Gwen sat in the conference room waiting for Tony Stark to arrive. It was her first day back since the Obadiah incident. Tony came in with a teenage girl that looked about the same age as Gwen. They had been talking but as soon as she saw Gwen, she went silent and sort of hid behind Tony. He motioned at Gwen.
"Martha, this is Gwen, Gwen this is Martha."
Gwen waved at Martha and smiled. Martha tugged on Tony's sleeve and showed him her phone. He shook his head.
"Martha, Gwen doesn't bite. You're going to be working with her for your internship."
She motioned to him with her phone. He nodded and typed something into it. Gwen felt her phone vibrate. She pulled out her phone and looked at it. She didn't recognize the number, it said: Hello. Gwen raised an eyebrow. She typed back, Hiyas. Martha smiled at her phone. Gwen looked at Tony. Tony shrugged in response. Tony sat down. Martha did the same, though she sat as far away from Gwen as seemed was possible and still remain in the conference room. Tony tapped his fingers on the table.
"Well, lets go over why we're here. Gwen, if you're still willing to work with Stark Industries after what happened last week, we'll be happy to have you. Your employment contract is still valid, it was signed with the corporation and not Obi. Are you staying?"
Gwen nodded.
"Yes. Why would I give up this amazing job? I get to work for a superhero."
Tony laughed and shook his head.
"Don't you already do that on the side?"
Gwen shrugged.
"She's the old cool, you're the new cool."
Martha smiled and blushed at that statement. Gwen glanced at her. It was almost like Martha wanted to speak but for some reason couldn't in Gwen's presence. Tony nodded and pulled out his phone. Gwen was totally jealous of his transparent screen. The phone was barely thicker than a high card stock business card. He tapped a few times and swept his fingers towards the eighty-inch screen that dominated one of the walls of the room. It had several chemical formulas and DNA chains Gwen was familiar with. They were related to her. He pointed at the screen.
"Obi was very excited about this project. Your name is all over it Gwen. Who is the subject?"
Gwen scanned the screen and frowned slightly.
"That would be Spider-Woman."
He leaned forward.
"So, she was transformed with super soldier serum?"
"Sort of? She's been genetically modified. She's not quite human anymore. One of the doctors on the project said they were doubtful she even looked human anymore."
He nodded.
"You know her personally, is that true?"
Gwen shrugged.
"Never seen her out of costume or mask. She once seemed to joke about having eight eyes, mandibles instead of a mouth and pardon my language, that she shat webs. The last part seems unlikely since she gets me to fill her web cartridges."
Tony chuckled.
"She does have a sense of humor, doesn't she? Or was it you that redirected all trace backs of those little bots back to the FBI New York City headquarters?"
Gwen blinked innocently.
"I am sorry, Tony, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
Tony pulled a plastic case out of his pocket and slid it across the conference table to Gwen.
"Speaking of which, she might want this back. I found it in my work computer. I wonder how it got there?"
Gwen blushed.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't sure Pepper was going to get away with the data, so I downloaded a copy too. It's been deleted now."
He nodded.
"And my father's schematics."
Gwen patted her bag.
"Right here. I didn't think you wanted the visitors we had last week to get their hands on them."
He nodded. He looked between Gwen and Martha.
"Okay on to what I need you to work on. First off, no more weapons."
He looked at Martha.
"Your sister made it very clear no more weapons, at all, ever, under any circumstances. If you do and you get caught working on new weapons for you know what, she will drag you back to California."
Martha blushed and sunk into her seat. He looked at Gwen.
"I have verified your Palladium problem with my own research. I want you and Martha to come up with an alternative core for the arc reactor. You are the only two other people on this planet that know how to build one. I'll do my best to assist. This is top secret, our eyes only, not even Pepper is to know about it, am I clear?"
Gwen nodded. This she could get behind. Saving a life instead of building stuff to take them. Then she blinked a few times. She motioned to Martha.
"How does she know how to build one?"
Tony tapped his fingers nervously.
"Not important right now. Just know that she is smarter than both of us and has access to advanced technology."
Gwen shrugged.
"You're the boss. So secure server then?"
He nodded.
"I'll see what I can dig up from my father's things. SSR and SHIELD collected a bunch of his belongings over the years. Stark Industries is a mess. I have a lot of damage to repair and most of it isn't physical. I've ended the research into the serum and your lab is yours again. Please don't blow this one up."
Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed.
"The first time was an accident, and the second time I had nothing to do with besides being there, but I can't make any promises, you wanna make an omelet you gotta break a few eggs. And besides all of that I heard what you did to your tech lab at home from Pepper."
He laughed. Martha was starting to look a little bit perturbed about working with someone who had a tendency to blow up labs. Tony tapped his phone and the screen on the wall went black.
