I thought I might as well post this once I was done :)

yesiamweird: Thank you!


Chapter Two

The plane landed easily and Gwen got out of her seat. She slung her bag on her shoulder again and allowed Agent Thorn to carry her suitcase once more.

Gwen exited the jet and saw a nice looking car already waiting for her on the landing strip. There was a familiar man standing by it, or really leaning on it casually, and Gwen felt even more irritated.

"What's up, buttercup?" asked Tony Stark as Gwen and Agent Thorn approached.

Tony's dark hair was styled and he was wearing a gray suit and darkened sunglasses, despite the setting sun.

"I told you to stop calling me that," muttered Gwen as Tony opened the trunk and let Agent Thorn place the suitcase inside.

"Thank you, Agent," said Tony. "Though I must say people really need to come up with better first names."

"That's not his real name," said Gwen as she rubbed her temples.

"And are you sure of that?"

Tony came around the passenger side of the red vehicle and Gwen followed.

He opened the door. "In you go, Gwen."

"I told you to stop calling me that, too."

"Haven't you learned I don't listen to you?"

Scowling, Gwen ducked into the car and a new car smell filled her nose. She savored the smell as when Tony got into the driver's seat, her irritation returned.

"You better stop being Miss Grumpy before we get there," said Tony as he started up the car and put it in drive. "Pepper's got a big meal planned out."

"A meal you didn't help her with?" asked Gwen.

"Well, she does have JARVIS."

"Typical."

Tony glanced over at Gwen for a moment as the lights of the private strip disappeared behind them.

"You seem even crankier today, buttercup."

Gwen signed. "I'm tired."

"Oh please," said Tony rolling his eyes. "If Gwendolyn Powers is tired then I'm a llama."

Gwen suppressed a smile as the lights of New York came into view, the brightest being Stark Tower.

"Did Fury tell you when I'm to be there tomorrow?" inquired Gwen.

"You'll be there when you'll be there," answered Tony with a wave of his hand.

"But I'm sure Fury has orders-"

"Buttercup, you need to stop worrying. If it makes you feel any better, Banner will be at dinner."

Gwen actually did feel a bit better that Bruce Banner would be there. While everyone else cowered in fear of him and his "anger problems," Gwen took the initiative to become friends with the doctor. Although she did not seem him often, they kept in contact through phone calls, texts, and emails.

"As long as he doesn't smash," said Gwen.

Tony smiled. "Gwenie's back."

"Don't call me that either."


"JARVIS!" exclaimed Tony as he and Gwen entered the elevator inside Stark Tower. "Take us up to the penthouse."

"Yes, Mr. Stark," replied the cool voice of JARVIS. "It is good to see you again, Miss Powers."

"Same here, JARVIS," she answered, realizing too late that she could not actually see JARVIS.

The elevator began its ascent and Tony slipped his hands in his pants pockets.

"Wait until you see what Banner and I have been working on," said Tony with a mischievous smirk.

"It can't be any good," said Gwen with a sigh. "I don't trust you two together."

"But you don't really trust us apart either, do you?"

"No, not really."

The elevator finally came to a halt and the silver doors slid open to reveal the penthouse. It had been completely repaired after the near-apocalyptic events that had occurred several months before.

Outside, Gwen saw that the sun had completely set and there were already some stars in the sky. She wondered how marvelous it was to live in place like this, though, Tony and Pepper Potts only lived here about half the time.

"Gwendolyn!"

Gwen turned to see Pepper hurrying from the kitchen space to where they had stepped out of the elevator, her orange hair flying behind her.

Pepper wrapped Gwen up in a welcoming hug and after a moment moved back.

"The place looks nice, Pepper," stated Gwen.

"We had some help," she said moving back to the kitchen.

"I don't even get a hello?" asked Tony with mock offense.

"You aren't the guest, Tony," Pepper retorted.

"And she's not the only one of those."

Gwen looked at the sound of the voice and found Bruce Banner sitting at the table, glasses perched upon his nose. There were papers laying around on the table and Tony moved forward to start cleaning them up.

"It's nice to see you again, doctor," said Gwen.

She moved towards Bruce, who had stood up, and shook his hand. She pulled out the chair next to him and sat down.

"Tony says you're working on something," stated Gwen.

"They're always working on something," answered Pepper. Her eye roll was audible.

"It was Stark's idea, really," added Bruce as he removed his glasses.

"Nah, I'm not going to take all the credit..." Tony trailed off.

"How about twelve percent?" asked Pepper.

"You're never going to let that go, are you?"

Tony finished cleaning up the papers and moved them onto a counter. The mahogany table was now fully visible and Pepper began placing dishes down.

"Do you need any help with that?" asked Gwen beginning to stand up.

"No, no, no," said Pepper. "If anyone's going to help, it'll be Tony."

The genius man gave an exasperated sigh and helped his girlfriend set the table.

"Would you mind showing me what you're working on?" asked Gwen.

