After her conversation with Flash, Gwen had managed to cut the ballistic fabric squares she needed using one of the metal cores to avoid damaging anything else. She'd need a better workspace. Thankfully she didn't need some crazy needle to sew the weave together. She could fit a normal one through the threads of the weave, at least according to the white paper. That also meant she wouldn't be immune to needles while wearing it. That was something to keep in mind. She'd also managed to get the pieces of the white ballistic fiber dyed pink with a spiderweb motif by using a spiderweb template and painting the pink dye over it like she'd seen her mother do before with Halloween outfits.

She skipped the Storage Room this morning. She had a plan. She'd attach the pen laser to the water jet cutter instead of the water jet and program it to cut the various pieces of fabric she needed. The laser didn't seem to harm metal and it was better than slicing her fingers off by accident. She let that do its thing swapping fabric as required. She focused most of her attention on perfecting the two part iron silk fluid. By the time lunch had arrived she had a working version. Which left her with dispensers. She had those printed and assembled by the time she finished work for the day. So, the good news was she was well on the way to a costume. The bad news was she got absolutely no deliverable work done before she left for the night. She'd been alone all day save for when the food delivery service showed up so there was no one to notice.

As soon as she got home, she went into the sewing room, locked the door and started assembling her costume. Her phone buzzed several times. It had been Peter. She wasn't mad at him or anything, she just really wanted to get her costume finished. She felt like there had been one roadblock after another and she was frustrated. She didn't even hear if her father or Erica were at the apartment, she had earbuds in and was using the music to keep in the flow. By her bedtime she'd finished all the sewing. She even tried the costume on and admired herself in her mirror. She thought she looked good. Not only that, but the costume also felt good against her skin. It was like wearing silk. She struck a few poses.

All she had left to do was finish the mask which would require her to affix the LIDAR goggle lenses to it. She tackled that in her lab the next day. It was Friday and her last day until she started again the first weekend after New Years. She had to get everything done by the end of the day. She tested her wrist mounted web shooters at one of the various gun ranges on the campus. Once again no one was around so she basically had the run of the place. She attached the flex screen interface to the bottom of her left bracer. She'd covered both bracers with white ballistic weave to hide the glint of the metal.

The mask had a serious flaw or rather, she did. Her hair was too long. It was hard to be comfortable and fit it all under the mask. She mourned her hair as she looked at herself in the mirror. Flash would not be happy. She'd probably get accused of attention seeking. She picked up her phone and logged into her banking app. The balance on it was roughly two thousand dollars more than she was expecting. She bit her lower lip and logged onto her Stark Industries email account. She found one email with her paystub for the week. Then another advised her that she'd received a two-thousand-dollar bonus. She closed the app and went online to book a hair appointment for the next day.

Gwen woke up early the next morning, made herself breakfast and took the subway to her appointment without waking her father or Erica. Her hairdresser was the one her mother had been going to since she was younger. She was in the Bronx, so it was quite the trip. As she was walking from the subway to the stylist, she noticed a giant mural. She recognized the artist's work, it was Miles. She smiled at it. Whatever else she felt about Miles Morales, he was a hell of an artist. It was a police officer with Rest in Power underneath it. After admiring it for a few moments she moved on. The stylist was just unlocking the door. She was an older Italian lady who smiled when she saw Gwen.

"Gwen. Come in. Do you have an appointment?"

Gwen nodded.

"I am sorry Mrs. Gianconi, I kind of booked it at the last minute, but I saw you had space this morning."

"No need to apologize. I think you're old enough now you can call me Rita. I haven't seen you in a while. I was so sorry to hear about your mother. Let's get your hair washed."

After the hair wash Gwen sat down and looked at herself in the mirror. Rita looked at the ends of Gwen's hair and frowned.

"Good you came in. Lots of split ends here. So just a trim like usual?"

Gwen bit her lower lip looking at her reflection.

"I want to go short."

Rita walked around the chair and looked at Gwen.

"Are you sure? Your mother wanted to do that once and you cried for half an hour until she relented."

Gwen blushed.

"I'm sure. Let's go with just below my chin? Oh, and let's dye the ends pink."

Rita put her hands on her hips.

