Gwen stepped out of the shower. She pulled on her bathrobe and wrapped it around herself. She looked down at her blouse and skirt. They were ruined. She sighed and scooped them up. Erica and her father were sitting on the couch watching the news. Her father gave her a look. Gwen glanced at the television and saw a video of her carrying the elderly lady out of the fire. Between the smoke and how much soot had collected on her she realized people would be hard pressed to identify her. That suited her fine. She blinked a few times at it and shook her head. Phones with cameras seemed like the absolute worst invention to her at that moment. She tossed her ruined clothes into the trash, grabbed her bag and went into her room.

She checked her phone for the first time since the accident. Adam had sent her several texts, all of them had a nervous energy. She sent a reply, I'm fine, meet me at Crown Diner in thirty minutes. Sorry, needed a shower. Gwen put her phone down and started poking through her clothes for an appropriate outfit for the upcoming 'I'm a superhero Harry' conversation. She hadn't been in the diner since her last hot chocolate with Uncle Ben. To her it was the place where she went to have candid and serious conversations. She decided on a short skirt and a T-shirt for the evening. It was after seven by the time she had finished getting ready. She picked up her purse. She paused as she was about to put her wallet in it. She looked at the black fingerprints and sighed. Her father stood up and intercepted her as she was about to leave the apartment.

"Where do you think you are going Gwen?"

Gwen gave him a withering glare.

"Out to see my boyfriend, who is worried about me because you had the Port Authority bring me home."

Her father looked at her.

"No bag tonight?"

Gwen narrowed her eyes.

"No because obviously you're tracking me with something in it. I don't have the time or patience to figure it out tonight. So, if you don't want whatever it is smashed with one of your hammers, it best not be there when I get home. Because I will find it and I will do precisely that. That is a huge violation of my privacy."

His face fell. Erica gave him a dirty look. He tried to recover some of his dignity.

"You were supposed to go to a fitting for your bride's maid dress with Erica today, you need to reschedule that."

"Dad, my size has not changed in the last four weeks."

Erica gave her an apologetic look. Gwen gave Erica a small nod. Her father crossed his arms.

"When are you going to be home?"

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"When I get home dad. I'm going to the Crown Diner. I'm going to eat something; I'm going to talk with my boyfriend and I'm going to be home at a decent hour. I have work tomorrow, it is an important day."

She didn't wait for her father to respond; She was already out the door and halfway down the stairs before he came up with a retort. The walk to the diner was a short one. Adam was already there. Gwen slid into the booth across from him.

"Sorry. My dad was being a pain. Did you order yet?"

Adam shook his head. She nodded. Their waitress tonight was Candace. She put two menus on the table and smiled at Gwen.

"Long time no see Gwen. Who's this?"

Gwen smiled.

"That is my boyfriend."

Candace nodded and glanced at Adam. She looked back at Gwen.

"Is this a hot chocolate with whipped cream occasion?"

Gwen smiled and nodded.

"It would be, if it wasn't a hundred out still."

Candace laughed; Gwen offered her menu back.

"I'm starving, how about a king burger and fries?"

"Sure thing."

Adam handed his menu back too.

"I'll have the same."

Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think you are man enough for a king burger, maybe get him the princess burger Candace?"

Adam groaned.

"Seriously?"

Gwen laughed. Candace took the menus and walked away shaking her head. The pair nursed their soda and were pretty quiet. Gwen was trying to figure out how to explain. Adam was resisting pressing her for details. They made an awkward pair. Candace dropped off the hamburgers and gave Gwen a look. Gwen sighed and picked up a fry. When all else failed her, she could always stuff food in her mouth to delay the inevitable. Right now, Adam suspected something was amiss. As soon as she admitted the truth. She would make it real. The pair ate silently. Gwen smiled when Candace came by again.

"What can I get you Gwen?"

Gwen held up two fingers.

"Two slices of apple pie, please."

Candace nodded and came back quickly with two slices of warm apple pie. Gwen pushed her fork through the crust and took a bite. Adam did the same. He let out an mmm as he tasted it.

"How is this place not on a map somewhere?"

Gwen shrugged. She took another bite of hers.

"So, you have questions?"

Adam swallowed his piece quickly.

"Yes. Of course."

He looked around seeing they were fairly isolated he lowered his voice to a whisper.

"I saw you push a one-and-a-half-ton truck like you were moving a book on a table. You peeled back that crushed door like it was tinfoil. You were burned, your lungs… you look like you just came home from work now. How? What are you?"

Gwen took another bite of her pie.

"I'm human. Just… more. Look I barely understand it myself. I'm not sure if it's a gift, a curse, or something in between. There was an accident."

