Steven! Sorry, didn't know you'd uh- be out so soon?" She stood, her voice cracking.

When she received no answer, she quickly glanced down at Miles. "Oh, this is Miles." With that, he stood up beside her. "He's my friend."

"Mm." Was the only noise to come from Steven as he started down the steps, moving between the two. "I need to speak to Crawley, and you'll be coming with me."

He grabbed Penelope's hand, dragging her toward the gold man. As Miles made a move to follow, Steven only picked up his pace.

Once they were far enough away, Steven let go of her hand. She glanced back over her shoulder, trying to find Miles again but coming back unlucky. "Okay, what's the problem, dad?"

"No problem. I'm just stressed is all. I lost the job..."

Penelope's eyes widened. "No shit, I was hoping they wouldn't actually can you!" Steven sighed, "-sorry, I'll tone it down.."

"Ah, Crawley!" The man spoke as they approached the bench.

••

Picking at her hangnails, Penelope didn't realize when Steven started talking to her.

"Are you even listening to me?" The man laughed, Penelope jumped. Startled, she placed a hand over her heart.

"I am now."

"C'mon," he motioned her up from the bench. She let out dramatic groan, yet still followed.

"See ya, Crawley."

After mindlessly following Steven down the street for about five minutes, Penny finally decided to speak up. "So... where are we going? To find a new job? I heard Stark Industries is hiring." She snorted at her own joke.

Steven scoffed, "we're going to find my - well, not mine but 'my' storage locker! It'll prove that I'm not mad and maybe they'll take me back!"

It was Penelope's time to scoff now, "they're better off without you anyway. Maybe you should see a doctor?"

"Oh not you too." He sighed. "I'm fine, I'm Steven. But whoever - whoever that man is, that's not me! That's not Steven!"

Penelope raised her eyebrows, mouthing a hushed "okay."

Not long after that conversation, the pair arrived at the storage facility. Steven made sure to do the talking at the front desk, figuring he couldn't trust Penny not to say something totally wrong.

The man led both Steven and Penelope down a long hallway, the lights slowly turning on one by one as they made their moves. He unlocked the specific unit and was quick to make his exit. Must've been just as creeped out as they were.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Penny grabbed Steven's wrist as he didn't hesitate to pull the door open. "The hell is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"This could be a set up! There could be an axe murderer in there for all we know." She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb. "I say we approach this cautiously-"

She was cut short by the sight of Steven continuing to open the door.

"You know Steven, one of these days you are going to get yourself killed." She muttered, following in behind him.

The lighting made the room glow a sort of ugly green. The duo observed, making note of the storage bins and cot. The pillow was indented, someone was there not long ago. Steven stepped closer to the makeshift bed, reaching for the bag beside it and kneeling down.

He unzipped it, eyes widening. "Oh my god."

"What? Can I see?" She quickly stalked over to his kneeling figure, trying to see over his shoulder.

Steven plucked a gun from the bag, holding it cautiously.

"Sick!" Penny laughed.

"No, no, it's not 'sick' it's dangerous!" He carefully placed it on the cot, "don't touch it." Steven reached back into the bag, pulling out stacks of differing currency and finally, a passport, granting passage from the US. "Marc Spector..."

Steven moved over to observe the passport more closely, granting Penny enough access to dig into the bag. "The hell is this?" She pulled her hand out of the duffel bag, holding a golden oval of sorts.

"No way, it's real." Steven grabbed it from her, staring incredulously at the object.

"Hey, I found it first.." She snatched it back. Steven, still in shock, could only mutter to himself. Wing-like features popped out from the item, Penny fell from her knees onto her butt in shock. The beetle took flight, hovering above her hand. "Holy moly.."

"It's like a compass, it's pointing toward the North." He spoke gently as Penny moved her hand it differing directions trying to offset the thing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Steven freeze. He was staring at his reflection. "Woah, there he is. Here he comes..."

She fully turned toward him, "Christ..."

"Hello man in the mirror. Was wondering if you'd pop up again."

Penny could hear the one sided conversation, utterly confused. The beetle dropped back into her palm. She pet the object with her index finger, trying to wait for Steven to come down from this strange interaction.

"-oh, she's my friend." He suddenly spoke, an arm motioning toward Penelope. "What do you mean? It is safe in here, right? Get her out of here??"

Penny looked between Steven and the reflective wall, an eyebrow raising. Steven started to freak out, sitting on the cot as his breathing became labored. He got louder as he grabbed the black bag and stood back up. "-and I'm going to go straight to the authorities, and they're going to put me away so I don't hurt anyone else. And hopefully they'll fill me with enough pills so that you get out of my head!"

Steven grabbed Penelope's fore arm and rushed toward the door, bag in his other hand. The lights started to flicker as Steven picked up his pace. He slammed the storage door shut and turned his head down the long hallway and froze. His grip on Penny tightened as he pulled her down the hallway, she could barely keep up with him. "Steven, Steven!"

The locks on some of the doors started to jiggle as they ran by them. Steven came to an abrupt stop, looking up at the empty space in front of them.

He screamed.

His grip on the bag tightened as he then pulled Penelope in the other direction and outside the building. She joined him in screaming, not knowing exactly what they were scared of. She watched as he stumbled and fell into the street, almost taking her down with him. A motorcycle stopped just before his head, the driver looking down at him with squinted eyes. A woman, somebody who recognized him. "Marc?"

11.17.22
It's so hard to write for an oc who
is seeing this all from an outside
perspective 😭😭 I got lazy toward
the end, butttt we're finally getting
to the good stuff!!
NOT PROOFREAD