Disclaimer: The characters and things you recognize in this story don't belong to me. They belong to Marvel and Janet Evanovich. I'm pretty sure you'll recognize which is which. Mistakes belong to me.


Chapter 2

Steve's POV

My eyes lingered where Stephanie had just stood while she made her way up to the pilot. Natasha cleared her throat to get my attention and I glanced up to notice the matching grins on my teams' faces. I blushed. "I was just… thinking about something…" I finished lamely.

Tony barked out a laugh, "Yeah, we know what you were thinking about!"

I blushed even more and just stared uncomfortably at my shoes. Tony was right, and I couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Bruce finally took pity on me and said, "why don't you tell us what is going on here. Who is this woman? What were you doing in Trenton? Were you attacked by Hydra in that building? And what on earth happened to that car?"

I let out a sigh of relief; debriefs I can do. "I was in Trenton looking into a potential threat for Hill, but that didn't pan out. I thought I'd walk around a little and try to get a feel for the area.- see if I heard or saw anything that suggested the threat was real and I just had the wrong location. I was walking past that apartment building when I saw a bunch of people in their night clothes in the parking lot. That seemed odd, so I took a closer look and saw Stephanie helping an elderly man out through the lobby door. I wasn't sure why they were evacuating, so I rushed over to help them in case it was time sensitive."

Stephanie rejoined us and stood next to me, again seemingly unconcerned with the fact that she was with six of the deadliest people in the world, two of whom were assassins and spies.

"I had just started helping the man out of the building, when Stephanie yelled that she was going to check if there were any more people and went back into the building." I continued, "Once I got the man out and a safe distance away, I went back in to help Stephanie, neutralize the threat if I could, and make sure she got out of the building as well."

"I found her on the third floor of a building, running away from a bomb that was showing just under one minute left on the timer."

At that everyone turned and stared at Stephanie, clearly with looks on their faces wondering why she was with a bomb and whether or not she had set it.

"I just wanted to know if there was time for me to save my shoes," I heard her mutter.

Natasha left out a surprised chuckle, and Stephanie's head whipped up from staring at the ground in thought. Her eyes widened and she said one of the most endearing things I'd heard in a long time, "did I say that out loud?"

Everyone burst out in laughter and when she looked at me, I just nodded.

I felt the quinjet start to land, and reached out a hand to stabilize Stephanie. Her eyes met mine, and I felt that connection again and blushed. She smiled and whispered her thanks before turning to the group and saying, "is it okay if we continue this inside?"

Once everyone had given their assent, Stephanie started leading the way. Tony was still in his suit and everyone else was armed. My gut was telling me I could trust Stephanie and these men, but it had been wrong before, so I grabbed my shield and harness to strap it onto my back. I always felt more comfortable when I had it on anyway.

In a few strides, I caught up to the group as Stephanie was saying, "since we flew, I'd imagine everyone else is still at least a couple minutes behind us. My fob will get us in and down to the conference room though."

We walked into a staircase from the rooftop and down several flights before reaching a door for the second floor. I'd caught up to Stephanie and reached to open the door after she'd used her fob and I heard the locks click open, allowing her, and Natasha, to pass through the door before me."

"Thanks!" Stephanie called out as she walked further into the building. I watched as she looked across the hallway and smiled giving a small wave. I was baffled for a minute by that since there was no one there, until I noticed the camera.

"I think Junior's on monitors tonight."

The conference room door was already open and Stephanie squealed with delight as she led us in. I noticed an older woman with a cart setting up quite the spread of food, and Stephanie exclaimed, "Ella! You're the best. I love you! When are you going to adopt me?!"

The woman, presumably Ella, just chuckled, finished laying out the food, handed Stephanie a pre-made plate and patted Stephanie on the cheek with a smile. She then glanced over at us, not hesitating even a fraction of a second, and wheeled her empty cart out.

Stephanie turned back to us with joy in her eyes and said, "that's Ella. She's the generally runs the building. She's the housekeeper for those who live in the building and she keeps the break room stocked with delicious, delicious food! You can hardly even tell that it is healthy."

She bit into a cookie and let out a moan that had me shifting uncomfortably with my eyes bugging out of my head. I noticed the other men shifting as well and Natasha just looked amused.

