Gwen closed her eyes quickly when she woke up. The light streaming through the window that was mostly covered was still too harsh for her eyes. Her body felt like it was covered in one big bruise. She figured the pain meant she wasn't dead. She blinked a few times as her eyes slowly became accustomed to the mid-afternoon sunlight she looked around and Steve was sitting on an old chair watching her. He smiled.

"You were right. You get knocked down and you just keep getting back up again."

She looked down at herself. She was wearing a US army T-shirt she recognized as Steve's. She tried to get up and he gently held her shoulders down.

"Don't move too much. Claire said you seemed to be healing faster than a normal person but that you would take time to recover."

Gwen thought better of sitting up or trying to move. Her ribs still felt like they were floating loosely in her chest.

"Claire?"

Steve sat back.

"A nurse I ran into at the hospital. She has experience with people like us. She warned me someone would notice how fast you were healing. Helped me sneak you out. Made sure the records got lost. What happened out there Gwen?"

Gwen blinked slowly.

"Computer picked up an APB. It sounded like some bad people were stealing a truck full of Chitauri weaponry to me so I went to stop them. They had heavier weaponry than I expected. It wasn't Chitauri weapons."

He moved his chair closer because Gwen was having trouble speaking very loudly.

"What was it carrying?"

Gwen rubbed her head.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't Chitauri stuff. I have a video. Where are my bracers?"

He shook his head.

"Your bracers? You were in… well barely in underwear when I found you. Just that courier pack and this thing."

He held up her holo-phone. Gwen started panicking and trying to get up.

"I need to find them. They could… people could find out who I am. Find out about Miles. He might be in danger."

Steve held her down.

"Gwen you're in no shape to go anywhere."

Gwen struggled against Steve, but she was still so injured she couldn't overpower him.

"You don't understand. My friend will be in danger if someone uses them to access my lair's computer."

Steve held her fast.

"Gwen, you cannot help anyone in this state. Is there a way to track them? I can go look."

Gwen blinked a few times and motioned to her holo-phone.

"Yea, I might be able too, the suit's AI is connected to my phone."

She tapped it and brought up the holo-display. With some effort she accessed the AI's interface app.

"AI, where are you?"

The holo-display formed a map and showed the AI, hence her new armored suit and bracers right on top of her.

"I am on your person. Are you alright? I am detecting an increased heart rate. After your clinical death last night, you should seek immediate medical care."

Gwen rebooted the phone and tried again. The suit and her bracers were right on top of her current location.

"This doesn't make sense. It says the bracers and armor are right here. That is impossible. They are made of the same stuff as your shield, they're nearly indestructible. It's like I'm still wearing them but they sure aren't here."

She held up her wrist. She accessed the AI again.

"AI why are you showing up on top of me, you aren't here."

The AI responded.

"It appears the components that form my neural net have merged with your physical form."

Gwen's eyes went wide.

"Am I going to die?"

The AI responded.

"If you continue disregarding your own safety as you have been over the last several days, there is a 97.59232% chance you will die before the end of the month. Your risk-taking behavior appears to be escalating."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Great! I have an overprotective artificial intelligence living inside my body. I need to get this out."

Steve had watched the goings on with a confused expression. Finally, he spoke.

"Perhaps we should include SHIELD, or Mr. Stark in this conversation?"

Gwen held up her hands and shook her head.

"No, no way. I'll handle this. I just need access to the Stark Industries Research Park medical labs. You have a license, right?"

Steve nodded. She held out her hand.

"Help me up please."

Steve shook his head.

"Claire said not to move you."

Gwen frowned.

"Well, she probably doesn't know I've been infected with alien nanites and an alien power source. Absorbing Vibranium cannot be healthy for me. And there was a computer and some… other thing Martha built for me. And that… pendant that had alien energy stored in it. Let's just say I'm probably in serious trouble."

Steve pulled out his phone. Gwen watched him.

"What are you doing?"

Steve unlocked his phone.

"I'm calling Claire. She might have an idea of what to do, she is a nurse."

Gwen shook her head.

"This isn't normal medical stuff Steve. I just need to get some scans."