She sighed and reached into her purse. She pulled out her wallet. She pulled out a trading card and a copy of a photo. She slid them both across the table towards Adam. She tapped one. It was a declassified photo of Steve Rogers that she had tracked down before the serum, he was a small and scrawny man.

"The government ran a super soldier program during World War Two. You see this man?"

She tapped the trading card that consisted of a photo of Captain America holding a baby.

"This is him after the serum. I was exposed to it during an accident. I'm trying to live a normal life, but I can't stand by, and watch people die. I try to avoid… I'm not a superhero like Spider-Woman. My Uncle Ben… he told me that the world expects more of people who are gifted. That it is… my duty to protect the weak and use my gifts responsibly. I would rather you never knew about any of this. People want this power. People who will not use it responsibly. People who will use you against me to get what they want."

He picked up the card and photo.

"You just had these in your wallet?"

Gwen took another bite of her pie.

"Yes. I've been researching him. He was a real hero. He disappeared in nineteen forty-five, he was on a mission into Germany. It helps me to deal with… my situation, knowing someone went through it and… I don't know. Look, I'll understand if you never want to speak to me again. I am a freak of nature. But I'm begging you not to say anything to anyone, for both of our sakes."

He ate more of his pie. He was thinking and Gwen thought that was a bad sign.

"Did your ex-boyfriend find out about this? Is this why you broke up?"

Gwen shook her head.

"Honestly, I missed one date too many because I was doing things other than focusing on him. The straw the broke the camel's back was my birthday. I thought… I thought I could do both. There are weapons on the street that I helped design that are killing innocent people. I am working with Spider-Woman to deal with them. On my birthday I helped her. I was in tactical gear. I was shot fifteen or sixteen times. The gear stopped the bullets from penetrating my skin, but I was near death. Internal bleeding… He dumped me by voicemail."

He finished his pie, dropped his fork on the plate and leaned back.

"Sounds like an asshole move."

"Look, the asshole move he made was having sex with a girl who used to be one of my best friends the day after he broke up with me. Then rubbing my face in it. He didn't know what had happened to me. It was the sex. I'm jealous. That should have been me, but I'm afraid I might hurt someone if I do… that with them. I barely know my own strength."

He waved to Candace. She came over.

"Candace, could you please get us some hot water and tea bags?"

She smiled.

"Sure thing, sweetie"

Candace produced the requested items. Adam sat quietly while his tea steeped. He looked at Gwen who was near just begging him to get it over with so she could go home.

"So, is there a cure?"

Gwen shook her head.

"Based on what the scientists who are trying to figure out the serum… no. I am this now. There is no going back."

He took a sip of his tea and looked at the table for a few moments. His eyes traced their way up to Gwen's face.

"I don't know where this thing we have is going. I do know that this is the second time I've seen you rush in and help people without a second thought for yourself. I also know I don't want to stop kissing you."

He smiled. Gwen blushed and pushed her hair behind her ears. She promptly stared at her tea. She eventually took a sip. He reached out with his hand. She took it and squeezed it. She looked up at him.

"I'm so glad you said that. I was not looking forward to finding another date to my dad's wedding."

He laughed and squeezed her hand right back.

"You are really alright? You looked hurt really bad…"

Gwen nodded.

"I heal fast. It's probably why I eat so much. My body just does everything faster."

He smiled and sipped his tea. He looked around the diner.

"So, what is this place to you? The food is great, but the staff seem to know you well."

Gwen gave a sad and wistful smile.

"My Uncle Ben used to come here all the time. When he had a… conversation he needed to have with me, or Peter that was serious. He would bring us here, order apple pie and a coffee. He would get us a hot chocolate and he would tell us what we needed to hear. I haven't been in here since… since he died. We were in here the night he was killed. He begged me not to do whatever I was planning. That was the last thing he said to me. I ignored him."

Her eyes began to grow moist. Adam squeezed her hand.

"I think we should come here more often. For happy times too."

Gwen nodded. Candace didn't say anything as she dropped off their bill. He tried to beat Gwen to the bill but failed miserably. He laughed.

"Let me win one of these times, huh?"

Gwen turned his palm over and put the bill in it.

"You can buy today."

He smiled and pulled out cash to pay the bill. He left a large tip. Gwen waved to Candace who was in the midst of counting out the money. She raised her hand to stop the pair but was too late as they'd already left the diner. She looked at the hundred-dollar bill they had left as a tip and shook her head. Gwen and Adam got into his corvette, and he pulled away from the curb. He handed her his phone.

"Let's go for a drive. You pick the music."

Gwen smiled and looked out her window as New York City passed. The sun had set by now. The night was lit up by the bright neon lights. She opened his streaming music app and picked 'In the air tonight'. The air conditioner was off, and the windows were open. She turned the stereo up. As it started she looked over at Adam.

