Gwen assumed she must have looked slightly loony to an outside observer standing at the mound of Yankee stadium with a bat over her shoulder in her expensive-looking black-and-white dress. One could have mistaken it for a dress from any one of the high-class boutiques in New York City. It certainly wasn't, it was a dress designed by her mother the fabric was the same ballistic weave spider-woman's costume was made out of. So based on the numbers Tony Stark provided, there was a high likelihood it would hold the record for the most expensive dress ever made. Gwen's rough estimate would be in the four hundred-million-dollar range. To top off her date outfit she was wearing a pair of runners, which she'd brought with her because she didn't want to get her heels dirty on the sand. The ballistic weave wasn't a concern. The same properties that made it bullet proof made it pretty stain resistant. She'd had a real challenge dying parts of her costume pink.
Gwen looked at Flash, baseball bat still up on her shoulder.
"Y'know Flash, when you say you have an amazing date planned for your girlfriend. It generally means you're going to do stuff your girlfriend enjoys."
Flash held out his arms.
"Come on, babe, this is Yankee Stadium! You're standing at the same home plate the greats have stood at!"
Gwen's lips flattened from her half-smile.
"No, I'm really not. This isn't the original Yankee's stadium."
"Just give it a chance, babe."
The groundskeeper that was here observing just shook his head at Flash. Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Fine, only because you're cute when you pout, and I love you."
Gwen nodded, the groundkeeper pulled the rope to launch a ball from the pitching machine. Gwen kept her eyes on Flash and without looking at the oncoming ball swung the bat and hit it out of the park, literally. She put the bat back on her shoulder.
"Your turn?"
Flash and the groundskeeper were both staring where the ball had gone. Gwen stepped back. Flash shook his head and took a swing. He missed the ball. Then two fowls later Gwen piped in.
"You want some pointers, cutie?"
Flash looked annoyed and finally hit one into the outfield. Gwen was still slightly annoyed about this date that seemed more about what Flash wanted so she kept rubbing it in.
"I suppose that was okay."
Flash stepped back.
"Well, if you can do better."
Gwen tapped the bat on her shoulder one handed.
"Tell you what, I'll hit one more, if mine goes further than yours in one swing, we skip the baseball museum and do something I want for the rest of the date. If I don't, then I'll do the rest of this date as you planned it, no complaints."
Flash got a grin on his face. The groundskeeper was shaking his head towards Flash. Flash tapped the end of his bat on the ground.
"The first one was a fluke. If I win, the girls come out to play later on."
"You're on."
Gwen stepped up to the plate and tapped her shoes with the bat. She met Flash's eyes and stared into them while she hit the next pitch out of the park. The look on Flash's face was one of utter disappointment. He looked crushed.
"How did you do that?"
Gwen shook her head at him.
"I'm the only child of baseball obsessed parents. You think I've never hit a baseball before? Hitting a baseball is just physics, and you're dating a master physicist. You should have listened to the groundskeeper. But as a consolation prize."
She dropped her bat reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. Her spider sense started going all wiggy. She reached out and caught the ninety-mile-an-hour fast ball the machine launched at them with her barehand. It barely stung. She did it while keeping the kiss going. The groundskeeper rushed out to see why the pitching machine had fired. Then looked at the two lovers. Pulled his hat off and scratched his head when he saw Gwen drop the baseball. Flash was clueless to the danger he had been in; He was in a daze from the passionate kiss. He mumbled.
"I could get used to this losing thing. Where are we going next?"
Gwen tugged him in for another kiss before answering.
"A very expensive restaurant so you can spend some of that money you're making hanging out with Spider-Woman instead of me."
Flash blushed slipping his arms around Gwen's lower back. This time he initiated the kiss. Gwen pressed herself against him. They broke their embrace after what seemed like an eternity to the pair.
"Your wish is my command, babe."
Flash waved to the groundskeeper.
"Thanks!"
The groundskeeper watched the pair of teenagers walk off the field holding hands. The limo Flash had hired for the day was waiting for them. Flash saw something in the parking lot and rushed off. He came back with two baseballs.
"You hit them over the parking garage."
Gwen smiled took the ball he offered her. She laughed suddenly. Flash looked at her.
"What was that for?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, Babe!"
Gwen rolled her eyes.
"I was just thinking you're playing with my balls."
Flash groaned and crawled into the limo. He looked at Gwen as they got settled.
"Well, where are we going?"
"I doubt we'll get in, but do you want to try Eleven? Maybe they'll think we're VIPs or something because of the limo."