"Sounds a bit on the wild side. Does your dad know you're doing this?"

Gwen shook her head. Rita let lose a low whistle.

"Well, you're the customer. I'll see what I can do."

Gwen grinned.

"Maybe next time I'll shave part of it off."

Rita smiled and shook her head. She started cutting. Gwen wanted to cry. She really did like her hair long, but this was better. It would dry faster. It would fit under her mask. She was not looking forward to Flash or her father's reaction at all. Rita looked at Gwen's reflection in the mirror.

"So, why the sudden change? You don't look like you're happy about this."

Gwen sighed.

"I'm not, but my hair is getting in the way. It takes a long time to dry and brush."

"Is that all? You're not trying to make a statement?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I got a part time job and there is lab work involved. I can't have hair getting everywhere or getting tangled in machinery."

Rita nodded.

"Good for you. You're kind of young to be working in a lab aren't you?"

"I thought I was, but Stark Industries really wants me working for them. It's the kind of offer you just can't say no too."

Rita smiled.

"Sounds like you're enjoying it though. Tony Stark owns that company doesn't he?"

"He did before he died, I guess. My boss is taking over I think, or at least he's acting like it."

"Sounds like he's an important man."

"Oh, he is. Obadiah Stane?"

Gwen pointed to one of the magazines that sat waiting to be read. It had a picture of Obadiah on the cover.

"Wow, you're moving up in the world. Yet you still came to see little old me to get your hair done."

"I'll be coming here until you retire, Rita. My mom trusted you, so I do to."

Rita blushed slightly.

"You were always a sweet one. How is the length."

Gwen looked at her reflection turning her head side to side. Her beautiful long hair was gone, and her heart was crushed. No one said being a superhero didn't come with a cost. If she knew then what the future had in store for her, she probably would have stopped right then and there. Rita patted her shoulder.

"You'll get used to it."

Gwen moved her head side to side.

"I feel lighter at least."

Rita glanced at her smart watch.

"Yes, and once summer comes if you keep it short it will be so much cooler. Now, are you sure you want to dye your ends pink? I think we can squeeze it in before my next appointment."

Gwen took a few moments to ponder. Maybe it would make her short hair more bearable for her. School dress code didn't explicitly ban unnatural colors.

"Yes. I'm sure."

Rita went about dying the bottom few inches of Gwen's hair pink. She had to wait while it dried so she read the magazine article about Obadiah. A few women came and went while the dye set. When it was all said and done Gwen had to admit the hair looked good. Slightly punk. It would definitely fit under her mask without having to put it up. She paid Rita and gave her a nice tip, they wished each other a happy holidays before Gwen walked outside.

Gwen glanced at her phone and decided with her new income she could afford to uber instead of taking the subway. She opened the app and saw the account name was Helen Stacy. She sighed. She would have loved to have bought her mother something this Christmas. She had enough money now she could have made it something big. Gwen felt a pang of guilt for using her dead mother to get that money. Was she as cutthroat and cunning as Obadiah said she was? Her mother still had her father's credit card attached. She sighed and called her father. George sounded really tired.

"Gwen? What's wrong?"

"I was just wondering if you'd mind if I used your credit card for an uber. I can pay you back."

He took a few seconds to answer.

"Sure."

"Thanks dad."

Gwen hung up the phone and requested her uber. Her driver was quite talkative. Gwen did her best not to be rude but didn't really feel like talking much. She was still feeling sad about her hair which she was being reminded of in every single reflective surface she looked into. She didn't die horribly on the ride to Macy's so she gave the driver five stars and went shopping.

Gwen wasn't sure what to get her dad. She decided to get Erica a nice bathrobe. Then a joke gift of a toothbrush holder with her name on it. Kind of a I'm okay with you being here gift. Peter was easy too. His tablet was older than her previous one. She had enough money with her bonus to pay a thousand dollars for one and not feel bad. She knew he would get her something small and that was okay. She just wanted to see the smile on his face when he saw her gift. The tablet was in addition to the present she'd saved up and ordered for him in the summer. It was already wrapped. It was a pretty small 3D printer, but he'd been drooling over them for years. Her father was always hard to buy for. He wasn't interested in much outside of work. She sighed and bought him a pair of slippers and a housecoat. Lame gifts but she had no idea what else to do. Uncle Ben and Aunt May were easy. She bought them gift cards to go out to a couple of meals and one for Macy's. She'd had a plan for Flash's gift so when he opened his, it was going to be an IOU for tickets to the fifty-yard line at a Giants football game.

