Midtown High

Over the next week New York, the media and Midtown High have talked about nothing except Spider-Man; it has even overshadowed the Stark Expo later on that night.

"Hey Pete, are you excited for the show tonight?" Gwen asks with a broad smile, "Yeah can't wait to check out the Oscorp exhibit, and the anti-dementia drugs being showcased at Advanced Idea Mechanics.. Oh and" Peter continues listing events when Gwen places her finger on his lips stopping him mid sentence. MJ has arrived and Gwen immediately asks her, "Do you want to come to the Stark Expo tonight?"

MJ is confused and hasn't taken on board what Gwen is asking, "Ha, what, where?"

"Harry has a spare ticket to the expo, he asked if you wanted to come?"

MJ begins to blush, "He wants me to come to the show, really?"

"Yeah, Harry really likes you, he…" Peter replies before Gwen hits him stopping him mid sentence again.

"You should come, keep me company while the boys look at their toys" Gwen asks MJ who smiles and nods in agreement, "Ok why not, sounds fun."

Stark Expo - Flushing Meadows

The four move through the thick crowds heading into the Stark Expo and towards the main stage that is already full to the brim. The group tries to get a good vantage point to see the stage but only get a glimpse. They wait in anticipation, discussing how Tony will make his entrance, will he talk about Iron Man and which exhibits they will visit.

—

15,000 feet above Tony Stark stands in military jet in his latest Iron Man suit, he speaks to Pepper Potts on the phone.

"Where are you Tony, I can barely hear you" Pepper asks with frustration.

"I'm just getting ready for the show."

"What's that I can hear in the background?"

"Oh that, its just a hair drier" Tony replies smugly.

"Sir 2 minutes to the drop zone" the pilot announces over the speaker.

"Drop zone? Tony where are you really?"

"Sorry, what was that… you're breaking up" bzzzt Tony hangs up.

"Let's give them a show they'll never forget."

Over the speaker the pilot announces, "Two Seven Zero at 30 naughts holding steady at 15,000 feet. You are clear for extro-tation over the drop zone." Iron Man steps up to the edge of the cargo ramp and jumps free of the plane.

—-

At the main stage a line of dancing girls dressed in skimpy Iron Man outfits dance in unison to AC/DC's Shoot to thrill as a pre-event announcer builds anticipation for the opening. Fireworks begin flying up into the sky, the whole crowd erupt into frantic applause and screaming as they look up high at the rockets exploding.

"What's that?" Peter asks Gwen pointing to the sky, "Fireworks?" Gwen quips back sarcastically, "No that, there's a rocket flying downwards, it couldn't be…" Peter trails off as the rest of the crowd notice the rocket heading straight down at them. The crowd begins to quieten as people begin holding their breath in fear and anticipation. As the rocket draws nearer the familiar red and gold design becomes clearer and the crowds noise begins to rise until, BOOOM, Iron Man lands into the middle of the stage to a backdrop of explosions and flashing lights.

The crowd erupts into a fever pitch of overwhelming excitement bordering pandemonium. Iron Man's suits is removed by robots located within the stage, piece by piece until Tony Stark is left to absorb the adulation of the crowd.

The group try to get a glimpse of Tony, peering through the many up stretched arms holding smart phones taking photos and videos of the event. During Tony's speech about being Iron Man and the importance of science Harry helps MJ up onto his shoulders so she can see the action, Peter noticing this does the same with Gwen.

After Tony's keynote speech the crowd disperses to view the various exhibits throughout the park. The group firstly goes to the Oscorp Science Academy exhibit to see the presentations of their experiments. Miles Warren is hosting it, explaining what their experiments are doing and how it will change the world. When the group arrives Miles immediately spots Gwen and breaks off his conversation to greet her.

"Hi Gwen, so great to see you, how do you like the show?"

"Fine thanks Dr Warren" Gwen replies, "Call me Miles" he tells her.

The two begin chatting away leaving Peter standing by himself awkwardly trying to not appear that he is now a third wheel and waiting for them to finish. Harry and MJ stand a few meters away laughing and chatting, Harry looks across at Peter and raises his eyebrows in surprise at the long conversation between Gwen and Miles. Peter cuts in and apologizes to Miles, informing him that they need to leave. Miles is displeased by Peter's rude interruption but reluctantly says goodbye.

As the group leave the expo Gwen and MJ excitedly talk about Tony Stark, "He's smart, rich good looking" they list, "and old" Peter adds.

Gwen smiles, "Don't worry Pete, you're still my number one."

As the three walk away Harry lags behind scratching is head, "I'm rich, smart, alright looking and young, what's wrong with me?" he says to himself.

Outside the expo Gwen takes Peter onto the opposite side of the street, giving Harry and MJ some time alone. After much walking Harry's limousine arrives, before he gets in MJ and Harry kiss, Harry looks very uncomfortable and freezes. After that brief moment the two exchanges some awkward glances in silence then Harry leaves in his limousine.

MJ runs over to Gwen and begins blurting out about their date and the kiss totally ignoring Peter. They begin walking together away from Peter, "Hey don't you guys want me to walk you home?" he asks, "No where fine, see you tomorrow" Gwen replies and they continue their conversation.

Peter begins walking home, along the same route as the girls, but 20 meters behind. The girls head down a side street leading towards Gwen's house. Peter walks straight towards his house, as he glances down the side street he notices a small gang hanging out on a doorstep. Peter stops at the corner and surveys the situation; he notices some of the gang yelling towards the girls who cross the road to avoid them.

I don't like this, I've got to do something… no wait Spider-Man needs to do something.

