Spider-Woman extricated herself from the fallen rubble with some difficulty. As she was lifting the fallen debris with the table, she did a quick calculation based on her lab's square footage and decided it was about three tons. She shoved the debris aside and webbed her backpack to a dark corner of the remaining walls. Once she'd done that she stood up as straight as she could, stretched her arms, back and neck. She heard a few cracks. The table's underside wasn't super spacious. She needed to track Obadiah down. She could accept his touchy-feely personality. She could understand making money selling weapons to bad people, even if she didn't agree with it. She could not abide him dropping a building on her head.
The explosion had apparently had witnesses because a group of armed men in tactical gear started coming towards her. She wasn't having any of that and they found themselves quickly webbed together in a ball on the ground. Her next visitor was someone in a gaudy looking red and gold suit of power armor, with a glowing disk in its chest very similar in color to the glow from the arc reactor she'd made Obadiah. He flew in and landed in front of her.
"Beating people to death, blowing up labs… is there anything you don't do?"
Spider-Woman looked him up and down.
"I'm terrible at cooking. Who are you supposed to be, the Tin Man? Oh wait, no, no, you're this year's version of the Ken doll!"
Iron Man moved his head side to side.
"Stand down, take your mask off and surrender, you're obviously working for Obadiah, and I can't have you running around causing trouble."
"No, no, and no. Wait a second though, let me think about that: Yep, I'm definitely going to cause trouble. How about you surrender and take off that stupid looking armor before someone, namely you, gets hurt."
"That's how we're going to play this?"
Spider-Woman shrugged.
"Up to you Ken, that armor is awful shiny and expensive looking. It might get broken."
Iron Man came to a decision and raised his hands. Beams of blue-white energy pulsed towards Spider-Woman. She just wasn't there anymore. He kept trying and managed to blow a few holes in the remaining walls of the lab but didn't get her once. One of the concrete ceiling corners was still intact, she hung upside down from it and mocked him.
"Are you blind? Somehow incapable of hitting the broadside of a barn? Should I give you some practice time? Man Stark's Insurance is going to hate you!"
Iron Man growled and did a double blast. She dodged. He targeted her with the darts from his hips. They swarmed towards her she weaved through them but was left vulnerable to his repulsors. She blocked both blasts with her wrists.
"Someone's been stealing things from the Stark Vault. Are those Howard Stark's Vibranium bracers?"
Spider-Woman shrugged.
"Beats me, Gwen Stacy gave them to me. You'd have to ask her. I just like how shiny and stylish they are. The whole blocking whatever you're firing at me, and bullets is just a fringe benefit."
Iron Man had seemed pretty confident in his attacks so far. Now he was getting a bit more hesitant. The pair circled each other waiting for one to flinch. Finally, he launched himself at her. She shot two webs at him and hit his shoulders. Then she bent all the way back as he flew over top of her. She continued her back flip and hurled him at one of the half-destroyed walls combining his momentum and her superstrength. He smashed through the wall and skidded along the parking lot showering the area with sparks. He slowly pulled himself up.
"Hey, I just got this painted!"
Spider-Woman jumped over the wall and landed in front of him. She tried to shoot him with web before he could get up and he used his thrustors to evade her shot. He mocked her as she had him.
"Do you need some time to practice?"
Gwen evaded a missile that blew up another section of the lab wall.
"You're paying for that one, not me!"
They dueled it out with webs and repulsors for what seemed like an eternity. She'd hit him, but she could never get enough web on him before he could break free. She kept blocking his blasts with her bracers, a magenta glow started to emanate from lines inlaid on the bracers. She'd never seen them do that before. Of course, she'd never fought someone in power armor who was using energy blasts before. He pointed at her wrists.
"You know, Vibranium absorbs kinetic energy. Too much and boom."
Spider-Woman tried to remember the specs for the bracers. It had been a while and she hadn't really paid too much attention. It took her a few moments and a lot of dodging to remember that the diagram showed them as gauntlets not bracers and the words energy release focal point. She flipped her arms backwards and down. Gauntlets extended over her fingers. The knuckles began to glow bright magenta.