I heard a chuckle and tensed up for a second before I heard the "Babe" that followed. I turned around to see none other than that Ranger guy. How had he gotten here so quickly? And how had he snuck up on me? I guess I was too distracted by watching Stephanie.

"Please feel free to grab some food or some coffee and a seat; the others should be here any second," said Ranger.

I noticed Tony glancing around the conference room a bit, assessing, before he nodded his approval and went over to a side wall and stood with his back to it, arms crossed against his chest. Clint and Natasha wandered over to get themselves some coffee before sitting down at the table next to Bruce who had already taken a seat. Thor, unsurprisingly, was helping himself to a large plate of food, and I went over and snagged a muffin, trying to seem disinterested as Ranger wrapped Stephanie in a hug.

Ranger stepped back, held her at arms length, and checked her over for injuries. Stephanie rolled her eyes and said, "I'm fine, Ranger. Not even a scratch thanks to Steve."

Ranger nodded and came over to me and shook my hand, introducing himself and thanking me for helping Stephanie. He then moved on and introduced himself to the rest of the team.

Slowly more of the men in black started filing into the room. One by one they repeated the process, sweeping her into big hugs, reassuring themselves that she was okay, then thanking me and introducing themselves to the rest of the team. How many nicknames did this woman have? I think I heard her called "Little Girl", "Beautiful", "Bomber" (I quirked an eyebrow at that one), "Bombshell" (she most certainly was one), "Angel", and "Angelita". One of the cops shuffled in and did the same routine, simply calling her Stephanie before reassuring her that Joe wouldn't be joining us. I assumed that was the angry man from the crime scene earlier.

Once everyone had settled in, the meeting was underway. Stephanie came to the back of the room and stood next to me, which seemed to cause more than a few surprised as well as curious looks. Those looks were usually followed by "casual" glances at Ranger. The seat to his right was empty and I could tell Stephanie usually sat there.

I looked at Ranger but couldn't read anything in his blank face.

"Alright," Ranger said, "welcome to the Trenton headquarters of Rangeman, LLC. Stephanie as well as all the men here who aren't in cop uniforms work for me. We're all here to figure out what happened and determine if there is a continued threat to Stephanie. Babe?"

"I left work a little later than usual because I was caught up in that search I was running. By the way, don't hire Daniels, he's got gambling debts and I think he's bad news." Ranger nodded and Stephanie continued, "I went up to my apartment and I didn't notice anything unusual on my way up. When I opened my door, which was locked, I heard a beeping noise. I looked down and saw what appeared to be a bomb, I mean, I wasn't sure, but it certainly LOOKED like a bomb, so I figured it was better to assume it was one and be wrong, than assume it wasn't one. I mean, it's me, so I figured odds were in favor of it ending up being one. Why does everyone have to try to blow me up? Sometimes it really makes you wonder what I did in a past life."

"Babe."

"Right. Anyway, I assumed it was a bomb, so I pulled the fire alarm and started helping people evacuate the building."

"Why didn't you call us immediately?" Tank, the giant man from earlier said.

"I'm sorry, Tank. You know I don't carry a panic button anymore, and I'd accidentally left my phone in my car. I didn't want to waste time getting it when I could be getting people out."

She then went on to explain the evacuation of her neighbors and my arrival on the scene. When she finished, Ranger asked me to go through my version of events.

As soon as I was done, Lester said, "so, you have a button on your watch that you push and it lets the rest of the Avengers know that you need assistance?"

I nodded my head in affirmation and every man in black fixed their gaze on Stephanie with serious intensity. "See, Beautiful," Lester said, "Captain America carries a panic button! If he can, why can't you?!"

"Actually, we all carry one," chimed in Tony, "I made them myself. They have a few… additional features as well."

All eyes were still fixed on Stephanie and she shifted in her seat uncomfortably for a few seconds. Then she looked up, and I was surprised to notice fire in her eyes as she said, "if it was just a panic button, I would. But it isn't just a panic button, it is a tracker that you monitor at all times! Not to mention all the additional trackers you put on me. In my purse, in my makeup, on my car! I won't have you monitoring my every move!" she exclaimed.

Can't say I blame her there, I wouldn't want anyone tracking my every move either. Still, I guess I didn't understand why she would need that kind of protection. I was about to ask when Natasha beat me to the punch. Before anyone could respond, Tony said, "Jarvis, if you would."

