Lennon heard the blast from the gun, and waited for the impact, but it never came. The blast rang out, and sounded like it hit something solid.
When the blast didn't hit, her eyes flew open, and a man in a red, white, and blue uniform was hunched over her with a shield held out in front of him.
He quickly jumped up and knocked the creature back with the shield before coming down on top of it and repeatedly bashing it's head in.
Lennon took those few moments to scramble back from them and get to her feet. Her body was beginning to ache horribly, but that wasn't something she could focus on right now.
What she needed to do was find a way to safety. The man in the uniform turned to her a few moments later after the creature was no longer moving and grabbed her arm. "Follow me."
He didn't leave any room for argument, not that she would have anyway. The man hauled her behind him as he ran down the street. It was hard for her to keep up, her body ached and her lungs burned. But there was no time to stop.
Both of their heads were turning from side to side as they ran, making sure that nothing was going to sneak up on them. They ran about a block when they came upon a couple of the creatures who had a family, including two children backed into a corner with their guns held out in front of them, ready to fire.
Lennon felt the man hesitate as he noticed as well. She pulled her arm out of his grasp and shoved him in their direction. "Go!" She had to shout to be heard over the loud commotion of the disaster going on around them.
He once again hesitated, not knowing what to do, so she gave him another push and then kept running the way that they already were.
The chaos surrounded her. The buildings were destroyed, cars were burnt up, and there were people lying all over the street. It was really the most terrifying thing that the planet had ever witnessed, and she had to be right in the center of It.
She really hoped that Tony was taking care of himself and that Pepper wasn't back yet. She didn't want anyone else she cared about being affected by this. She still hadn't been able to find Dean.
As she ran closer to Stark Tower she began to see more and more of the creatures all over. It was just when she was beginning to step out from behind a building she heard a huge roar come from behind her. She had just barely stepped out of the way when a large, green body came charging out and took on a large amount of the creatures.
She watched as an opening was made in the street and took her chance. As soon as she saw the large, green beast take out another large group of creatures she ran for it. She made it about halfway across the street when another creature ran out and grabbed her arm.
Immediately she tried to fling it off, but it was much stronger. She fought with the creature for a moment before it went limp and it dropped to her feet with an arrow embedded in the back of it's neck.
Just as she went to run the rest of the way down the street a hand grabbed the back of her shirt and hauled her back, and just in time. She was barely pulled back as the green beast went running in front of her, just narrowly missing.
Whipping around she found the man in the red, white, and blue suit standing there with his hand still on her shoulder. His head was turning in every direction and his shield was held out, waiting to be struck.
He gripped her shoulder a little bit harder and started running, leaving her with no choice but to stay by his side. "This way." He quickly dove off to the right and hauled them into an alleyway. He let go of her shoulder before saying something, but it wasn't meant for her from the way his head was turned and he was looking out into the street.
Just then a ginormous whale like creature went flying by In the street. It was so large that it took up the entire street, and would smash into the buildings in some areas. There was no way that they could take that down.
"I need you to stay here." He was no longer looking out into the street. His eyes were now focused on her, and he couldn't have been only a foot away.
"What?" She was extremely confused, he wanted her to stay there? Right in the middle of all the chaos, that didn't seem to be the most safe location.
"With you here, I can make sure you're safe." She was once again confused. Why did it really matter if her, one person in the whole city was safe. "We've all been given strict instructions by Stark to keep you safe."
That made a lot more sense. "Well, I guess I'll be right here."
With one last departing nod, he turned and ran out into the chaotic street and began attacking creatures all around him.
Lennon noticed the large dumpster back behind her and ran over to it. That was the only thing that could even remotely keep her hidden.
As she was hunched down behind the dumpster, it allowed her a few moments to think. Her first and most prominent thought was that she needed to find Dean. Just thinking about all the possibilities made her stomach sick. Nothing could happen to him, it would kill her.
Her next thought was of Tony. She was extremely worried about him. She would be worried about Pepper as well, but she knew that she was safe on her plane. Tony on the other hand was out in the middle of everything trying to bring down Loki. She really didn't know a whole lot about his Iron Man suit, or how much power he had in it. But she really hoped that he would be able to handle all of this.
Her last thought was of her family. Although she hadn't been in contact with them as much as she should have been, it didn't make her care about them any less. Her mother had to be a wreck, she could only imagine what she was thinking.
