The Quinjet landed with little grace on the strip of the flying Helicarrier. It was smoking in various areas and was riddled in bullet holes and impact dents. Two more landed behind it, sputtering to a still or grinding gears to halt. The ramp was slowly let down and the first out was Alex. He was covered in dirt, sweat, and his clothes were torn. He had dried blood stained here and there and a somber look on his face.

Behind him the rest of the Neo-Avengers were sitting in their seats, minus one. Alex knew the Director was going to want to know what happened out there on the field, and where Johnny was but he didn't expect him to be on the deck besides Allen. He asked exactly what he expected.

"After the mission went south he wanted us to drop him off somewhere. Said he's cashing in on that chance to find his old buddy," Alex said mechanically and rehearsed.

"That's….a shame." Fury said, a brief flash of some emotion going across his face. Was he disappointed? "We'll try finding you a replacement in the meantime. Until then I want a -full- debrief on what happened out there, while I consider if I should get you a replacement for your team."

"With respect, the mission was a failure, our intel was off as I'll describe. But I think I already found our next best recruit."

Rosette and Stephanie stepped off the lift dragging something out. He was on a gourney, beaten within an inch of his life. Not much better than either of the two women, but who he was shocked even the director himself.

"Peter." Allen snarled, "You brought him here?"

"Get him to medbay, and get yourselves checked out," Fury said waving Allen off. "The second you get the all clear from the docs you're to report to my office without delay." The severity of the situation caused him to stress the last two words before they all walked off.

After they left Allen sighed, "So much for trying to retrieve the sensitive data. It's most likely gone at this point, want me to sink?"

Fury was silent as he turned around to walk back to the CIC. Allen followed after suppressing the pain in his right arm again. Alex saw them leave, then entered after his friends. Why wasn't I in on the full plan? Is that why Allen wasn't allowed to go with us? Questions raked at his mind. He traded places with Stephanie to carry Peter all the way to the medical bay where there was an armed detachment asking to take him. He was hesitant but ultimately relinquished his grip on the gurney to let them take him to a special closed off area.

He entered the medical area, sat down, and reclined in his seat. It didn't take long for his eyes to feel impossibly heavy, and he fell asleep shortly after.

Allen stood at the helm of the helicarrier looking across everyone. He could tell why Fury liked it up here, you could almost feel a certain kind of power. It wasn't his to have though, which he didn't mind. Being in command of others wasn't his style, unless of course it was in combat. It was something he enjoyed more now. Being unable to fight alongside his team was a downside. He understood why he was benched though, it was a surgical strike meant to gather intel and bring a base down. It was also mostly an underground complex meaning no full dragon form, but he still had his half dragon which could have been useful. Hell, he let's me to covert ops stuff, why couldn't I go on a mission like them?

"Allen," Fury called. The tone in his voice made it apparent that it wasn't the first time he tried calling the dragon. The one eyed commander had his arms folded, his finger tapping against his arm. Allen quickly stepped out of his way.

"Sorry, was thinking."

"About what?"

"Doesn't matter," he replied. "So when am I going out next?"

"Not for awhile." Allen let slip a small sigh that came off as a growl. "You have something to tell me?"

"Why can't I go on missions? You know what I can do-"

"I don't. And neither does our enemy, because when you go out it's in isolated areas where no one can snap a picture of you and report it back."

"Who cares people already know who I am anyway, people have seen me in the city anyway."

"Which is another reason why you're on strict leave. The people see you as a threat. They call you 'Dreadwing' and you embrace it. Not exactly hero material."

"Who said anything about needing to be a squeaky clean hero?" Allen replied flashing some pointy teeth. Fury watched him closely as he trotted out of the CIC and on the deck. They were high into the clouds and it was very overcast. The ground was masked and untraceable but some light still bled through.

It was the city that never slept after all. Sirens could still be heard by his ears, faint as they were. He didn't leap off the platform heroically, spread his wings, and swoop down to help like Alex might have.