"I guess I should give some of it back to you then, huh?"
She launched herself at Iron Man. She swung with her left hand and hit him on the side of his face plate, then launched an uppercut with her right hand, which was her dominant hand, so had blocked the majority of the blasts. Even with her amateurish fighting moves she was just too fast for him to react in time. An undirected pulse of sonic-kinetic energy blasted out from the right gauntlet. She took out two lamp posts as she was flung several dozen feet across the parking lot. Iron man smashed through two walls and was embedded in a steel beam.
Spider-Woman was much quicker to recover. Iron Man was still coming to his senses. The majority of the energy had been focused on him. She flicked her wrists at him and kept doing it until he was mostly cocooned.
"Stay right there, Ken. And hey, thanks for the reminder about the Vibranium!"
She looked at the bottom of her wrist and started tapping at the flex LCD touch screen to locate and target Obadiah's spider bot. Tracking information showed up on the HUD her mask provided. While she was running towards his location, she popped in new cartridges of web fluid. She slapped the bracers to her chest and the gauntlets retracted. She looked at them as she ran and giggled. Whether it was because she had a new toy or out of nervousness over what Obadiah was doing in the arc reactor building, she didn't know.
Spider-Woman saw Pepper and several SHIELD Agents rush into a door. She wasn't sure what Obadiah was up too, but she knew it likely wouldn't end well for them if he was willing to drop a building on her head with explosives. Spider-Woman rushed in and saw a massive suit of unpainted steel power armor step out of the shadows. The SHIELD agents were about to get smashed and so was Pepper. Spider-Woman flicked her wrists as she ran by the SHIELD agents pinning them to the concrete wall. She reached Pepper. She pushed Pepper behind herself and glanced at her.
"Run!"
Pepper ran. The helmet wasn't down on the power armor. She could see Obadiah's face. She lifted her mask. Her identity was concealed from the SHIELD agents by hanging hoses.
"Obadiah, whatever this is, its not going to work. You're going to get hurt and so are a lot of other people. Stop it now."
He laughed.
"Why? Who is going to stop me in this?"
"I will if I need to, I don't want to hurt you but if it comes to that I will."
He laughed again.
"You think a bit of super soldier serum will stop the Iron Monger power armor. You poor deluded child."
He took a swing and Gwen evaded it. She pulled her mask on as she slipped behind some cabling.
"Come out, come out wherever you are!"
He shouted. His voice had taken on a booming quality now that the helmet was down. He lifted his arm which had a microgun attached. It spun up with an awful sound. Spider-Woman dove out of the way, but away from the SHIELD agents. Reinforced concrete pelted her as the armer piercing rounds tore into the wall.
"Don't think that ballistic weave is going to save you from this gun."
She heard Iron Man yelling.
"Hey, why don't you come and pick on someone your own size, Obi?"
Spider-Woman blinked under her mask. Obi? Was Iron Man Tony Stark?" Obadiah took the bait and burst through the reinforced security door and the wall. Landing on the floor above her so hard it caused the building to shake and debris to fall off the basement ceiling. Spider-Woman rushed out. Her spider-sense triggered but she was being too reckless and suffered for it. Obadiah clocked her across the face with a punch. She went flying into one of the reactor room's walls. He pointed at her.
"Stay there. I'll deal with you later."
Spider-Woman slumped and fell unconscious. She woke only because someone was shaking her. Her face still felt like she'd put it through a metal press. She blinked a few times under her mask. Pepper was looking down at her.
"Tony said we need to overload the reactor do you know how? Help me."
Spider-Woman lifted her arm.
"Help me up."
Pepper pulled Spider-Woman to her feet. Spider-Woman staggered. Pepper rushed towards the reactor. Gwen could see missiles being launched above. She struggled to remember the schematics for the arc reactor. She shook her head a few times and leaned heavily on the console. She looked over the controls. She pointed.
"There, flip all of those up. We don't want to be here when it goes."