She saw Pepper sigh as she added the salt and pepper to table and took her seat across from Gwen.

"I honestly think it's a waste of time," said the woman.

"It is not," replied Tony. He put his plate down across from Bruce. "I'll show you."

Tony went over to the kitchen counter and picked up a small device with a large red button.

"Watch," he commanded as he pointed out the windows. Gwen watched him push the button and turned her attention to the window.

Outside was a spotlight shining into the night sky. But it wasn't just a light. It was a picture of the face of Tony's Iron Man helmet. It was almost like the Batman symbol.

"You made some sort of 'superhero symbol?'" asked Gwen with a laugh.

"If anyone is in trouble, they can just push the button," said Tony. "Then I can rush out and save the day."

"He wants to make one for me," said Bruce as Tony turned off the light with another push of the button. "But I don't think I need one."

"No one needs one," said Pepper.

"But how is it going to work?" asked Gwen. "I mean, are people going to have to run up here to the penthouse to push the button?"

"Nope," answered Tony as he sat down at the table. "Once it's perfected, it will be installed at every traffic light. Then it'll shine out and everything."

Gwen was quiet in thought for a moment. "But what if you can't see it?"

"That's why I said we're 'working' on it. I'm adding some music to it. AC/DC doesn't sound too bad."

Pepper gave another sigh.

"Wait," said Gwen, setting down her fork and leaning back. "You mean to tell me that when people push this button, it will shine a bright light in the sky and play AC/DC? How loud will this music be?"

"Loud enough for New York City to hear," said Tony as if this was nothing.

"Tony, if it's that loud and people can just go up to traffic lights and push it, they'll just do it as a prank and wake the city up."

"That's exactly what I told him," agreed Bruce. "We might as well just make it mandatory that each household has one."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Those are just minor complications."

"Why don't you just use a pager?" suggested Gwen. "Like, these people can push the button, like you want, but instead of the light and the music, a pager goes off."

"Best idea I've heard all day," said Pepper with a smile.

"Yes," said Tony who seemed annoyed, "but my face doesn't show up in the sky if I do that."

"That's not your real face," argued Gwen. "It's a mask."

"It's not a mask," replied Tony. "It's a helmet."

"Whatever, Tony."

"So," said Pepper to change the subject, "how is the base in Chicago?"

"Not as exciting," Gwen answered. "We generally don't get mythical gods attacking our city."

"Well, then you should've never left Stark Industries," retorted Tony.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Tony, you told me to join SHIELD. What did you say, that it'd be 'good for me'?"

"I only said that because they said they'd kidnap you if you didn't leave working for me."

"I'm sure. Anyway, I'm glad to be leaving Chicago. I just didn't fit in there. Nobody understood me like you guys."

"Aw, would you look at that," said Tony with a smirk on his face, "she likes us."

"I didn't say I liked you Tony," Gwen pointed out. "It's just that no one in Chicago understood my headaches. Or really anything. I didn't want to tell them."

"Oh, speaking of your headaches," said Bruce, "we've got a new batch of medication for you. Hopefully it'll last longer than the last one."

"Thanks, Doctor," answered Gwen. "I appreciate it."

After dinner, Bruce left for wherever it was he was living and Pepper showed Gwen to the guest bedroom. It was a nice sized room with white walls and a white bed. Gwen placed her suitcase on the dresser and Pepper left to do whatever she did with Tony at night. Gwen did not want to know what it was, so she unzipped her suitcase and took out some clothes and placed them in the dresser.

By the time her suitcase was empty, Gwen realized that her headache had finally gone away. She joked in her head that the source of it was Agent Maxwell. But it did make her begin to wonder why he wanted to know what she was doing the Chicago SHIELD labs. Of course, she wasn't about to tell someone other than Tony and Bruce that she had actually been working on replicating the medication they made her as she was doing it unauthorized and she knew that if Fury found out about her headaches, he'd require her to go through tests. Which involved needles. Gwen did not like needles.

Gwen changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants and turned on the television.

"JARVIS?" she asked.

"Yes, Agent Powers?"

"Can you find me a good news channel to watch?"

"Of course."

The television flipped through the channels at a record speed until it landed on a local news show.

"A plane crash occured only one hour ago which is said to have killed three people," came the voice of an anchorman, "It was a private jet that was leaving New York for Chicago. Those killed are the pilot, Charles Johnson, the co-pilot, Alan Shilling, and the only passanger, identified as James Thorn."

Gwen froze and her heart stopped in her chest. Was it possible another jet was leaving New York for Chicago which contained a passanger with the same name as Agent Thorn? Not likely. But what about Agent Maxwell? Did he escape? Was he even on the plane?

But this meant Agent Thorn was dead. He was dead. He had been in the hightest position in Chicago. Agent Thorn was a good man who did nothing wrong. And now he was dead.

Gwen quickly turned off the television as if it was deadly and hopped into bed, hoping she wasn't going to have anymore dreams like the previous night about a man with a hat that looked like a ram's head.