He frowned.

"You've said repeatedly you don't do biology."

Gwen pushed herself up and regretted it immediately.

"I'll figure it out. If I can't at least with the scans someone smarter than me might be able too. I just need help to get up."

Steve shook his head and offered his hand.

"You're going to go anyway. You remind me of Bucky. Stubborn to a fault."

Gwen took his hand. He helped her up and she realized she was in blood-stained underwear and his T-shirt and that was it.

"I uh… need clothes."

He helped her sit down. She pointed at her courier's bag. He brought it over to her and she pulled a pair of black leggings out and tugged them on blushing profusely the whole time. Steve for his part turned around.

"I'm ready."

Steve helped Gwen up. She looked down at her bare feet and sighed. Steve followed her gaze.

"What size are you?"

"Five."

Steve left the gym. He came back fifteen minutes later with a shoe box. He put it beside Gwen on the couch she'd been laying on. She took one of the socks out and tried to put it on but winced.

"Umm. Can you help me?"

Steve smiled.

"You can't even put shoes and socks on, and you want to go do scans?"

He kneeled down and tugged the socks on. Then he put the first turquoise Chuck on her foot. She joked.

"I feel like Cinderella."

He laughed.

"Hey… I understood that reference."

"I didn't think the movie came out until the fifties."

Steve glanced up at her.

"There's a movie?"

Gwen nodded.

"Several actually. My favorite is Ever After. The trailer had the best songs. Maybe we can watch it sometime."

He tied her shoes and stood up, offering her his hand. She took it and he helped her up. She looked up at him.

"Steve, thank you for well, umm being you."

He smiled at her. While he was gone, she had ordered an Uber ride. He helped her into the car. When they arrived at her walk-up, she pulled her keys out and gave them to Steve.

"The car keys are in the drawer of the table with the pictures on it."

Steve nodded. He returned shortly afterwards with the keys. The pair took the Uber over to the parking garage where they would find her father's car. She waited by the road for him to pick her up. She reached her hand out once she got settled into the passenger seat.

"Phone please."

He unlocked it and handed it to her. She put the address for their destination and hooked it into the phone holder. She pointed at the phone.

"Just follow the directions."

She tapped her holo-phone and dialed Tony. He answered.

"Gwen! I was expecting you at the lab today."

Gwen shook her head.

"Sorry, dealing with stuff for my aunt and you know who. Sorry I didn't call was a bit of an emergency. Hey, I'm with Steve Rogers and we need access to the medical labs at the Research Park. Can you make sure the gate guys will let us in?"

Tony nodded.

"Sure thing. Is there something wrong?"

Gwen sighed.

"Spider-Woman got hurt last night. Steve helped her but she got hit by something SHIELD had in this truck that got hijacked. Just making sure nothing crazy happened."

Tony's face darkened.

"What was it?"

Gwen shrugged and regretted the movement.

"We don't know. She has video feed we're going to review I can send you a copy. Uh, those scientists that were working with me on that special project involving her… are they still with Stark Industries?"

"Yea. I have them working on something new, but I can get them to look over the data from whatever tests you run. I'll make sure Happy disables the security cameras in the medical building and keeps everyone away. It's the least I can do for her."

"Thanks Tony. I'll be in on Monday for sure."

"See you then."

He disconnected the call Gwen glanced at Steve.

"Do you mind if I pass out again? I really would rather not be feeling all this pain."

Steve nodded. Gwen let her eyes close. She woke up to Steve gently shaking her shoulder, they were at the front gate of the research park. Gwen blinked a few times trying to wake up. It took her several moments to produce her ID badge. The guard waved them through.

The tests took Gwen a long time to get through. Mostly because Steve had to help her move around as she set up the scanners. It took the pair several hours to get through them. The AI in her suit synced up to Obadiah's old private server and pulled the data. While they were waiting, she accessed her own servers back at her lair and pulled the video from the back of the truck. She started the replay. Steve sat beside her on a bench in the medical lab waiting area. At one point he asked her to rewind the playback and zoom into a crate. His face darkened. Gwen didn't recognize the symbology, but it was a wooden crate on it was a black skull with six tentacles coming off of it surrounded by a circle.