She donated some money to get the gifts wrapped and got another uber home. She wasn't sure what else to do with herself. Her dad being suspended meant she couldn't exactly sneak out and stop crime in her shiny new costume whenever she wanted to. She could go see Flash but then she'd have to deal with him dealing with her haircut. She took a deep breath before going into her apartment. Her father and Erica were talking at the kitchen table. They got quiet when she entered. Erica did a double take. Her father didn't seem to notice her hair.

"Wow, your hair looks good."

Gwen smiled.

"Thanks. I'm just here to drop stuff off. Going to go hang out with Peter, if that's alright dad."

Her father nodded absently towards her. Gwen put all the presents under the tree except for Peter's tablet. She'd decided to give it to him early so her dad wouldn't see and freak out at her for spending so much money. She put the wrapped tablet under her arm, waved to the pair and left. She walked into her Aunt May and Uncle Ben's place and kicked off her shoes.

"Hi Auntie May, Hi Uncle Ben!"

They greeted her back and she went up to the second floor and knocked on Peter's door. He was playing a video game on his console. He held up a finger. It took him another ten minutes to finish his match. His eyes went wide when he saw her hair.

"Oh wow. What did your dad say?"

"Nothing, I don't think he noticed."

She walked in and sat on his bed. She bounced a few times. He looked her up and down.

"So… how was your week?"

Gwen shrugged.

"I'd love to say it was boring, and I'm glad it's over… but I'm not. It was amazing! They gave me my own tech lab. You should see the fabrication it has! I can print microchips. I also got to sort through like a hundred years of Stark inventions!"

Peter blinked at her.

"No way. Can I visit? The lab was just for the week, right?"

Gwen shook her head in response.

"No, I'm working there every Saturday starting after New Years."

Peter looked excited for her.

"That is… that is awesome. Did you make anything yet?"

"Well, I made a sticky ball that exploded. Obadiah seemed pretty happy with it. Though he did ask me not to blow up anymore fume hoods."

Peter blinked at her in disbelief.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Nope. Melted some of the flooring too."

She pulled out her phone and showed him the explosion.

"I really don't want to do that again. Anyway, I haven't seen you all week, so I thought I'd come by, and see what you were up to. Oh and, merry early Christmas."

She offered up the wrapped tablet. He took it and started tearing the paper off with glee. His hands started shaking when he saw what it was.

"Oh wow, Gwen. How did you get this? It's too much."

Gwen waved her hand towards him.

"Nah. I got a bonus, so I used it to buy that. Along with a new phone for me."

Peter ripped the plastic off of the Stark tablet's box. He paused when he heard the word bonus.

"Wait, you got enough of a bonus to buy me a tablet and you a new phone? Do they need anyone else?"

"I think it was the sticky bomb. The new contract Obadiah gave me says I get a bonus for every successful thing I create that is going to go into production. He's really nice. He's mentoring me."

Peter had the tablet out of its box and was tapping around.

"This was just released yesterday; This is the brand brand new one!"

Gwen nodded.

"Just like mine."

"You got one too?"

"Yes, Stark Industries gave them to all their employees as a Christmas gift."

Peter appeared to be trying not to drool on his new device. He bear-hugged Gwen who hugged him back.

"This is… this is the best Christmas present ever."

Gwen smiled at him.

"I know Uncle Ben and Aunt May aren't so well off. I knew you needed a new one for school. It's no big deal."

Peter hugged the tablet to himself. They hung out for a while playing split screen online FPS games. Together they were quite formidable. Especially now that Gwen had super reflexes. She hadn't really sat down to play video games since she was hit by the particle accelerator. It was a strange experience. Like the explosion. And when she was fighting the two men the week before. She just knew something was coming. Even in the video game. She knew she was about to get sniped so dodged into cover. It was a strange tingling down her spine. Sometimes the threat was clear. Sometimes it was undefined. Like with Miles Morales. Something was wrong. She just didn't know what. Peter was noticing her massive improvement in skill. Her lack of coordination and general lack of athleticism had extended to anything that required fast reflexes, such as twitchy video games. People were shouting hacker over the audio chat. As the latest match finished Peter looked at Gwen.

