Heroes Assemble!

Time To Process

"Dragons? Real, live dragons? You've got to be kidding me," she squeaked.

"Nope," Peter assured her. "Three of them. All big and bronze and scaly and breathing fire!"

Gwen could only shake her head as she tried to wrap her brain around what she was being told. It seemed that the world wasn't as simple as it used to be, that what she'd once known to be facts simply weren't any more. But then, considering her present company – her boyfriend who could swing from webs and crawl up walls, one of her best friends who just happened to be part-squirrel and the normal-looking lawyer who could become seven feet tall and jade green at a thought – that wasn't the world that she lived in any longer.

"I'm guessing with dragons on your side, taking down the bad guys was a walk in the park," she stated offhandedly.

"Not really, no," Jennifer replied flatly.

"The bad guys were all enhanced as well," Peter clarified. "They had a lot of fire-power."

Seeing how grim her companions had just become gave Gwen a sinking feeling.

"Who got hurt?" she asked, bracing herself for the worst.

"Monkey Joe," Doreen whispered, her head dropping and tears starting to leak from her eyes.

Instantly, Gwen moved around to the other side of the table, nudging Doreen over to make room for her on the bench seat. Her arms went around the younger girl and she looked at Peter and Jennifer to fill in the blanks.

"Monkey Joe was incredibly brave," Peter said. "He and some other squirrels tried to take on one of the bad guys. They ... they didn't make it."

"Doreen did make a new friend there, though. Tippy," Jennifer added.

"Tippy?" Gwen asked Doreen and felt her nod.

"Yeah. I'll ... I'll introduce you later, if you like," Doreen mumbled.

"I'd like that," Gwen said, giving her an extra squeeze. She looked back up at the other two, then. "Anyone else?"

"A few bumps, bruises and scrapes," Jennifer replied. "Nothing serious."

"A couple of the dragons were hurt pretty bad, though," Peter said. "Harry had to call Ted over in Scotland and talk to some expert to help get them healed."

"Well, that's good to hear," Gwen said.

"Hey! Gwen! When are you gonna take our orders?" a loud voice called from the far side of the room.

Looking up, Gwen could see Flash and a number of his buddies staring across at her. On any other day, she would have been scampering towards them to do her job. But after the way that Flash had knocked into her right outside and now with a crying Doreen in her arms, she had no problems with making them wait.

Thankfully, though, Julie, one of the other workers, was in the process of coming out of the kitchen. Gwen nodded as she saw the other girl pick up a pad and pen and head towards Flash's table.

For now, she was content to spend some more time with her friends.

ooo00ooo

Iron Man shot across the sky, the repulsors in his boots on full. Behind him, at an ever increasing distance, was one of the Avengers' quinjets.

While Iron Man would prefer to have as much hardware available to not only himself, but to the Avengers in general just in case anything happened and in case they were called into the field, the reality was that the Tower could only hold a single quinjet. Thus, the need to relocate their second one to a different location. Of course, the plan was for the Avengers to eventually have a full half dozen of them at their disposal, so a secondary facility was always on the books. At least, in Iron Man's head.