"What's the matter?"

He pointed at the symbol.

"That's a HYDRA symbol. It was the special weapons division for the Nazi's. Their leader was the Red Skull. He was an Obergruppenfuhrer. His name was Johanna Schmidt. He was the one in control of the tesseract during World War Two. He was the evil man who took the serum I was telling you about. Why would SHIELD still have HYDRA stuff hanging around after 80 years?"

Gwen let him ponder that since she knew nothing about HYDRA and started scanning backwards to find the point at which she broke through the truck to see if she could determine what had been containing the black ooze. She found a couple of frames. She asked the AI to try and rebuild the images. The box had Hanzi on it. The AI helpfully translated it. Project Regrowth, Typhon Group. Gwen pulled the video and sent it to Tony for review. Then she sent him a text message. When you used my worm to break into SHIELD's files did you get anything on a Project Regrowth? He responded a few minutes later. No, I will look into it, received the data. Reviewing.

Gwen looked at Steve. He was pacing and seemed deep in thought. Finally, he realized she was watching him. He looked at her.

"Did you need something?"

Gwen nodded.

"Are you hungry?"

He smiled.

"Yea."

He offered her his hand. She pulled herself up. Once they got back to the car, she entered the directions to her favorite diner into Steve's phone and promptly let herself fall asleep again. He found a spot near the diner and shook her gently to wake her up. Gwen's eyes fluttered open again. At first she was rather angry which might have something to do with the dream she was having about Loki and her being stuck in a cell together.

"Hey Gwen, we're here."

Gwen groaned and he helped her out of the car. The diner had thank you Avengers signs all over the place, like many businesses in New York. There was a picture of Tony, Gwen and one of the waitresses during the visit he had with Gwen proudly displayed behind the front counter. Steve helped Gwen sit down. She smiled when Candace, her favorite waitress approached. Candace smiled at Gwen, then she focused on Steve. Her eyes went wide.

"Are you… You're Steve Rogers! Captain America!"

She started fanning herself like she might faint. Gwen wondered how many groupies Spider-Woman had at this point. Then she realized how many of them might be far older men fetishizing her and sunk into her seat. Any thoughts she had about admitting her identity were quashed possibly permanently at that point. Eventually Candace got over her shock and took their orders. Steve spoke quietly.

"I see why you do what you do."

Gwen nodded. If she was being honest, she was fighting the urge to sleep again. She knew her healing ability needed two things, sleep and food. She looked up at Steve through half-closed eyes.

"You know when you see hungover people say, I'm never drinking again in movies. That's how I'm feeling about Spider-Woman right now."

He smiled and spoke very quietly. The diner was fairly deserted many businesses were as people were still coming to grips with an alien attack. The curfew and road closures made it rather challenging to get around.

"Yet you will, because it is in your blood. Your mask, it's like my shield. You know it's a symbol of hope for people who see it. A reminder that they should never give up. You also know that like my shield, if you don't pick it up, someone else who will abuse what it represents will."

She smiled at him.

"Thank you. I needed that."

"It's what friends and teammates are for."

Their food arrived. Candace asked if she could take a selfie with Steve before he left. He smiled and stood up so they could take a picture. She left Gwen and Steve to their meal. Gwen felt really good to see Steve had the same kind of appetite she did. When they finished, he nodded.

"You were right. The food was great. I'll have to remember this place. Was almost as good as that shawarma after the battle."

Gwen laughed softly.

"I'm just picturing the five of you eating in a restaurant… its amusing."

He snagged the bill on her. She was too slow, mostly because she was still half-dead.

"It was my idea I can pay, Steve."

He shook his head, walked to the register and paid the bill. Gwen glared at him playfully. Eventually he helped her to the car and home. After dropping the car keys off he looked hesitant to leave.

"Are you sure you should be alone? You almost died. You're just a kid."

"I'm fine Steve. You and the Avengers have stuff to deal with still. I'm good. I really am I just need sleep. It's how I heal."

After Steve left, Gwen locked the door and face planted on her bed.