Adam stopped by the curb near the boxing gym. The gym looked disused and closed. He glanced at Gwen.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

Gwen nodded, she leaned over and kissed Adam.

"I'll see you tomorrow after work?"

He nodded. Gwen grabbed her ever-present courier bag and got out of the car. She waved at Adam who was concerned about the neighborhood so didn't pull away until Gwen went inside. Steve was sitting on one of the benches reading something on his phone. He looked up when she entered and smiled.

"Gwen, you did great at your golf tournament today. Pretty generous of Mr. Fisk to match the donation he won for his charities with his own money. Seems like a good guy."

Gwen grimaced.

"He is not a good guy. He is the crime lord of New York."

Steve was standing up to get ready to go and paused.

"Why would you team up with him then?"

Gwen sighed.

"Because we're frenemies and his daughter has cancer and I felt bad for her. It's complicated."

He shook his head.

"It's not complicated, you are who you are associated with Gwen. If he's a criminal, he should be in prison."

Gwen laughed.

"Yea, and if he didn't have the DA's, the local Feds and the police in his pocket he probably would be. Look, the world isn't black and white anymore. It's an ugly gray mess. Kingpin keeps the stolen Stark weapons off the street for the most part and maintains a sort of peace in the underworld. I don't like it, but what am I going to do? Change the world?"

Steve nodded.

"That is exactly what we need to do. One man or woman can make a difference. Even if it's only by setting a good example."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Gah, do you even hear yourself talking. This isn't 1942. There aren't good guys and bad guys. There are just varying degrees of yuck you can and cannot live with. I have a sort of truce with Wilson Fisk. He won't try to kill me or my dad, and I leave him be even though he told his son to teach my dad a lesson and his son chose to kill my mother as that lesson. He thinks he can recruit Gwen Stacy. He has no idea I'm Spider-Woman. My family is safe and that's what matters."

Steven frowned and crossed his arms.

"If you compromise your principles, you're just as bad as they are, Gwen."

Gwen threw her hands up and gave a frustrated groan.

"You're such a goodie goodie! I chose the lesser of two evils."

Steve nodded.

"It is a slippery slope, Gwen."

Gwen sighed.

"You just… ugh. I don't need this today. Can we agree to disagree?"

He stood up.

"I think you've been doing this hero thing alone too long without proper guidance from an adult. We will table this for now, but this conversation is not over."

Gwen's phone buzzed.

"Our Uber is here."

Steve nodded and followed her out of the gym. He locked the doors and the pair got into the SUV Gwen had requested. Captain America wasn't the tiny man he had been born. Gwen glanced at him as they rode towards the hospital.

"No one knows about you know what so do not bring it up."

He looked at her.

"Even your father?"

Gwen gave him an 'are you even serious right now' look.

"Of course not. He's a police Captain."

Their driver, who was an older woman looked at her in the rearview mirror. As if asking if she was okay. Gwen blinked a few times and realized what their conversation was sounding like. She held up her hands defensively.

"Wow, no! No. Not like that at all. No! Just my brother here tends to blab about stuff I tell him, and my family totally doesn't know what kind of music my band plays! No! Eew."

The driver's eyes went back to the road. Steve gave Gwen a strange look and kept silent. Gwen's verbal diarrhea had gone over his head. They arrived at the hospital. As they were walking into the emergency department Steve looked down at her.

"Gwen why did you call me your brother in the taxi?"

She blushed.

"It was an Uber, gah, and the driver thought we were talking about you and I… She thought you were grooming me? I don't know she looked like she was going to call the police."

It was Steve's turn to blush.

"I would never."

Gwen nodded.

"You and I both know that, but how is she supposed to know? I know it's always happened, but now people are more aware of it."

They got into the elevator and rode it up to the floor Aunt May's room was on. Steve spoke suddenly.

"Gwen, why are you the drummer for your band?"

Gwen blinked a few times.

"What brought that up?"

He held the door of the elevator and waited for Gwen to get off first and he followed her.

"I found a video of you singing at a bonfire."

Gwen blushed.

"What the f-"

Steve cleared his throat.

"Language."

"Sorry, I can't believe someone recorded and posted that. Look, I joined a band to beat my feelings out of me. The drums bring me clarity. When I need to think… focus. I hear the beat. That's why I'm always listening to music. I don't sing. I only did it because Adam asked. How did you even find it?"

Steve pulled his phone out.

"I was watching a video of your show on this, and someone put a link to it in the comments. I was curious so I listened. You have a gift."

Gwen shook her head.

"A gift I'm keeping to myself from now on. Anyway, Aunt May is… well she's Aunt May. I apologize in advance."

Gwen walked into the room first. Peter was there with MJ. She was pissed. Mostly because apparently her lie had fooled MJ into staying with Peter. She didn't stick around for long.