Flash tapped his thighs with his fingers.
"But isn't that like four hundred a person?"
"Oh, I'm not worth it?"
"Well, it's just, Spider-Woman didn't go out last night, the police are really getting on her case, I'm afraid the videos might stop coming."
Gwen bumped into him gently with her shoulder.
"First of all, you make more than I do a month with those videos, and second, you said you wanted to spoil me today. And if it's a problem I can pay."
Flash blushed slightly, leaned forward and tapped on the divider. The driver opened it.
"Where to, Mr. Thompson?
"Eleven Madison Park, please."
"Heading there now."
The divider rolled back up. The pair of teenagers who rarely found an absolutely private moment started to make out. Flash's hands were all over Gwen's chest. As the limo was slowing down the pair adjusted their outfits and their hair. The limousine rolled to a stop and the driver let them know they had arrived. Gwen slipped her black heels on and slipped out first. A year ago, she wouldn't be caught dead in heels, mostly because she probably would have broken her neck and been actually dead with how uncoordinated she was before the accidental particle accelerator exposure. Flash stepped out afterwards. As they were walking into the restaurant trying to look important Flash glanced at Gwen.
"That dress feels like Spider-Woman's costume. What is it made out of?"
Gwen narrowed her eyes.
"What were you doing touching her costume, that thing is skintight."
Flash blushed and started to scramble for some sort of defense. Gwen knew perfectly well it was an innocent bump, but she enjoyed pretending to be jealous of herself. Flash always looked so freaked out.
"It wasn't like that babe, I just bumped into her. That's all."
The pair reached the concierge desk. The man occupying the desk looked at the pair.
"Do you have a Reservation?"
Flash leaned down.
"No."
The concierge looked them over and at the retreating limo. He shook his head.
"I apolo-"
He was cut off mid-sentence by Obadiah speaking from behind Flash and Gwen.
"Edward, sorry, they are with my party."
Gwen looked over her shoulder. Her eyes went wide when she saw Obadiah standing there, with a clean-cut man in an expensive looking suit with a US flag pin on his lapel. Edward nodded.
"Apologies. Your reservation didn't list your daughter."
Obadiah laughed.
"If only she was my daughter."
Edward smiled and nodded.
"Please follow me, I have your private dining area prepared."
The group followed Edward and sat down around a table in one of the exclusive private dining areas. Edward left them alone. Obadiah adjusted his jacket and smiled at the other man.
"Senator, this is Gwen Stacy, and her boyfriend, Eugene Tompson. Gwen is one of our newest acquisitions at Stark Industries. In fact, she's the one who developed the TX-01 Anti-Material Gel that we demonstrated for you and the joint chiefs of staff last weekend. Gwen, this is Senator Zeke Thomas, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services."
Gwen stood up and shook the senator's offered hand.
"You're so young looking."
Obadiah patted Gwen on the back.
"That's because she is young. She's fourteen. Tony says she's going to replace him one day. Between you and I, I believe it."
The senator looked surprised by the revelations.
"So, Gwen, tell me, how did you come to be developing weapons for Stark Industries?"
Obadiah leaned back. Gwen took that as a sign she should do the talking.
"I was looking for a job for the Christmas holidays. I lost my mother just last summer and I didn't want to sit around the house for two weeks. Mr. Stark had given me his card and I wrote him an email asking if Stark Industries had anything I could do for a week or two. He gave me a job. When he vanished, Obadiah stepped in and offered me a part time job on weekends. So here we are."
The senator smiled and nodded along.
"Good initiative. So, few young people these days want to look for work."
A waiter arrived with the first part of the meal. Gwen took a bite and was in heaven. She glanced at Flash who gave her a little smile. It wasn't the romantic dinner she had envisioned but at least she got her expensive meal. While they waited for the next course the senator leaned forward.
"So, Obadiah, you said you had a sneak peek at a revolution in artillery, bullet and drone targeting."
Obadiah nodded. He pulled a plastic case out of his jacket pocket and put it on the table.
"Another one of Gwen's creations."
The senator took the case and opened it. It held one of the tracking devices Gwen had built the day before and the hand-held tracking monitor. The senator glanced at Obadiah then to Gwen and asked her specifically.
"Well since you made this, tell me what I'm looking at."
Gwen glanced at Obadiah who gave her a small nod. Gwen looked at the senator.