Peter gets changed out of site and climbs up the side of a house, running and jumping roof to roof. On the third roof his foot goes straight through the tiles. Spider-Man quickly pulls himself up and continues in pursuit, watching the gang follow the girls and chase them down behind a row of shops into a dead end.

The five men begin laughing and taunting the girls, "Which one shall we have first?" one asks, "The blonde, definitely the blonde" another man answers. "I heard red heads have more fun?"

"You don't scare me… you're pathetic" Gwen yells at the men who laugh at her.

"Shut up blondie" one of the men yells back, "Shut up?" Gwen asks, "Come and make me shut up, I'll kick you in the balls" she continues with anger.

The men continue to laugh and taunt, "My father is a police officer, you touch us and there will be 20 cops here beating your Neanderthal hides."

One of the men's patience has grown thin, he approaches Gwen, arms outstretched to grab her when she pulls out her mace and squirts him in the face. The man scream out in pain, rubbing his eyes and rolling on the floor. The other men laugh at their friend, Gwen looks down at him as he rolls around, as she does one of the others grabs the mace from her hand and pushes her to the ground. MJ quickly runs to Gwen's aide comforting her as the four remaining men bare down on them.

"Close your eyes" a voice asks the girls, "I'm not going to close my…" Gwen begins to reply when she realizes the voice was not from in front of her, but behind her, and above her.

"You probably don't want to see this" Spider-Man suggests to her, "Actually I really do" she says with a smile, "Hey what the" one of the attackers begins but Spider-man immediately shoots webs at him, the first two miss but the third hit him in the face. He runs backwards trying to rip it off, Spider-Man shoots another web into his groin then attacks the rest of the group, punching, kicking and throwing them around like rag-dolls. Spider-Man uses his web net to stick the thugs to walls and the floor. One member tries to escape, Spider-Man runs behind him, climbs up the wall to get the right angle and shoots a web net that sticks to two poles, the gang member runs right into it. Spider-Man returns to the two girls who are back on their feet and have been excitedly following all of Spider-Man's moves.

"Thank you so much Spider-Man, you saved our lives" Gwen gushingly praises him.

"It's all part of the services from you're friendly neighborhood Spider-Man"

MJ stares at Spider-Man with intrigue to saying a word. "Spider-Man, can I ask, are you the same person that saved me from the Maggia?" Gwen asks. Spider-Man shifts uneasily, weighing up whether he should tell her the truth or not.

"Yes, that was me" Spider-Man blurts out without anymore thought, "I knew it, you are amazing, spectacular, you're my hero" Gwen lavishes him with more praise and gives him a great big hug. When she lets go of him she looks up at him with pure adoration.

"You sound kinda familiar Spider-Man, do we know you?" MJ asks interrupting their moment. Spider-Man now panics, "Um, I've got more people to help, be safe girls" he responds in a deeper voice, shooting a web onto the side of the building and gliding away.

The two girls exit the alleyway, Gwen taking a moment to walk over to one of the gang members and kick him in the groin, "Told you."

Midtown High

The next day at school Gwen can speak about nothing except how Spider-Man saved her. The whole school wants to hear the story, which she tells everybody. MJ ads her bits and pieces but is not as interested as Gwen. Peter, though being sidelined by all the attention on Spider-Man, enjoys it as he secretly knows everyone loves him.

Even Flash is obsessed and suggests they should have a Spider-Man fan club. Peter takes some time away from the excitement to call Harry. Peter explains what happened last night and the reaction at school today.

"I'm thinking I should tell Gwen who I am, like the other me," Peter tells him.

"Are you coming out of the closet?" Harry asks mockingly, "You know what I mean."

"Pete, that's a really bad idea, she needs to like you for you, and telling her will only risk her life."

"But we will become so much closer if I did" Peter responds, "Maybe, but for how long? If something happens what stops her from selling your identity to the papers, what if an enemy targets her?"

Peter considers Harry's words and agrees, "Ok Harry, I won't tell her."

Undisclosed location - New York

Justin Hammer meets again with Otto Octavius in the parking lot of an abandoned super market. Otto walks up to Hammer's limousine and hands him the USB with all the data.

"Is this everything?" Hammer asks, "Yes, I've got everything you asked, so now, what about my laboratory?" Otto asks impatiently.

"Hey, yeah Otto it's nearly complete, we can go visit it when I get back from DC."

"D.C.?" Otto asks, "Oh yeah there's a little senate committee thing I'm going to but it'll only take a day, then we'll go see you're new lab."

Otto is skeptical of Hammer, "Ok Hammer, you better not be playing me."

"Hey no, Otto, you're my main man, we're going to change the world together, cheap clean energy for everyone."

"Ok Hammer, I'll see you then."

"Oh just one thing Otto, I need a scan of the prototypes" Hammer hands Octavius a briefcase which he opens, "This briefcase has a laptop that doubles as an X-ray density monitor which will map out the room, equipment and weapons they've created, I need this last thing for our own lab."

Octavius looks suspiciously at Hammer, and the case, "I don't know about this, they'll detect its contents and security will capture it, capture me."

"Hey, Otto, it been tested against the best security in the world, no one will detect it."

"I don't know about this, it's a little more than I signed up for."

Hammer rubs his head in frustration, "Otto, you signed up to save the world, to create cheap clean energy, the only way to do this is with me."

"It's not the only way" Otto replies, "While Oscorp have you working on imaginary cubes and space bridges I'll have you working on the world's first fusion generator" Hammer sternly tells Otto, "You're nearly there Otto, about to get everything you've wanted and show the world you are the greatest scientist that has ever lived." Hammer's appeals to Octavius' ego begin to take affect.

"Ok Hammer, I'll do it, but this is the last time."

Hammer drives off in his limousine laughing to himself, "Yes it will be the last time."