"Well, that's it. You have your marching orders. Keep me in the loop on progress."
Gwen stood up and nodded.
"You know your dad was searching for an alternative for like thirty years and never found one."
He held up his finger.
"That we know of. Trust me, Martha is our secret weapon in this."
Gwen nodded. She pulled the arc reactor designs from her backpack and handed them to Tony.
"Here you go. You might want to check the Trove for anything else you don't want in the hands of random people."
Tony took the aged paper.
"Good point. I'll get you on that after we finish the current project."
Gwen made a bit of a playful face.
"Sounds like a job for an Intern. Just saying!"
Tony laughed.
"Get to work. I'm not paying you to sit around am I?"
Gwen waited for Martha to join her. Martha seemed a bit lost, so Gwen motioned to her.
"You coming?"
Martha nodded and gathered her things to follow. Gwen was starting to wonder what the other girl's deal was. There was shy and then there was mentally challenged… They walked silently to Gwen's lab. Gwen glanced at the girl often. She looked plain. In fact, if Gwen were to run into her at school, she'd assume she was part of Peter's crowd. She had hazel-green eyes. She was brunette. Was slightly taller than Gwen who was on the short side. Her clothes looked… mussed. Not professional like Gwen's. They were loose fitting and Gwen would be hard pressed to guess her weight. Gwen swiped into her lab and opened the door for Martha.
A second workstation had been set up for Martha. Gwen sat down at her desk, hooked up her laptop to its dock and logged into the network. Martha was doing the same. Gwen accessed the folder Tony said would contain his research. She put her phone down and started up her 'thinking' playlist. Martha slipped noise-cancelling headphones over her ears. Almost like Tony had prepared her for Gwen's process. Martha took out a box of dry erase markers and started writing out calculations on the lab's wall of whiteboards. Each stroke was precise. Martha seemed to be quite fastidious. Gwen blinked as the power conversion calculations for the arc reactor appeared in various different colors. She noticed a high incidence of hot pink among the text. That fact alone made her think there was a good chance she could grow to like Martha.
Gwen let Martha follow her process and she followed her one process. She bopped her head along to Fall Out boy while she replicated Martha's work on her computer. The difference was she left out the Palladium. She was building a template where she could insert different materials into the calculations and run simulations on the Stark Industries supercomputer. Given the choice she'd always go for a technological solution over something on a board or on paper. Her motto was always to work smarter, not harder. It had gotten her in trouble with certain classes because she was more than happy to create an algorithm to deal with math, she didn't feel like chewing through herself. It's like her teachers didn't understand that to make the algorithm she had to understand the math.
The calculations for the arc reactor were complex and pulling the Palladium out of the equation wasn't an easy task. Gwen glanced at Martha every so often. She started to notice things. Martha had repetitive things she would do. One was tapping her thumb across her fingers when she was thinking. Another was she would tap the white board three times, no more or less, just before she started a new section of it. She was beginning to see that her new partner was autistic of some level. It explained the lack of eye contact. Repetitive behaviors. The almost crippling shyness. The thing Gwen couldn't figure out was why Martha would talk to someone named Jonathan all the time. The conversation sounded like a sister speaking to her brother. It was strange. They were packing up for the day. Gwen decided to ask about it. She had to know if Martha was nuts or not.
"So… umm Martha, who is Jonathan?"
Martha looked like a deer caught in the headlights after being spoken too directly by Gwen. Gwen heard a male voice speak from her lab's speaker system. He sounded like someone from Kansas if she had to place the accent. He sounded like an adult.
"Hello Gwen, we haven't met yet. I am Jonathan. Martha based me on an artificial intelligence developed by Anthony Stark. She built me to emulate the personality of her younger brother if he had grown up. He died in a car accident several years ago in 2036."
Martha blushed. Gwen was both amazed and aghast that she'd broached such a sensitive subject after having just met Martha.
"I am sorry about your brother."
Gwen blinked a few times.
"Let's go back a few minutes, Jonathan, did you say 2036? Uh, it's only umm, 2023."
There was a pregnant pause before the AI responded.
"I apologize, I meant 2018."
Gwen shook her head.
"You might want to run a diagnostic there Jonathan."
There was another pause.
"Of course. Might I compliment you on the algorithm you are building to run simulations against different elements to act as a core for the arc reactor. It is quite ingenious."
Gwen shrugged.
"Thank you."
Jonathan seemed to address Martha.
"Transferring to portable storage, sis."
Martha blushed and nodded. Gwen felt bad for Martha. She knew what loss felt like. She was also concerned that Martha might not be dealing with it well. Making an AI to simulate her brother seemed like a bad way of handling grief. She decided then and there to make a big effort to break through the barriers that might get between her befriending Martha. She saw some of herself in her. Her younger self, before her mother shoved her kicking and screaming into the world.