"It is a tracker based on the guidance/tracking system of the Jericho missile guidance/tracking system. It can provide coordinates that are within a millimeter of the target location. In addition to being used as a tracker, with a proper weight redistribution set up it could say, guide a sniper bullet to a target location on someone's body from anywhere within three miles. Or guide an artillery shell to precise preprogrammed coordinates and all the team firing it would need to do was make sure it was fired in that general direction. Theoretically, you could also change targeting on it midflight."
The senator smiled at Gwen then looked at Obadiah.
"You need to bring her to the demos from now on Obadiah, I actually understood that."
The senator looked back to Gwen.
"I can't believe a fourteen-year-old designed a guidance system like that."
Gwen shook her head.
"Oh, Mr. Stark designed it, I just made it smaller."
Obadiah patted Gwen on the shoulder.
"She's being modest. What Gwen did was design a new fabrication technique that reduced the size of the chip by a factor of one hundred. It is revolutionary, it means smaller everything. Her chips make what Intel and AMD are making look like something out of the sixties. I'm telling you, sticking with Stark Industries for that new weapons supply contract is in the USA's best interest. You will have the most advanced weapons on the planet."
The senator nodded. Their second course arrived, and the group ate in silence. Flash had mostly been stealing glances at Gwen. He'd known she was smart, but to see her here talking to these two important men like she belonged there shocked him. Gwen squeezed his thigh under the table and smiled at him. He smiled back and started eating. The senator motioned to Gwen.
"Your dress is beautiful, where did you find it?"
Gwen bit her lower lip.
"My mother designed it for me before she died."
"So, you made it. If I wanted to surprise my wife with one, and gave you the measurements, what would it cost me?"
Gwen blinked a few times.
"Um… well.."
Obadiah laughed and spoke up.
"I don't think you could afford one of those dresses Senator. I believe the material is iron silk ballistic weave, isn't that correct Gwen?"
Gwen nodded. The senator did a double take at the dress.
"So, it's bullet proof?"
Gwen shook her head.
"Not… well I could still die probably depending on the bullet. Stops it from piercing but… not the rest of it… basically I'd get hurt, I just wouldn't bleed out, externally anyway."
Gwen stood up and lifted the skirt up.
"Its soft though."
Then the senator touched the fabric. Then looked at Obadiah.
"You didn't tell me you had bullet proof suits."
Obadiah laughed.
"Well, that's mostly because no one could afford one. I believe… how much did the iron silk that dress is made of cost us to produce, Gwen?"
"I estimate four hundred million dollars."
The senator almost spit out the wine he'd just drank. He wiped his chin with his napkin. Even Obadiah looked a bit shocked. Obadiah took a long drink of his wine. The senator recovered.
"You really do give your researchers a lot of leeway."
Obadiah shook his head.
"No, it wasn't Gwen. That was a researcher we had that was obsessed with spiders. He genetically engineered several large spiders and the silk they produced was made into weave. Production was so difficult and keeping the spiders alive was a nightmare. It just wasn't worth the cost. Then there was a lab accident. I cancelled the research. Gwen has been reviewing old projects and anything that we will not use is being discarded to make space. Tony is letting her keep whatever cast offs she wishes as a bonus. This was one of them. That makes her dress one of a kind. It was likely extremely difficult to make because the weave just cannot be cut by conventional means."
Gwen nodded and picked up a sharp knife and stabbed herself in the stomach. The senator gasped. Obadiah laughed at his reaction. Gwen shrugged and put the knife back down.
"Makes for a good party trick."
The senator smiled then laughed.
"I bet it does."
Gwen straightened out her dress.
"Unfortunately, the iron silk is all gone, I used it to make the dress. I saw it and just knew I had to make this dress out of it. I didn't even know how much it was worth until Mr. Stark told me. I'd love it if they'd make more so I can make my prom dress out of it eventually, but I don't think Obadiah would be willing to open up the research again even for his favorite employee. But Obadiah, if you're looking for my Christmas bonus next year. Start there."
She smiled. Obadiah laughed and so did the senator. The last course arrived. Afterwards the conversation between Obadiah and Senator Thomas descended into them haggling over the contract Obadiah had mentioned earlier. This left Flash and Gwen the chance to talk quietly between themselves. As they were about to leave the chef came out and smiled at Obadiah then the rest of the table.
"How was everything today everyone?"
Gwen spoke up first.
"Oh my God, it was so amazing."
The chef smiled at her answer. He looked to Obadiah.
"As usual, we appreciate your business."
Obadiah motioned to the chef and spoke to him quietly. The chef turned to Gwen.
"I am so sorry, I assure you in the future, you will get a table, reservation or not."