All of the sudden a projector whirled on and a large screen lowered itself in the corner of the room. Ranger narrowed his eyes at Tony, clearly displeased that he'd managed to take control of the electronics in the room. A man named Hector whipped out a laptop and started muttering to himself in Spanish and typing away furiously.

"Oh, don't take it too harshly," Tony said, "this took Jarvis and I much longer than usual to pull off."

At that, a bunch of news articles and video clips of local news reports started playing on the screen. It started with an article about who I recognized to be the guy who was ranting at Stephanie at the crime scene earlier. Apparently he was a cop accused of murder and Stephanie had been assigned to bring him in when he skipped bail as her very first case. She'd managed to bring him in AND prove that he wasn't the murderer. Each subsequent story was about Stephanie and some sort of, well, catastrophe that seemed to have happened to her. I tensed when I saw pictures of Stephanie standing the middle of a circle surrounded by what appeared to be dozens of dead gang members. I felt her shudder next to me and reached over, grabbed her hand, and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go again.

There was silence when the videos and stories stopped. There hadn't been anything more recent than a couple months ago. My team and I turned to her, now with utmost respect for what she'd pulled herself through as well as a bit of amusement for how she reacted.

"Well, that's just great, was that really necessary? I've never seen it all laid out like that before. And that didn't even include the stalkers that didn't make it into the news. None of that may have been directly my fault, but I really am a disaster. Maybe I should listen to my mother and go try to get a job at the button factory even if the boredom kills me."

This was met with protests throughout the room and I chimed in saying, "What I just saw wasn't a disaster. I saw a courageous, determined woman who is a fighter."

I was surprised when Natasha, of all people, chimed in with, "he's right you know. A lot of people wouldn't have made it through all of that. They would have given up probably after their first confrontation with that Benito Ramirez character. From what I could see, none of that was your fault, but you stuck with it and saw it through to the end. Heck, I don't think I saw any mention of a skip that got away. What's your capture rate?"

"95%" this came from Tank. I didn't know anything about bounty hunting, but based on Clint and Natasha's barely visible reactions and how all the Rangemen employees seemed to puff up with pride, I felt comfortable saying that was exceptional.

"Nice," continued Natasha. I was pretty sure she's up to something because she doesn't usually talk this much. I was also pretty sure it had to do with her comment earlier about not asking out Kristen from statistics. "As for the rest of you, you run a security company and she's your coworker who you all seem to care about. Did you not teach her how to fight?"

A couple of the guys shifted uncomfortably, clearly wanting to say something but not wanting to take on the Black Widow.

"Actually, that was mostly my fault. Despite all of this, I didn't really start to take my training all that seriously until I started working here full time a few months ago. They've been working with me since then and I just recently passed their basic entry-level required testing."

Natasha turned back to Stephanie and said, "Well, we'll just have to see how well they've trained you. But either way, they're men, so they can't completely understand how to train a woman. Judging by the look of Cap over there, I'm pretty sure we're going to be staying here until we know you're safe, so I'll work with you while I'm here."

Stephanie visibly paled at this before taking a deep breath then nodding gamely.

When Natasha mentioned staying, the other Avengers just nodded along, so I guess we are staying. I wasn't aware that I had a "look", but then again I suppose after all the missions, Nat knew me the best of probably anyone alive today, so she probably could see what others hopefully could not.

The attention shifted back to Ranger and he started peppering Stephanie with questions, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Tony was up to something. He'd dropped his mask back down, so I knew he was talking to Jarvis. I was half listening and sorting out the facts in my mind. To be honest, it didn't seem like there were many of them. Stephanie hadn't seen anything on her way in. She hadn't received any strange letters or threats recently. No one she had brought in to jail had seemed overly hostile toward her. That she knew of, no one had broken into her apartment recently.

It still seemed so strange to hear her add "recently" as a qualification to all those items, but having seen that newsreel, I guess it was fitting. I noticed the cops get up and leave, I guess they had enough information for their initial report.

I wondered how we were going to go about keeping her safe though, given that we clearly didn't have even a hint of an idea of who was behind this. With that thought, I shifted my mind back to the conversation noticing that Stephanie had tensed up and was looking stubborn.

"Absolutely not," Stephanie was saying.

"Babe, be realistic here. We don't have any employee apartments available right now, and you can't stay with your parents. You'd go crazy and you'd be putting them in danger."