Her older brother, he was probably trying to find the first flight out to find her. Being all the way on the opposite side of the country would make that a little bit difficult though.
From back behind the dumpster, Lennon couldn't see anything. But after sitting there for a while, and listening to the loud shots, screams, and roars of everything going on. It was extremely terrifying when everything suddenly went silent.
Lennon didn't know what that meant. Did they win? Or did they lose? Either way, she wasn't going to be rushing out and checking.
It had to be another twenty minutes, at least, before she heard footsteps walking down the alley. Her first instinct was to run, but then she remembered that the man had told her to stay there.
She turned so she was facing outward, and prepared herself to attack, just in case. But as the steps neared, she didn't have to. "Lennon?"
It was the same man from earlier. Letting out a deep breath that she didn't know she was holding, she stepped out from behind the dumpster. The man, or Captain America, as the world knew him, was waiting Just beside the dumpster.
She walked over to him, and before she could lose her nerve, she walked right up to him and threw her arms around him in a right hug.
Lennon wasn't a very affectionate person, but in the situation, she couldn't really help it. She needed to show her gratitude in some way, and that was it.
Captain America was caught off guard. Surely there weren't people running up and hugging him on the regular. After a moment, he finally allowed one of his gloved hands to rest on her upper back, just between her shoulder blades.
The hug only lasted a few moments before Lennon pulled back. She felt slightly embarassed, but tried to hide it by changing the subject. "Where's Tony?"
He was silent for a moment, and that made her start to panic. He must have noticed by how quickly he answered. "He's fine, he's out there." Jabbing his thumb over his shoulder he motioned out toward the street.
Lennon quickly began her march out into the street, and what she saw made her stop immediately and look around.
The city was a mess. There were people's bodies, and the creatures bodies littering the ground everywhere. The buildings there destroyed. And even though it looked as if all the creatures were gone, everyone was still on high alert, almost as if waiting to be attacked again.
Lennon was still frozen in place when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. Looking back it was Captain America, he looked over her shoulder before giving a nod in front of them.
When she turned back around there was Tony, and four other people standing in the street. All five of them looked pretty beat up.
Brushing off the man's hand she took off at a run and disnt stop until her body slammed into Tony's. Tony wasn't known to be a very affectionate man either, but he clung to her just as hard as she hung on to him.
Their embrace was very brief and after a moment they both pulled back. As they pulled back Tony let a smirk cross his face before touching a rather sore spot on the younger woman's face. "You look like shit, kid."
She scoffed and shoved the man away from her. "You don't look so beautiful either."
Tony reached out and pulled the younger woman under his arm, she was pretty sure he was trying to discreetly use her as a came. He then motioned towards the rest of the crew. "Lennon, these are the merry band of misfits I was telling you about."
Lennon watched as he got dirty looks from the people standing in front of thwm, but didn't say anything. "Thank you."
She sort of just blurted it out, but it was more or less what she meant. These people had single handedly saved the city.
"I'm starving." Lennon looked over at Tony who was still leaning heavily against her. "Want to grab a bite to eat?"
Lennon laughed a moment and shook her head. Now that everything had settled, she remembered Dean. "I need to find Dean." She took a step away and watched as he shifted his weight to try and find a less uncomfortable position. "Have you seen him?"
Tony gave her a look before smirking. "Sorry kiddo, was a little to busy saving the world to keep an eye out for your boyfriend."
She shoved the man one last time before taking a few steps away. "I'm going to go find him." After she walked a little further away she turned back, "Call Pepper, let her know you're alive. She's probably freaking out."
As she turned back around she heard him curse before asking someone for a cell phone. Lennon was about half a block away when she heard footsteps running after her. Her immediate reaction was defense, but as she turned she saw that it was Captain America.
"I was just seeing if you would like some help?" As she looked up into his masked face, she noticed his bright blue eyes and smiled.
"Help would be great, I have no idea where to even start." He gave her a smile and they started walking down the street.
As they walked down the street there were people all around them stopping them and thanking Captain America. It was nice and all, but Lennon was on a mission to find Dean.
After an hour, Lennon was beginning to panic, and it was taking everything in her to keep herself from outwardly freaking out.
"We'll find him." Captain America was watching her with a sympathetic expression. She was just about to thank him again when they heard her name being called out.
Lennon had spun in a complete circle before being stopped by a pair of hands. They turned her to face a direction, and there in front of her was Dean, running full speed toward her.