"Martha, where are you staying while you're here?"
Martha texted her. With Tony. Gwen smiled and nodded.
"I would love to hang out, show you around?"
Martha texted again. If Tony says it is alright. Gwen slung her backpack over her shoulder and flipped the lights out in the lab. The pair started to walk towards the main office. Tony pulled up beside them in his Audi E-Tron. Gwen raised an eyebrow as he lowered his window.
"Here I thought you only drove two-seaters."
Tony laughed and patted the door.
"Electric vehicles are the future. Hop in, Toby is driving Pepper around. I said I'd get you home."
Gwen decided to be nice since she was the shorter of the two teenagers. She got in the backseat. Martha got into the passenger seat. Tony headed out of the research park. Gwen heard a British man talking Tony through the latest traffic reports. Gwen leaned forward when they were stopped.
"So, when do I get my own AI assistant?"
Tony chuckled.
"You really want one? They're bossy."
The British AI popped in.
"Only because you are reckless, sir."
Tony shrugged.
"See what I mean?"
Gwen leaned back.
"Yea, you're right, already have my dad looking over my shoulder."
Tony glanced back.
"How did the wedding go?"
"You know. They said I do, there were tears, there were laughs, my mom's family, and my dad's family all showed up. They're all Irish. There was drinking, singing, more drinking, drunk singing…"
Gwen trailed off. Tony laughed.
"So, all alone for how long?"
Gwen held up four fingers.
"Four weeks. My dad hasn't taken vacation since before mom died. He was told by the union to take at least a quarter of it or else. Maybe I'll get lucky, and they'll like Europe so much they'll stay."
Jarvis spoke up.
"Sir, you have an incoming call from Ms. Potts."
Tony held up a finger to Gwen.
"Put her through."
Pepper spoke.
"Tony, Director Fury called for you again about the Avengers initiative. Are you going to call him back?"
Tony sighed.
"I'll get around to it. I have Martha and Gwen in the car."
Pepper paused briefly.
"It is no secret you're Iron Man, you saw to that last week. Also, Rhodey called for you. Says there is more intelligence on the Ten Rings locations."
"I'll get back to him. Just let me get Gwen and Martha home hmm?"
Pepper sounded annoyed.
"You are the one who told the world you're Iron Man. Yet somehow, I'm the one holding the bag."
"Pepper, calm do-"
Gwen shook her head at Tony. Tony changed tracks.
"I'll take care of it Pepper."
"Good!"
Pepper disconnected. Tony glanced at Gwen in the mirror.
"Bet you helped me dodge a bullet there."
Gwen nodded.
"You dodged it better then you dodged Spider-Woman's webs."
"Ouch. Speaking of her. Did you tell her I wanted to talk to her yet?"
Gwen nodded.
"She said she'd pencil you in sometime in the month of never. She might have said November. Wherever she was, there was a lot of wind."
Tony frowned. Gwen shrugged.
"Next time I'll remind her all those toys she uses are provided by Stark Industries fabrication so if she wants them to keep coming, she might want to play nice with you."
Tony glanced back at Gwen.
"Are you sure threatening her is the best tactic?"
"She rarely takes anything seriously. She'll meet with you after I say that. Trust me."
Gwen smiled. Tony kept talking as he drove.
"You know, I have a mansion. If you'd like you can come and stay with me while your parents are away."
Gwen shook her head. She knew he lived on an island, no way she could get away with being Spider-Woman and staying there.
"I'm good. My Aunt May is keeping an eye on me."
"I have this Charity golf thing coming up. Obadiah signed Stark up for it. It was supposed to be you and I believe he was planning on asking you. So… wanna be my partner?"
Gwen sighed and shook her head.
"Sorry. Already taken."
He blinked at her in the mirror.
"Who are you partnered with?"
Gwen rolled her eyes slightly.
"Wilson Fisk."
"Really, he's… uh not who I expected."
Gwen shrugged.
"He asked. I really didn't feel like I could say no. It was supposed to be his daughter but she's getting chemo and is too sick. I figured its already paid for and it is for the Children's hospital."
Tony hmphed. Gwen leaned forward and grabbed Tony's seat.
"You know what. Adam is free that day."
"Your boyfriend?"
Gwen nodded.
"He's pretty good."
Tony grinned.
"You're going to trust me with your boyfriend for four hours on a golf course? Not afraid I'll scare him off?"
"Well, it's a risk I'm willing to take. It's for charity."
Tony pulled up beside Gwen's apartment building.
"Have him call Pepper to set it up."
Gwen nodded and got out of the car.
"See you tomorrow, boss. Martha."