"Hey Aunt May, this is Steve Rogers. I'm gonna let you two talk."

Steve looked at Gwen as she walked out of the room. MJ was giving Gwen the dirtiest look. Aunt May looked confused by Gwen's abruptness. Peter chased after Gwen and grabbed her arm. He spun her around roughly.

"You're not welcome here, not after yesterday."

Gwen was clenching her fists.

"She's my aunt too you asshole. You're… I can't believe we were ever friends. It sickens me to be related to you."

Peter slapped her. She was in shock and her hand went to her cheek. He was rubbing his hand it had hurt him more than it hurt her. He raised his hand again but found he was grabbed by his wrist. Steve spoke as he released Peter.

"Young man, you do not hit ladies."

Gwen rubbed her cheek, it wasn't even red. She was Spider-Woman after all.

"You don't hit anyone! You're not who I thought you were Peter."

She must have looked like she was going to do something physical to Peter because Steve stepped between the pair.

"Gwen, you were right, you should leave. Go cool off. I'll explain things to your aunt."

Gwen's fists were so tightly clenched her knuckles were turning white. Steve pointed to the bank of elevators.

"Now Gwen. Before you do or say something else you can't take back. This isn't you."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at Steve.

"You don't know me!"

She stormed off. She was so furious she didn't even hear Steve dressing Peter down. She stabbed the main floor button like she was trying to kill it with her finger. Part of Gwen was hoping the Sin-Eater would make an appearance tonight there was zero chance she'd be gentle at this point. She glanced down at her smart watch then pulled out her phone and ordered another Uber to take her to the dock where the boats were leaving for Tony's island. She'd cooled off by the time she was on the boat. The trip was a short one. She leaned on the railing with her forearms and watched the waves pass. The sun was low on the horizon. The pink sky was like a pastel painting.

Gwen was the sole passenger on the boat. It looked like the rest of the invitees were going to be a bit before they arrived. The last remaining vestiges of her anger evaporated when she saw the smile on Martha's face as the front door swung open. She returned the smile. Martha rarely showed much emotion at all.

"Gwen. Come in, I have been working on something. You need to see it."

Martha grabbed Gwen's wrist with both her hands and started to tug her to a steel door. Gwen was a bit weirded out because in addition to Martha rarely showing emotion, she was ridiculously protective of her personal space.

"Martha, are you feeling alright?"

Martha nodded.

"Your friend is going to love this. I saw her… a video of her fighting that Sin-Eater. I was up all last night fabricating it."

Gwen followed Martha down the stairs. She hadn't seen Tony at all. Martha put down two tubes of what appeared to be pearlescent powder. She looked extremely excited. Gwen picked one up and shook it.

"Pretty."

Martha blinked a few times, she was acting like Gwen should recognize what she was looking at.

"It's a new suit. Ultrathin power armor."

Martha took both vials and dumped them on a female mannequin. They swarmed up the suit almost like little spiders and linked together forming a duplicate of Spider-Woman's costume. Gwen's eyes went wide.

"No way! Are those spider bots?"

Martha shook her head.

"Nanobots. I designed them so they can fit in her bracers. I had the scans from before."

Gwen touched the suit and it felt like fabric.

"This is amazing, but… nanotechnology doesn't exist yet… How did you even do it that fast?"

Martha looked like she was about to explain but then her mouth clamped shut.

"I was working on it for something else. Do you think she'll like it?"

Gwen loved it. It would sure as hell beat having to carry her entire suit around with her everywhere.

"Does it come with an AI?"

Martha nodded.

"It does. Tony, let me copy one for you. It needs it to handle all the sensors it has. I couldn't build in the webs. I still do not know how you make them."

Gwen touched the suit again pulling the hood down.

"Martha she is going to love it. In fact, I have her bracers with me. Wait how is it powered?"

Martha reached down and picked up a jewelry case.

"Miniature Arc reactor."

Gwen opened the case and there was a necklace with a dimly glowing pendant. Gwen looked at it and then at Martha.

"You wear one of these."

"I do. Never know when you're going to need enough power to power a city, right?"

Gwen pulled the bracers out and put them on the wrists of the mannequin. Martha tapped some commands on her phone's holographic display and the nanites vanished into the bracers. She took the bracers and linked her phone up with the microcomputer Gwen had installed in the bracer to control her masks' optics. Gwen could not understand the code she was seeing it was definitely not in programming language she'd ever seen before. Martha offered the bracers to Gwen.

"All synced up. Once she puts it on the first time, they'll only listen to her. All she has to do is tap the command here that looks like a spider in the corner. The suit will activate."

Gwen slipped the bracers into her backpack. She looked around and saw the Mark II, Mark IV, Mark V and there was one that seemed to be in pieces on a workbench. What she did not see was a metallic pink suit of power armor. She looked at Martha.