She waited for him to get to her, and as soon as he did his arms went around her and pulled her into the tightest hug imaginable. "Len, you idiot."
Pulling back far enough to look in his face she gave him a dark look. "Idiot?"
"Yes, idiot." He pulled her back in and hurried his head into the top of her head. "You're not a superhero, you can't just run around the city when it's being invaded."
She scowled at the man before pulling away, taking a moment to examine him. He looked uninjured, and clean, he must have found a safe place to hide,
As she looked up into his face once more she saw that she was no longer the focus of his attention. He was now looking over her shoulder, where she had forgotten Captain America was standing.
Grabbing Dean's arm she pulled him over to the man in the uniform. "Dean, this is Captain America." She watched as the two watched each other. Captain America held out his hand and Dean immediately grabbed it.
"Thank you," he paused and looked back to Lennon. "Thanks for watching after her."
Lennon let herself roll her eyes before Grabbing Dean's other arm and holding onto it tightly. She wasn't ever going to let him out of her sight again. "I took care of myself just fine."
Captain America looked over at her and gave her a small smile, but didn't say anything otbebrwise. They both knew she probably wouldn't have made it out of the invasion of it weren't for him.
He then took a couple steps away from them before motioning back towards the tower. "Now that we've found him, I should probably go meet up with the others."
Lennon let go of Dean and stepped forward toward the man. He seemed confused and took another step back, Lennon could hear Dean chuckle from behind her.
She took another step forward and reached out and grabbed his arm. He sort of froze in place, and Lennon took that as her chance, taking the last step to pull him down into another awkward embrace.
Once again, he took a moment before reacting. This time, with an awkward pat on the back. She smiled and stepped back from the man. "Thank you again, Captain?" She questioned, not quite knowing what to call him.
He just watched her a moment, and when he didn't say anything else, she started back toward Dean. "Steve." She turned back and he was looking from her to the man behind her. "My name is Steve."
Lennon smiled at the man, before giving him a nod. "Thank you, Steve." She then turned around and took Dean's arm, leading him off and in the direction that would take them home.
"Mom, I'm fine." Lennon was pacing around her condo with her phone pressed to her ear. She was now home, clean and bandaged up. Dean was sprawled across her couch as she tried to convince her mother that her and her brother, Matt didn't need to come out.
Lennon was silent for a few moments as her mother spoke on the other side of the phone. Dean had not sat up and was watching her from the back of the couch.
"Mom, if you insist on coming, let it be just one of you." She was silent again as her mom rattled off on the other end. Dean was amused by how frustrated Lennon was becoming with her mother. "Yes, I am fine, really."
"Tell them to FaceTime you." Dean suggested as he picked up the pillow next to him and threw it at her.
She snapped her fingers in excitement and nodded. "Mom, you guys can FaceTime me. Then you'll see that I'm safe, and not injured." She then picked the pillow up and hurled it back at Dean, who caught it effortlessly. "Yes, okay. Give me half an hour, I have Dean here." There was a pause as her mother spoke again. "Yes mom, I will." Dean rolled his eyes as the conversation came to an end. "I love you too, talk to you soon."
As soon as she hung up the phone she placed it on the table and let out a loud, exasperated groan. "They are so annoying."
She didn't even walk around the couch, she just threw herself over the back and came to land half on the couch, and half on Dean.
"They are just worried about you." Dean reached down and started playing with the damp hair that rested against his thigh. "I would be too, if I weren t here with you."
"I know, I know." She sighed and looked up at him from his leg. "That's the only reason I'm being as understanding as I am." And it was true, Lennon wasn't the most patient person when it came to her family.
"Len, just give them a break." He smirked down at her and she shoved his hand away from her head before closing her eyes. "Have you checked in with Stark and Pepper."
She sat up and shook her head. She really wanted to as well, at least to make sure that Pepper was okay. She hadnt spoken with her since everything happened.
However, in all the chaos, she had lost her cell phone and that held all of her contacts. She stood up from the couch and went over to her table, picking up her laptop. "Well, I guess I better get this over with." She started walking down the hallway to her room, before pausing and turning back to Dean. "I'm really glad you're safe Dean, I don't know what I would do without you."
She gave him one last smile and walked down the hallway to her bedroom. However what she didn't see was the way that the man on the couch watched her as she walked away. Or the groan he let out as he threw himself back into the couch, in an almost fit like motion.
She also didn't hear him, as he said the three words that would change everything there was in their friendship.