No. He turned on his heel and moved back to where his cabin was. He was going to sleep the night off, and think of a new way to get to asgard.

He looked at his dragon scaled arm. It didn't look like much changed, but he could tell something was different. He immediately claimed the bathroom and took his shirt off. The scales weren't just on his left arm anymore. They began to move onto his shoulder and parts of his back, and more than the last time he saw also. He swore softly to himself, put his shirt back on, and walked out.

Alex never left the medbay after his check in with Fury. He was understandably mad at his call. He sacrificed the whole mission for his old high school friend. A friend that died for him. Maybe Allen was right and he was too emotional a leader to make good judgement calls. They just don't know what it's like to have a second chance at getting a friend back. He sighed looking at Peter from the other side of the plexiglass barrier that surrounded him.

Everyone else saw a monster, but he only saw a classmate who saved the city dozens of times over. He couldn't see anything else. Were the straps bindings his arms and legs even necessary? Or the needles? A whole score of people were hovering over him taking blood, giving injections, and setting IVs.

"How is he?" A calm voice behind him approached with footsteps echoing on metal in an otherwise quiet hallway.

"Hey Steph."

She stood at his side looking into the room. "I… don't know how you're doing-"

"I'm fine."

"But are you?"

He wasn't ready to lie to her, but he couldn't be honest about the situation. "I'll be better once he's himself again."

They both were silent for a long moment, then Alex felt a tug on his arm. "Let's go get something to eat. I haven't eaten anything since we got back, and I'm sure you haven't in longer."

She wasn't wrong but leaving felt even more wrong. "Don't you think Peter would want you to go about your life and not let him get in your way?" She asked after his blank spell. He turned down to look at her, and let out a small smile.

"Yea. He'd hate that." He nodded at her then turned heading down to the mess to grab some food.

Allen walked alone in the halls moving about the ship. He received a few stares but didn't think too much of it instead going into a small room. The door was nondescript and bland. He tested the doorknob and found it locked. Damn. "Excuse me, sir?" Sir? Shit.

He turned around and saw a shield agent standing behind him, "What are you doing there?"

"Trying to get inside," Allen answered him plainly.

"Do you have clearance?"

"Clearance? I just want to look at a couple tapes from a mission my team was just on."

"I'm sorry sir but I'm going to have to take you to see the commander about this?" Allen took a closer look at him. Young, just about a few years or so older than him in fact. He held himself in a strong stance, but his eyes darting back and forth betrayed him. He was nervous.

The amusing thought of giving him a hard time crossed his mind, but the grunt was honestly just following words on paper. Allen wasn't even in a shield uniform; instead in jeans, a long sleeve shirt and wholly unofficial looking "Sure, take me to your leader then." He sighed turning back at the door for a look before moving to follow the guard.

"You want to look at the tapes? Why?"

"Where's Fury he was just here a couple minutes ago?"

Maria Hill grunted, "Fury left a couple minutes ago. He's a busy man who can't babysit a couple of kids." Her words wounded Allens pride a little bit, "now why did you want the archives?"

"Watch the mission report that my team just went on that I couldn't be there for, since someone didn't want me to go."

"You can read the mission report as soon as your team leader submits it."

"No," Allen cut in, "I want the footage to see for myself. I felt something happen there, I want to know what happened."

"Felt...something?"

"Just...trust me. I felt something underground, like something was awakened but then it was gone. I think it was something they had, but got rid of maybe."

Hill shook her head, "Well there you have it. Whatever it was, they got rid of it."

Allen let out a small snarl, "Forget it then, am I getting a mission sometime soon?" He felt something tugging at him and he looked out the many windows that took up the bridge of the ship. Now is the time. There is enough power for you to travel to the realm of Asgard. Make haste. The mental link was gone as soon as it arrived. "I need some time to take care of something."

"Yeah? Being a superhero isn't a weekend job you know."

"No, I wouldn't. I keep getting benched, so if you'll excuse me I'm going to a training camp."

"Where?" Hill asked confused and frustrated as he began to make his exit.

"No where you'll find soon."