"Jesus Gwen. You been playing this that much?"

Gwen shrugged.

"What else am I going to do?"

Peter shrugged and tried to continue to the next match. Gwen found out she could not. Her account had been suspended for reported cheating. She wasn't sure if it was because she was dominating, or because she'd been less than a gracious winner with their opponents while on her winning streak. She sighed and put the controller down.

"Jerks. Guess they don't like being beaten by a girl. Trolls are gonna troll. Oh well."

"Well, they might not have reported you if you hadn't called them teat sucking momma's boys."

"Hey, I just called it as I saw it."

Peter nudged her with his shoulder.

"Anything else new?"

Gwen shook her head. Then she remembered that mural.

"Hey, I saw a mural of a police officer, I'm pretty sure Miles painted it. Said: Rest in Power? What is that about?"

Peter took a few seconds to register the question.

"Oh, that's his father. He was killed last year. Some organized crime thing. He doesn't talk about it much. It's a pretty sore subject, even for his mother."

"You're out to his mother?"

Peter shook his head.

"Not yet, he hasn't told her."

"How are things going with him?"

Peter smiled and his cheeks grew flush.

"Amazing. He's just. He's awesome. Like he knows how to make me happy. Has this edge to him. Also, he's way smarter than you'd expect. Like he should totally be at Midtown. Unfortunately, his mom can't afford it."

"His father was a police officer, surely the pension…"

"I don't think they got one. Miles is pretty bitter about the police in general now. He calls them lazy and stupid. Blames them for not finding his father's killer."

Gwen stood up and stretched.

"I know the feeling. So do you."

Peter put his controller down after turning off the console.

"My parents were hit by a drunk driver. It's completely different. They caught him, he just got off because his parents had money and influence."

Gwen leaned on his windowsill and looked out to the still snowy grass of the back lawn.

"Did you ever wish you could just take the law into your own hands? Track him down and punish him? Stop criminals before they can cause harm?"

Peter leaned on the wall beside her.

"Sometimes. Miles… never mind. What are you and I going to do? Its just the way the world is, we're kids, we can't change anything."

Gwen glanced at Peter.

"What if you could? Like what if you woke up tomorrow and you suddenly had superpowers like in the comics? What if you could make a difference?"

Peter shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Never thought about it. What's this about?"

Gwen rubbed her forehead. She wanted to tell him so badly. She couldn't bring herself too. Every time she tried; She'd get that eerie feeling she'd be putting herself in danger.

"I donno, just that video Flash posted. I've been thinking if I could do what she does, maybe I could find the man who killed my mother. I think he's the one who threatened me at the wake."

Peter turned to her.

"Erica told us to drop it. You were right, she was scared. If it scares a police officer, maybe we should just let it go."

Gwen pushed off of the windowsill and turned away from Peter crossing her arms.

"What about that woman from the video? Do you think what she did was right? I don't think the police could have stopped them without more of them getting hurt or killed."

Peter walked up beside her and put his arm around her waist.

"I guess she did some good, but it doesn't matter. Like you said before, about her: It's probably just some con or something."

Gwen turned and hugged Peter tightly.

"Thanks, Peter. I'm going to go hang out with Flash."

Peter nodded and released from their embrace.

"I'd say, say hi for me, but well, its Flash."

Gwen chuckled, gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"See you later P.P."

Peter grimaced and waved as she left. She still had a couple hours of daylight when she started on her way to Flash's place. She walked up his steps and knocked on the front door. Flash's mother who was a small meek sort of woman answered it. She was the source of Flash's blonde hair and blue eyes. Flash's mother smiled at Gwen.

"Gwen! Oh, your hair. That looks beautiful. Come in."

She called out softly.

"Flash, Gwen's here."

Flash came down. Gwen was surprised to see he had a black eye. She rushed towards him and reached her fingers out.

"Flash, what happened?"

Flash pushed her hand away gently.

"Nothing, babe."