Spider-Woman was still reeling from the blow from Obadiah. She shook her head again. Her spider sense triggered, and she rushed to cover Pepper as a shower of debris from the fight going on above rained down on them in the form of massive shards of glass that would have killed them both if not for the ballistic weave. Each blow staggered Spider-Woman. She cried out as the last one hit her.
Spider-Woman pulled herself up and looked at the gauges, they were all heading towards their respective red lines. She grabbed Pepper and pulled her along towards the outside of the building.
"We need to go! Now!"
She dragged Pepper behind one of the reinforced concrete walls as a wave of high voltage electricity burst out of every single open orifice the building had. Pepper grabbed Spider-Woman's arm.
"Tony is up there!"
Spider-Woman sighed and with some effort skipped up the wall towards the roof. She saw Tony on his back. His armor was trashed, and his helmet was missing. The glow from his chest was gone and he was twitching. Obadiah was clearly alive but had been rendered unconscious by the blast of energy from the overloaded arc reactor. His armor was dangling perilously close to falling into the arc reactor below. There were volatile chemical storage units in the building. She tried to stop the armor with webs as it tipped and plummeted below. It was too heavy for her. She released her webs. Realized the SHIELD agents and he would die in the ensuing explosion and lept down in after him in a dive.
She could see the arc reactor above starting to crackle with energy. The hum it was emitting grew louder and louder. It was going to go and it was going to go big. She quickly started shooting web at the hole Obadiah's fall had caused in the ceiling. She applied layer after layer until she ran out of webbing. She was thrown to the ground when everything above exploded. Her thick plug of webbing flexed but didn't give. She had no doubt that the chemical fire burning above them was going to burn through it in no time.
Spider-Woman rushed to the SHIELD agents, one of which was Coulsin and started pulling them the webbing off of them. She did Coulsin last.
"Sorry, Phil, was trying to save your lives. You'll need to use the side passage there to get out."
She rushed to the sealed security door and ripped it off its hinges. She motioned for them to get a move on. Coulsin was the last to leave and looked at Spider-Woman as she started heading back towards Obadiah.
"What about you?"
Spider-Woman shrugged.
"I have one more life to save. See you up top."
She pushed back through the tangled mass of cables that had been pulled down. The webbing was smoldering now. Once it weakened enough the room would fill with melting concrete and debris. She punched the casing in the front of the armor and pulled the arc reactor out. Her idea to shield it from EMP and high voltages was the right choice it seemed. She tore the chest piece off and ripped out the harness that was keeping Obadiah in it. He was looking banged up. Still alive though. She pulled him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry and rushed out. Behind her the webbing gave way and molten concrete and metal started pouring in. She could feel the heat on her back as she ran from the room.
Spider-Woman burst out onto the surface through an exit in a neighboring building. The SHIELD agents were starting to organize a response to the chemical fire. Spider-Woman put Obadiah's unconscious form at Coulsin's feet.
"I'm guessing you'll want a word with him when he wakes up…"
Coulsin raised his hand to stop her from leaving but she was already on the move leaping onto the heated concrete walls of the arc reactor building. Tony was still there, seeming to be paralyzed by something. She scooped him up and jumped off the other side of the arc reactor building. She tore the chest piece of his armor off. She could see the dead arc reactor in his chest. She assumed it was doing something useful for him or he wouldn't have buried it in his chest. She reached down and yanked the arc reactor out of his chest. It was fried from the energy pulse from the much larger arc reactor. She plugged in the arc reactor she'd built for Obadiah. Tony gasped for breath suddenly and looked up at her. She held up the arc reactor so he could see it.
"Yea, Gwen's smarter than you, she shielded hers. Nice try though."
She patted him on the forehead. He tried to get up and she pushed his forehead with one hand, his chest with the other. Forcing him to the ground.
"Down boy or I will whup your ass again."
She slid the arc reactor into his chest. Spider-Woman stood up, replaced her web fluid and waved.
"See you around Tin Man Ken."