Gwen blinked at him and looked at Obadiah who gave her a nod. Gwen smiled at the chef.
"Thank you, it is no worry."
Gwen tried to pay when the bill came but Obadiah touched her hand and shook his head.
"No need for us to put two expenses in for this. I'll take care of it. Flash's meal is on me."
"Thank You, Obadiah."
He nodded to her. The group filtered out and the Senator met with his security detail who got him into his car and they drove off. Obadiah patted Gwen on the back again.
"Gwen, I knew you had it in you. You had the senator eating out of the palm of your hand."
Obadiah offered his hand to Flash. Flash shook it.
"Sorry for pre-empting your date night young man."
Flash shook his head.
"After all you've done for Gwen, it's the least we could do. Thanks for supper."
"Don't mention it. Say, why don't you two come to the celebration dinner we're having for Tony's return. I'll get you seats. It is on Wednesday night."
He looked at Gwen.
"I'd like to go over some things with you tomorrow morning, Gwen, come to my office when you get in."
Gwen nodded.
"Of course, Obadiah."
Obadiah got in his Audi and drove off. Flash and Gwen got into their limo. Flash looked at Gwen as they rode home.
"Gwen, are you okay with Obadiah touching you so much?"
Gwen shrugged.
"It's the way he is. He doesn't mean anything by it."
Flash nodded, he took Gwen's hand and looked out his window. She squeezed his hand. There was a loud bang and the limo screeched to a halt. Gwen felt her spider sense go off. Without losing a beat she kicked the door off the side of the limo and dragged Flash out with her. The limo exploded shortly afterwards showering the pavement with a rain of thermite that started melting through the pavement. Flash was dazed. Gwen crouched down and saw a man with what looked like a paint ball gun. She checked Flash over for injuries.
"Flash, stay here."
He looked at Gwen. Gwen was looking over the remnants of the limo. Flash tugged on her arm and whispered harshly.
"Get down."
Gwen touched his cheek.
"No can-do lover, I can't let this keep going. I hope you won't be too mad at me."
Gwen kissed him on the lips and launched herself over the flaming wreckage of the limo. In her hands were the baseballs from Yankee Stadium. She wound up and threw one of the baseballs at the bad guy. She hit him in the chest. He stumbled backwards holding his chest. She transferred the other baseball to her right hand.
"Put the paintball gun down, or I'll put you down butt-face!"
He shouted at her.
"You one-percenters think you own everyone don't you."
He raised his paintball gun and fired. Gwen wasn't there. She launched the baseball at him. He reflexively lifted the paintball gun to block it. The baseball struck the plastic ammo pack and it shattered. Several of the balls exploded and he fell down screaming. Gwen rushed over and saw several of the explosive balls rolling out of a courier pack the man had been wearing towards the road which at that point was about a three quarter of a foot drop. She saw SA-TX-01 on the balls and lept over the remnants of the limo to take cover. What followed was two dozen micro-explosions that shook the ground and coated the area in thermite.
Flash grabbed Gwen's arms and shook her.
"Gwen what were you thinking? You're not Spider-Woman!"
Gwen wondered if Flash was in denial or just that dense. She hoped it was the latter.
"She wasn't here, I improvised."
Flash leaned against the mailbox Gwen had pulled him behind for cover. Gwen kneeled beside him and kissed him on the lips.
"Are you hurt?"
Flash shook his head Gwen moved to stand up. Flash grabbed her wrist.
"Gwen how did you know?"
Gwen smiled at him.
"Know what, Captain Awesome?"
Flash looked up at her.
"That the paintballs were going to explode. To get us out of the car?"
Gwen glanced in the direction of the man's remains.
"I recognized the launcher. Those were TX-01 micro rounds. I discovered the reaction to create the explosive compound inside them. That's all it was."
Flash nodded.
"Why… did they explode after he went down?"
"Because he was an idiot and pre-combined the reactants. He killed himself with stupidity. He should have read the manual."
Gwen hugged Flash tightly. He hugged her back. The pair stood up and waited for the Police to arrive. She glanced around, they were in Queens. She sighed.
"Dad is never going to let me hear the end of this."
Flash looked at the smoldering remains of the limo he sighed.
"Poor guy, was just driving us around and he dies like that?"
Gwen hugged Flash again and kissed him.
"It was the guy with the exploding paintballs that is to blame for that. Not us. I wish I could have saved him too, there just wasn't time."
Flash wrapped his arm around Gwen's waist. Gwen leaned on him, thankful he still seemed clueless to her second life as a superhero.