"This is the song to listen to when you're driving in the city at night. I don't know why, but it just is."

He nodded. The streets were not quite deserted, but the usual snarl of New York Traffic had passed and given way to the taxis driving people out to the clubs. She closed her eyes and let the beat pulse through her. Her head swayed to the music when they opened, she looked out at the passing neon lights. As the song progressed, she started doing the air drums to it. Adam looked at her as he stopped at a red light.

"Music is important to you, isn't it?"

Gwen nodded.

"My mom used to listen to all different kinds of music. She loved all of it. Now it keeps me sane. Drumming is therapeutic. It's better than beating people up with super strength, less blood, and less arrest warrants."

He got quiet. Then he asked with a very soft voice.

"What happened to your mother?"

Gwen looked in the passenger side mirror, the song shifted to another Phil Collins song, sort of appropriately it was Mama. At least her mother was real, and not some prostitute like in the song. She sighed.

"She was murdered by a bad man."

He swerved then got control of his car quickly.

"I'm so sorry for bringing it up."

Gwen shrugged and leaned her head back on the headrest. She looked at the roof of the car.

"You know I have superpowers. Seems like a small thing to talk about in comparison. The person who did it won't ever hurt anyone else."

He pulled over to the side of the road and looked at her.

"Did you?"

Gwen shook her head and frowned.

"I was ready to. Spider-Woman webbed him up… I was ready to beat him to death like he did to my mother, but I couldn't do it. Uncle Ben… my mom… they wouldn't want me taking that onto myself. So, I tried to bring him to justice. It didn't work out."

Adam put his hand on Gwen's thigh.

"I somehow knew you couldn't do something like that to someone."

Gwen smiled at him. They leaned in and kissed. There was a siren chirp behind them. Gwen sank into her seat. A police sergeant came around the car. Gwen recognized her immediately. It was Sergeant Gina Wilder. She was from her father's precinct. Her partner walked around to Gwen's side of the car. Gwen recognized him but didn't know his name. He was a rookie to the force.

"I admire you pulling over to do that, but this is a no stopping or parking zone. Not sure if you're parked or stopped, no hazard lights and all."

Adam was already handing over his license, registration and proof of insurance. Sergeant Wilder took them and looked over them. She looked the car over. The rookie who didn't recognize Gwen was asking for her ID too. Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have to show you that. I'm not driving. Nor am I doing anything wrong."

Adam glanced at her.

"Actually, they can in some cases. According to dad. Just show it to him Gwen."

Sergeant Wilder smiled at Adam.

"At least you're not an idiot like the last one."

Gwen looked at Sergeant Wilder and narrowed her eyes. She pulled out her ID and handed it to the rookie officer. He took out his flashlight and looked at it. Gwen was amused by how pale he went. He looked at Wilder and motioned to Gwen. Sergeant Wilder nodded. He quickly handed the ID back to Gwen who put it back in her wallet. Sergeant Wilder pointed at the no stopping-no parking zone sign.

"I'm giving you a warning this time. Watch where you stop from now on, okay?"

Adam nodded. He took back his own cards and put them away.

"Yes, ma'am, understood ma'am."

Wilder looked at Gwen.

"I like him better. Don't be out too late, Gwen."

Gwen nodded.

"Yes, Gina."

Wilder motioned for Adam to move on. He pulled away from the curb and drove off. He looked at Gwen at the next light he stopped at.

"Does your dad know every cop in the city and Port Authority?"

Gwen nodded. Adam shook his head.

"Wow, never thought dating a police officer's daughter would be so interesting."

Gwen shrugged.

"Good side is, you'll probably get off on some tickets, bad news is, if I'm out too late you might get arrested."

"That is so comforting to know."

"You should take me home; I need to get to work early tomorrow. Thanks for being cool with… well everything."

Adam dropped Gwen off at home. Gwen went to bed pretty much straight away. Morning came far too quickly for her liking. When she was packing up her bag for the trip to work, she got the faintest tingle of spider sense. She looked at her hope chest, which held her Spider-Woman kit. She gave a small eye roll about her spider sense's paranoia and stuffed her costume in her bag. She managed to get out of the apartment and on the road before her dad and Erica made it home from their overnight shifts. She was feeling pretty good, especially with how well things went with Adam the night before.

Her lab door was unlocked, which was curious. She swiped her card. She noticed a package on her desk and rushed over. She tore it open and inside was the Palladium she'd requested. After that it was a simple matter to melt the Palladium down and pour it into the mold, she'd fabricated the day before. Much like the rest of the arc reactor she built it was a one and done thing. The molds would not be reusable. She'd also made the Palladium wafer's shape much like a key. Without the specs for the mold, replacing it in the arc reactor would be nearly impossible without a tremendous amount of effort.