"I saw a pink Iron Man suit in the videos of that fight. Do you know who is using that one? Last I heard Tony had the only ones."

Martha shook her head.

"No. No idea. Sorry."

Gwen was skeptical of that fact, but she tabled it for the time being and started poking around the workshop. As she ran her fingers along everything she came across a plastic container with one of her spider-bots that had been disassembled. Martha noticed.

"Did you make those?"

Gwen nodded. Martha rushed over.

"Your chip fabrication technology is far more advanced than anything else here. How did you come up with the idea?"

Gwen lifted the plastic container up and looked at the bot.

"I needed something smaller."

Gwen was starting to figure Martha out. Her special interest seemed to be technology of all kinds. Martha had spoken more to her in this brief visit to Tony's lab then she had the entire time they had worked together. Gwen put the case down. She was surprised Tony had mounted and put it on display. Almost like he was proud of her work.

"Martha, how did you create the chips for the nanobots?"

Martha started chewing on her thumb nail.

"You know, same as you."

Gwen sighed. Martha was holding so much back. So was she though. Pot and kettle the pair of them. Gwen was afraid without honesty between the pair she'd never be able to bridge the gap that divided them. Why she even wanted to… Then she realized she had no real friends left. She had adult mentors. She had Peter who seemed to be lining up to be almost an enemy. Miles wasn't a friend he was a risky acquaintance. In Martha she might have found a kindred spirit. Someone as smart as her. She was interested in technology as much as her. She sensed they could be friends even if she could not understand what Gwen was going through.

Gwen started poking at Tony's cars. Her heart fell when she pulled out her phone to start recording to show Peter. Then she thought why, it's not like he'd listen to her… Even if she sent him a video at this point, he'd probably just accuse her of bragging about being here. Gwen put her phone back in her pocket.

"Is your phone broken?"

Gwen looked back at Martha.

"What?"

Martha pointed.

"You pulled it out then put it away. I saw a crack on the screen."

Gwen pulled out her phone and looked at the spiderweb crack from one corner. She'd damaged it during the fight with Sin-Eater.

"Oh, yea, it is."

Gwen realized that Martha totally missed the mood she was in. More confirmation that Martha had some form of autism. Martha didn't say anything, she just stood up and vanished through a metal door at the back of Tony's tech lab. Gwen didn't follow her, she just kept looking at Tony's car collection. It took Martha several minutes to return. Martha held up a pink wristband.

"Sorry it took so long had to get it activated."

She offered it to Gwen. Gwen took it and looked it over. She glanced at the time on the LCD display of the band.

"Is it a smart watch?"

Martha shook her head and tapped her wrist. Hers was black. A hologram appeared. Gwen blinked.

"Oh my god? You're giving me one of your phones?"

Martha nodded. Gwen looked at the bottom of the display on the band and made out the model LCorp-HP-3. Gwen put it on her wrist and the band seemed to adjust itself to her wrist. She tapped it and the interface appeared.

"I can't just take this Martha… it must have cost a fortune."

Martha shook her head.

"No, I get them for free. My sister owns the company. That one won't break."

Martha offered Gwen a tablet.

"I know you like programming. This is the OS specifications and source code."

Gwen blinked a few times and took it. She sat on Tony's stool and started scrolling through the tablet, her eyes growing wider.

"This is… this is…"

Gwen looked at Martha.

"Why are you giving me all this?"

Martha seemed confused.

"I want to be friends."

Gwen closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I appreciate the gifts, but you don't need to give stuff to people to be friends. How… what music do you like? Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? What is your favorite movie? That's how you become friends you learn about each other."

Martha blinked a few times.

"Boyfriend? I don't think Amber would like that."

Gwen smiled.

"My dad hates that I have one. See, now we know something about each other besides that we both love technology."

Martha motioned for Gwen to follow her, and the pair went upstairs. The party was getting started in earnest now. They walked up the spiral stairway and up to the second floor. Martha opened a door and inside was a pretty sterile looking bedroom. Gwen blinked a few times.

"Is this your room? It so… empty. Is your room in California like this."

Martha nodded. Gwen suddenly felt bad for Martha. Her own room was cramped she had so much in it. Her drum set, posters, her vinyl collection.

"Why is it so… boring? Are you not allowed to have posters?"

Martha seemed confused.

"I don't think so. Kara has posters. I like it quiet when I sleep."

"Quiet?"

"Color, sound. I don't know how to explain."

Gwen looked at Martha through a new lens. The sound cancelling headphones, the dark mode everything. The whiteboard instead of computer. Martha continued.

"There is so much noise."

She touched her temples. Gwen listened and her eyes softened.

"I have noise too. I need music, a beat to quiet it."

Martha blinked.

"I thought it was only me."

The building shook, they looked at each other briefly before rushing out of Martha's bedroom.