"I will not be staying with you in your apartment, Ranger."

That was good to know.

"You've stayed there before."

I tensed up. I just met this woman, but still I could have done without hearing that.

"That was different, things were different then. I'm not staying there ever again. Besides, I've been working full time for you for a while now. I can afford a hotel to stay in for a week or two while I look for a more permanent solution."

I didn't like the idea of her staying alone in a hotel, but a part of me was extremely pleased to hear her put Ranger in his place and state in no uncertain terms that she would be "staying" with him ever again. Because she seemed to put more meaning behind that word than simply sleeping arrangements.

"But it will be difficult to protect you in a hotel, Babe."

Just then, Tony chimed in with, "she can stay with us."

Stephanie's head whipped over as she looked at Tony with surprise.

Clint piped up, "and where are we staying, Tony?"

"I just bought a house. It looks like it was previously secured by Rangeman, LLC, so we I would imagine it will be pretty easy for them to hook back up and update as they see fit. Then once everything squared away, I can keep it for a vacation home or just sell it. It's on the beach so I think it should keep its value pretty well. It will take a day to get the paperwork and everything settled, so I've booked a few suites on the top floor of a nearby hotel for tonight. Stephanie can have her own room in a suite with Avengers in the other rooms. I'd imagine everyone here can agree that would be pretty safe for one night?"

Bobby smirked, "I'm pretty sure you had her at 'beach'."

Ranger was staring at me intently. He jerked his head toward the hallway and said, "A word, Captain?"

Stephanie started shaking her head, "nope, not happening, Ranger."

"It's fine, Stephanie," I said before nodding my head in agreement and walking out into the hallway.

I heard someone, I thought it was Lester snicker, and Ranger barked out, without turning around, "Santos! Mats, 0700!"

We reached the hallway and strode a little further down to a smaller conference room. Ranger pulled out a fob like the one Stephanie had used to get in the building and pushed a button on it.

He turned to me and said in a warning tone, "Everything I've heard about you and managed to pull up on you on my way back here says that you're a gentleman. That you know how to treat women right. So, I don't have to worry about your intentions with Steph, right?"

I wasn't about to be intimidated by her ex, but I could also tell that he was very concerned about her safety, both physically and emotionally, so I said, "look, she and I just met, but I assure you, she's safe with me."

He gave a curt nod, "if she decides to go with you all, I will hold you personally responsible for her safety. We'll supplement her security with Rangeman, but I will ultimately hold you responsible. I may not be a super soldier, but trust me when I say that if anything happens to her, I can and will hunt you down. Just ask Barton."

I nodded and, with that, he pushed the button on his fob again and gestured me out the door.

Steph's POV

Well, shit. What the fuck. As soon as Ranger walked out of the room with the Captain, Hector pulled up the video feed for us all to see. We watched as Ranger led Steve to the small conference room down the hall, and when he scrambled the cameras I said, "nuh uh" and made a move to rush out and down the hall.

Tank, quicker than he looked, was there blocking my way. "Nope, you're going to leave them be, Little Girl."

Great. Ranger may not actually be Batman like I called him from time to time, but I was pretty sure that Steve was unarmed and, super soldier or not, Ranger might very well be killing him right now.

Hawkeye scoffed, "Manoso's good, I've seen him in action, but so is Cap. And trust me when I say that his shield isn't just for defense so he's definitely armed. I don't think either of them is going to kill the other one though, just give them a few minutes."

I turned to Lester and sighed, "out loud?" At the Merry Men's laughs I just said, "I've really got to get better about that!"

Just then the cameras unscrambled and I muttered "well, that was quick and no one seems to be dead" as Hector scrambled to turn off the feed in the conference room.

They walked back in, Steve returning to the back of the room and standing next to me again, slightly closer this time. Ranger took his seat at the head of the table.

"Steph," Ranger said, "have you thought about Mr. Stark's offer? Does that work for you?"

I mean, hell, Bobby was right, they had me at beach. And I'd love some more time to explore whatever this freaky connection was with Steve. I'd never felt anything like it. Ranger and I had always had chemistry, but this was different, more. Somehow this managed to be comforting and hot and everything else under the sun all rolled into one indescribable feeling.

I looked at Steve out of the corner of my eye and he was looking at me with great concentration, then I looked over at Tony who had a friendly smile on his face but looked genuinely concerned as well.