She shot two webs at a neighboring building and flung herself into the air. She retrieved her backpack and quickly switched back to her street clothes. Gwen rubbed some dust on her face and tried to get some in her hair. After she determined she looked sufficiently dusty from being in an explosion and being dug out of the ensuing building collapse she headed towards the site of the arc reactor. Pepper rushed over to her.
"Oh my god, Tony told me the building you were working in collapsed, are you okay?"
Gwen nodded.
"I'm fine. Spider-Woman dug me out before some guy in red and gold armor tried to blast her. I hid. Everything okay? Did that red and gold armor guy do this?"
Pepper shook her head. Gwen pretended to be shocked to see Tony in the remnants of the Mark Three Iron Man armor.
"Wait that was, Tony?"
Pepper looked between the two and nodded. Tony had the chest piece of his armor in his hand. He was looking less out of it than when Gwen had last seen him. Gwen pointed at his chest.
"Wait, is that my arc reactor?"
Pepper looked between the two. Tony approached and leaned on Pepper. He looked down at Gwen.
"Let's keep the fact you know how to build one of these between us, huh?"
Gwen nodded.
"Whatever you say, guess you're my boss now. Unless I'm fired for building one for Obadiah…"
Tony chuckled and shook his head.
"I think if you can overlook that Stark Industries let a building collapse on you, I can overlook you doing what you were being paid to do. Let's cut down on the development of weapons that would have been banned by the Geneva convention if they'd known they would ever exist, huh?"
Gwen shrugged.
"You pay me to make paper stick men chains, I'll do that. I'm easy."
Tony laughed and held his side. Gwen winced.
"Urm, Spider-Woman didn't do that to you did she? I heard a really loud crack."
Tony pointed to bruising that was starting to form on his chin.
"This was her."
He held his side.
"This was…Obi. Sorry you got dragged into all this. When this all gets sorted out, you think you could get me in touch with her?"
Gwen nodded.
"Sure. I'll tell her you'd like to talk but she might be mad about you trying to kill her."
He motioned to his remaining armor.
"I hate to ask this, but can you help a guy out?"
Pepper moved to help but he almost fell down. Gwen held up her hand to Pepper.
"You let him drape himself over you. I'll deal with the armor."
She carefully started pulling the parts off at the joints. She didn't use her superstrength this time. Leaving a pile of twisted red and gold metal. She looked up at Tony.
"So, how is the return policy on this suit? You think they'll take it back?"
Tony laughed again, holding his side again.
"Don't make me laugh. Ouch."
Gwen stood up and dusted her hands off. She pointed at his chest.
"Yea, sorry that one has Palladium in it, you'll probably need to replace it. I'm guessing that will leech out and kill you at some point. I think Palladium poisoning is a thing. Your father was worried about environmental damage with the arc reactors."
He looked down at the arc reactor, then back to her.
"You found his notes?"
Gwen nodded. She reached into her backpack and showed him the yellowed papers.
"I didn't trust Obadiah wouldn't find them. I built that arc reactor to be a one shot and done… Encrypted my designs. He told me he wanted one. So, I built him exactly one arc reactor. He also wanted the designs on his private server. Didn't say they had to be readable."
Tony held his side as he laughed again. He groaned and looked at Pepper.
"Pepper, remind me to be very specific with instructions for this one, please."
Pepper smiled and nodded. Tony looked at Gwen.
"Gwen, take the rest of the week, paid of course. We'll see you next Monday."
He looked at Pepper.
"I can do that can't I?"
Pepper nodded. Gwen's phone rang. She picked it up, it was Adam. She blushed slightly and smiled. She drifted away from Pepper and Tony.
"Hi you."
Adam sounded a bit freaked out.
"I saw on the news there was two big explosions there. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. No trouble here. Sorry I missed our date and didn't call, I was a bit buried by work."
Adam groaned.
"You're the employee that was stuck in the collapse."
"Yup."
"Gwen, that wasn't funny."
"I thought it was hilarious. Anyway, I'll let you know when I'm home and safe."
"Do you want me to come and get you?"
Gwen looked around.
"No. I'll be a while. I believe there are about a million questions to answer for some federal agents. Look, I need to go. I'll see you soon."