She let the wafer solidify and cool down while she prepared the bottom half of the arc reactor. Her design was such that once completed any attempt to even open it up would result in irreparable damage. If Obadiah wanted more of them, he would need her. Her spider sense, which kept pricking her the whole time she was working on the reactor was likely to thank for that. It may also have been out of a sense of respect for the original designer, Howard Stark. By early afternoon she had two reactors assembled.

Gwen basked in the soft glow emanating from the front of the first reactor. The second reactor she hadn't started up yet. Once started the reactors would generate power whether they were hooked up to something or not. She was as frightened as she was amazed that in the palm of her hand, she held a power source that produced more power than New York City would need to run for a year. She had nothing to connect it to that it wouldn't obliterate just by virtue of the amount of power it output. She hadn't built a transformer to test it with. But Obadiah hadn't said tested. She slipped the unpowered arc reactor in her backpack.

Gwen put the already powered arc reactor on her desk. And decided to spy on Obadiah some more. She caught him halfway through a conversation with Pepper. Pepper sounded distracted. Gwen accessed her spider bot's video feed. Her hand went to her mouth when she saw the monitor. Pepper was copying files onto a flash drive. She turned the bot to look at Obadiah. He looked suspicious. Gwen grabbed the arc reactor and slid it into her lab coat pocket. She rushed towards the office building.

Gwen brushed past Agent Coulsin as she entered the main office. She gave him a strange look but kept going. Finally, she reached Tony's office. She exclaimed Obadiah's name when she saw him. The volume of her voice was a little higher than she meant it to be. Pepper jumped. Obadiah did too. Pepper must have finished whatever she was doing because she used the distraction to pull the flash drive. Pepper smiled at them both.

"Well, I need to be going. Have a good day."

Obadiah held up one finger at Gwen and rushed to the computer. He punched the desk and rushed past Gwen. She watched him go to the balcony overlooking the office foyer. He clenched his fist. While he was doing Gwen quickly tossed one of her bots onto Tony's desk. She was curious what Pepper had been after. Her bot would ride whatever access she'd used and grab the data. Or at least she hoped it would. Obadiah came back and he tried to maintain a mask of calmness. Gwen knew he was anything but calm at the moment. He looked at her.

"Please tell me you got it done."

Gwen nodded.

"You can have it once you give me my bonus. Don't want you to forget, I have an appointment to buy a car."

He motioned to her to follow him. She did. He went to his office. After a few minutes he motioned to her. She pulled out her phone and confirmed the forty-thousand-dollar transfer. It was not exactly tax legal, but she'd figure it out. Mostly she was trying to gauge how desperate he was. She pulled the reactor out of her pocket and put it on the desk.

"It surpasses your requested specs and should produce up to eight gigajoules per second. And it should last for about a year of moderate power draw. Unfortunately, the Palladium core is not the best material, but it was the only one that seemed to work for Howard Stark. It will decay and power output will drop substantially. Depending on draw, could be thirty years, or six months."

He picked it up and looked it over.

"Magnificent. And the specs are saved on the restricted server?"

Gwen nodded. He seemed distracted. Without looking up at her he spoke.

"You may have to postpone your car purchase; I need you to stay late and work on something. Ask my assistant to order you something for dinner."

Gwen shrugged.

"Sure."

Gwen put her hands in her coat pockets and wandered off, leaving Obadiah staring at his new toy. She requested the dinner he'd mentioned and went back to her lab. She sat down and fanned herself. Then she pulled out her phone and checked the spider bot she'd sent to infest Tony's work computer. She reviewed the files Pepper had copied. It was from the secure server Obadiah had directed her too. She would have gotten the arc reactor specs; The other files were more interesting to Gwen. They were the files detailing the sales of arms to various embargoed countries and terrorist organizations.

She stared at them for a long time. She knew what he was up to, but this was hard evidence. He was the reason the weapons were on the streets. Why tens of thousands of innocents all over the world were dead. She shook her head. She checked her email. She hadn't received any instructions from Obadiah. She was starting to think she should get out of the lab and just never come back. Obadiah was going down that was obvious. She finished her second bucket of chicken when her spider sense shifted from the simple pricking to a scream. She grabbed her bag and dove under her metal table just as an explosion engulfed the room. The roof collapsed around her. The table was made of durable steel and prevented her from being crushed by the collapse. She muttered to herself.

"Should have listened to the spider sense. Why am I so goddamned gullible?"

She answered her own question with a sigh.

"Forty-eight thousand dollars a year… Uncle Ben is always right."