"Are you sure it's not too much trouble, Mr. Stark?"

"Aren't we polite? I'm pretty sure I introduced myself to you as Tony, so you should call me that." I could tell he was on the verge of saying something else, maybe about what else I could call him, but he looked at Steve and decided against it. I had a feeling Tony and Lester were probably a lot alike. "And yes, it's fine. I already bought the house. I wouldn't have done that or made the offer if I wasn't sure about it."

I nodded my head. I turned to Steve with the question in my eyes and I could immediately tell that was what he wanted. So I asked, "I assume you need to get that plane back, right?"

"Yes, the pilot actually left to fly back as soon as we got inside the building."

"Ranger, can we please borrow a couple of SUVs?"

Ranger nodded his assent.

"Okay, then you all figure out the rest of the security details for the hotel and the house. I'm going to go grab a few things from my desk and the women's locker room. I'll be back by the time you get that squared away and we can negotiate bodyguards and trackers. Don't go overboard… any of you. Remember, no direct threat, so for all we know it wasn't even aimed at me and it is over."

I heard everyone scoff skeptically and I just shrugged my shoulders and headed out, taking the elevator to the 5th floor. I stopped by the armory and grabbed an extra purse (yes, I got them to start stocking concealed carry purses around the time I'd insisted on Rangeman helping me get a LEGAL concealed carry permit), a stun gun, and some extra magazines for my gun.

I carried them with me and went back to my desk. I took my gun out of the small of my back, where I'd tucked it when I got to my apartment the first time. I put the gun, stun gun, and extra rounds in their respective pockets. I felt someone coming up behind me, but knew it wouldn't be a threat. I was only partially right it was the Black Widow.

"Hi…" I trailed off, not really sure what to call her. "Agent Romanoff? Is there something I can help you with?" I asked turning my back to her as I opened my drawer and started grabbing my backup makeup supply.

"You can call me Natasha. Or Nat. Or even Tasha if you'd like."

I got the sense that not a lot of people were given that privilege. Especially the last two. I turned and looked her in the eye and said, "Thanks. You can call me Steph."

She nodded back, "So, what's the deal with you and Ranger?"

"We're friends," I said with a shrug. I could feel her eyes on me, so I turned back to her making eye contact again and saying, "no, really. We had a… thing… a while ago, but Ranger doesn't do relationships and I couldn't settle for anything less, so that is over. Has been for months. He's still my mentor and my best friend though. It was weird for a while, but we've gotten past that now. There's nothing there."

"And the cop from the scene?"

I should have realized she would have caught that. "Ugh, Joe Morelli. He's my ex. We had an on-off relationship for a couple years. It was toxic, so I ended it. He is having a little more difficult of a time accepting that fact. So is my mother. But regardless, it is, without a doubt over."

She smiled at this. An actual smile. Then she said, "you know, Cap's single too."

I turned back around and fiddled with my purse as I said, "oh, okay" and tried to act like I really didn't care. In reality, my insides were fluttering with happiness at this news.

I motioned for her to follow me and walked down to Ranger's office. I unlocked the door and walked in. I asked her to turn around and then I opened one of his safes and took out my extra concealed carry permit, driver's licence, etc. that he insisted on keeping a copy of for just these instances. I also grabbed the cell phone that he kept in there pre-programmed with my phone number and contacts. I closed the safe and Natasha walked over and eyed everything as I started putting it away in my purse.

"You're sure it is over?"

"Yep. I think he'll always protect me though and love me in his own way. It just isn't a romantic thing anymore, more like a protective big brother. Well, eww, considering our past no, not that, but something along those lines."

Natasha chuckled and said, "okay. So, locker room?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure all my clothes burned up, so yeah. I have some extra uniforms there that will have to do until I can go shopping. I hope they let me go shopping sometime soon. And without too many guards- the men have a way of looking way too intense and scaring everyone in the mall."

"I would imagine so. Don't worry, we'll find a time to get you some clothes. Cap has some with him, but the rest of us don't, so we'll need to get some as well." Then she added with a wink, "we can get you some new shoes too."

We wound our way back to the conference room with Natasha telling me little stories about Steve along the way. I was surprised that she was being so open and friendly, I guess I'd assumed she'd be quiet and intimidating. At the same time though, I got the distinct impression that she really wanted to set me up with Steve. She wasn't subtle about it and I was certainly enjoying the information.