"Bye."
Gwen hung up the phone and slipped it into her pack. She walked over to Agent Coulsin who was directing his troops. He smiled at her in his pleasant way.
"Ms. Stacy."
Gwen sighed.
"I guess you guys have some questions…"
He nodded and motioned with his arm.
"This way."
It was the day after the mess with Obadiah and Iron Man. Gwen was sitting on the couch in her apartment. She was wearing PJ shorts and had her legs crossed. A cup of tea in her hands. It was a rainy, damp day, a break from the sweltering heat that had been the constant for the last couple of weeks. She'd gotten home after two in the morning the night before. Between the questions and the clear keep your mouth shut from SHIELD it had seemed like forever she was stuck at the Stark Industries Research Park. Her father was sitting at the kitchen table drinking his fifth coffee. He was off for the rest of the week and struggling to get his schedule switched to days for his wedding and upcoming honeymoon.
Gwen switched to the Stark Industries and US military press conference. Her father had been working until six am in the morning so had no idea how late she was out. He also apparently hadn't seen the news about the explosions and fight between two power armors that took place where she worked yet. She hadn't been forthcoming with the details either. Mostly because she figured he had enough to worry about. When he asked why she wasn't at work she just said she'd been given three days of paid vacation by management. So, when her father heard the Colonel on the tv start talking about an incident at the Stark Industries Research Park, that there was an accidental detonation of an experimental weapon that destroyed a lab and that had caused a robotic prototype to malfunction, it really got his attention.
Her father came over and sat down on the couch. He arrived just in time to see Tony Stark show up and start giving his prepared statement. All of which Gwen knew was coming because she'd been coached on the officially reported version of events. She could see Tony's heart wasn't in it. He was going off script. Finally, he looked up at the cameras and the press and said:
"I am Iron Man."
That caused a massive uproar and Gwen smiled. She admired that he could admit it to the world. She never would. Her father looked at her.
"What happened at work yesterday?"
Gwen shrugged.
"It was all on the news."
Her father muted the television and looked at her sternly. He motioned to the screen.
"What really happened? Whatever that was, it was absolute bullshit."
Gwen bit her lower lip.
"Look dad, that is the official statement of Stark Industries and the Federal Authorities. If the details were not exactly correct, and I was aware of the reality of it all, I am sure you'd understand I could not say anything on pain of being prosecuted under the National Security Act. You wouldn't want your fifteen-year-old daughter to go to federal prison, would you?"
He frowned.
"Were you hurt?"
Gwen shook her head.
"I was in the building where the explosion happened. The roof collapsed; I was under a very solid table."
Her father almost interrupted her. She put her hands on his wrists.
"Dad, just listen before you freak out. Tony got me out really quickly. I have not been working on weapons for weeks. Recently I have been working on a clean energy project that is in no way explosive. The only way what I'm doing would be bad for me would be if I was pregnant. Which I am not. I was checked out at a military hospital. No injuries whatsoever."
Her father looked upset.
"How can they just do that? Take you to a hospital and not call your father!"
Gwen kept her hands on her father's wrists.
"Dad, think about it. You would ask a bunch of questions that would probably tell you things you don't need to know. If you still feel the need to speak to someone, I have a card. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to ruin your wedding."
Her father nodded.
"I'd like that card."
Gwen sighed and wandered off to retrieve Agent Coulsin's card. She offered it to him. Her father took it. He looked at it. He saw the agency and immediately handed the card back to Gwen.
"Never mind. I understand now."
Gwen took the card back.
"Do I even want to know?"
Her father shook his head. She shrugged and put the card back where she collected it from. Her father was rubbing his face. He stood up and hugged Gwen tightly. That was it. The conversation was over. Gwen unmuted the television. Unfortunately, J. Jonah Jameson was on screen. He was praising Iron Man. He was going on about how if Spider-Woman had nothing to hide she would be showing her real face, like Tony Stark. Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed. She mused that no good deed goes unpunished.
Gwen's story will continue in Spider-Woman and the Avengers