Apparently, it had taken him precisely that long to notice Gwen's hair. He went from calm, to shocked, to appalled to confused in the space of fifteen seconds. The whole time he was staring at her.

"What did you do to your hair!?"

He had been keeping pretty quiet. His loud exclamation seemed to wake the ire of his father. Gwen had no love for the man. He came out of their living room. He looked pretty scruffy and shouted at Flash.

"Keep it down you little shit!"

Gwen could see Flash's father telegraphing the backhand he was about to lay on his son. Gwen caught his wrist easily and squeezed it. Flash's father struggled against her strength, but he literally had no chance.

"Do not hit my boyfriend. You drunken asshole."

She twisted his arm and let him go. He raised his hand to hit her this time, but Flash saw it coming so shoved him hard. He fell backwards. Flash did his best to get Gwen away from his father. He had some difficulty because she was ready to go for round two with him. His father called out.

"You need to find a better girlfriend boy! That one's got bitch written all over her. Kind of girl you can't control!"

Flash managed to get Gwen out of the house and close the door behind him. Gwen tried to push past him, but Flash resisted. She wasn't willing to hurt her boyfriend, so she stopped struggling against him.

"You should have let me go after him. He's got no right to hit you."

Flash put his hands on her shoulders.

"You're a five-foot-tall teenage girl. He'd hurt you bad."

Gwen scowled.

"You'd be surprised who would get hurt bad in that fight."

Flash turned her around and guided her down the stairs. He shook his head at her.

"Okay tiger. Sounds like you're hangry."

Gwen glanced at him and narrowed her eyes.

"Are you handling me? Is this your calm down woman speech? Spoiler alert, that never ends well!"

She sighed and put her hands in her hoodie's pockets.

"Sorry, Flash. That was rude. You want to tell my father and Erica? Dad is still suspended but Erica isn't. All you have to do is file a report and they can arrest him."

Flash shook his head.

"Nah, babe. He's not always like that. He's just got laid off for Christmas."

Gwen leaned in close to him pulling her hand out of her pocket and wrapping her arm around his waist.

"If money's tight you don't need to get me anything for Christmas. I got something for the both of us."

He looked at her.

"I got you something. Not sure I want to give it to you. What did you do to your hair? Why would you cut it all off?"

Gwen sighed. She wanted to tell him the truth too. She didn't get the bad vibes. But he was a boyfriend. What if they broke up? She lied through her teeth.

"I had too. Stark Industries policy, if you're working in a lab you need to keep your hair cropped short. Sorry. I need the job more than I need hair."

He frowned and sighed.

"Oh well. I liked you with long hair."

"You'll get used to it, or you won't, and you'll break up with me. I'm not giving up four grand a month because you're butt hurt, I cut my hair."

He looked down at her.

"You make that much a month?"

She nodded.

"Do they need a football star?"

Gwen laughed and gave him a soft push.

"No, but you don't need it. You're going to be rolling in money with that YouTube channel of yours. Six million hits in less than a week? That's what like, twelve thousand dollars?"

"Yea, but that's a one time thing."

Gwen pulled him down for a kiss on the lips. He returned it. She twirled some of her hair around her index finger as an idea struck her. She didn't need to get paid but maybe Flash could.

"What if it didn't have to be a one time thing?"

Flash glanced down at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I umm, I've been talking to her. She needed help with a costume. So well, she paid me to make some gadgets and stuff."

"Wait you made the bracers?"

Gwen blinked innocently.

"No comment?"

Flash stopped in his tracks, turned to Gwen and grabbed her arms.

"You know her? Seriously you need to introduce me. Please don't be messing with me!"

Gwen patted him on the chest.

"Slow down. She's being secretive for a reason. But I do happen to know that her new costume has a pair of lenses that record everything for her. I might be able to say, get you some of those videos, edited of course."

"Please don't be messing with me."

"I wouldn't dare. I might even be able to maybe give you some locations she might be so you can record her. But you have to promise me you'll stay out of the way and out of danger. Or she could. Do you mind if I give her your number to text you?"

Flash was vibrating he was so excited. Gwen slapped his cheek gently.

"Hey, I'm still your girlfriend. She's way too old for you!"

Flash nodded and when the pair continued their walk there was a bounce in his step.