We walked back into the conference room and I noticed that some of the men had left. Steve had finally taken a seat, and was watching everyone and listening to the discussion with great care. He looked up though and smiled when I walked in. Wow. Ranger looked up too and just held out his hand expectantly.

I sighed and handed him my purse. He pulled the taser out and checked the battery. Then he pulled out my gun, made sure it was loaded, and checked that I had extra rounds with me. He noticed everything else I had and nodded his approval. I knew the safe would be restocked by lunchtime tomorrow. I noticed all of the Avengers watching the interaction, except for Natasha who seemed to have taken me at my word and believed me. She was whispering to Steve, who looked at me and grinned again. Guess she told him about Ranger and me.

I took my bag back and sat down in my usual seat next to Ranger. I looked at him and said, "guards?"

"Four Rangemen or two Avengers. Or one Avenger and two Rangemen. When you're working, this will be in addition to your partner so there'll be a second vehicle."

I thought about it for a minute then decided it was less than I was expecting and not worth fighting about, so I just nodded. I narrowed my eyes, "trackers."

I was surprised when this time Steve spoke up. By the tension that ratcheted up in the room, I figured this had been discussed in length. "Tony has a panic button on the way here for you now. It is a panic button only, no tracker. If you push it, it will notify the Avengers as well as Rangeman."

Interesting. I was expecting Ranger to insist on the trackers. If I had to guess, I'd say Steve and/or the other Avengers intervened on my behalf. I would happily accept this so I smiled and nodded. Then I looked over at Tony and said, "thanks." He just waved it off. I turned to Ranger who I knew would be having a very difficult time with this decision and murmured my thanks to him as well.

Just then Binky walked into the conference room and handed a package to Tony as well as a badge. He then proceeded to hand badges to Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Steve, and Thor as well.

Ranger said, "those badges will get you into the building and garage as well as this floor, the fifth floor, the gym, the shooting range, and the appropriate locker room. Looks like you finally have someone to share a locker room with, Steph."

Tony had opened his package then stopped by and conversed briefly with Hector and Lester. He then shut his mask for a few seconds before opening it back up and walking over to me. He handed me a simple bracelet with some charms on it. Upon closer inspection I noticed some handcuffs, a bomb, a doughnut, a birthday cake, an angel, and… the wonder woman symbol. How in the hell had he known that story?!

Tony chuckled and tapped his helmet saying, "Jarvis, my AI, is very good at finding things out. Okay, so this should be all set. If you wind up hanging around us longer, or this gets dragged out, we'll get you a better one. The bomb is actually a button, so if you want to test it out, just press that down."

I depressed the center of the bomb and almost instantly every cell phone in the room started blaring out an alarm sound, everyone pulled them out and checked their messages. Ranger slid his to me so that I could read the message and see that it showed that my alarm had been triggered and provided coordinates. I put the bracelet on and found it to be comfortable but fitted well- it wouldn't be falling off accidentally, even in a tussle.

"If someone's phone is within 100 feet of your signal, it will buzz rather than play the alert sound so as to hopefully not clue in anyone who shouldn't know that you've activated it. It will also connect Jarvis with the Control Room and Ranger directly for coordination between our teams."

"Wow, thanks. I can't believe you're doing this for me; we just met."

"We're not doing it for you, we're doing it for Capsicle. Now come on, we've got a hotel to check in to and I think we could all use some sleep."

I nodded and stood up. I turned to Ranger and gave him a quick hug before starting to follow the Avengers out of the room. He called out to me, "Babe, I know you got your backup phone. Leave it off for the night. I already let your family and friends know you're okay. You can delete all the messages tomorrow. And you can take tomorrow off if you want."

I just shook my head and he said, "okay, but you can come in a little late if you want. But you still have to go to the gym."

"I know! And I'll be in by 0700 to make sure you don't kill Les on the mats."

I saw Lester nod his gratitude to me.

Tony called out, "Expect a shipment in the morning. I'm going to go ahead and stock your gym up with some extra punching bags."

The Avengers just nodded their heads in acknowledgment while the Merry Men looked baffled by that comment. Ranger shrugged and then tossed me two sets of SUV keys and we were off.

"I can't believe I'm living with the Avengers temporarily," I thought, "I hope they understand what they've gotten themselves into."