"I've got dinner plans. Can't you people hurry up?"
Tony kept jiggling his leg. "It's almost six. What the hell do you want?"
"With that Asian tour group you just met?" Natasha smiled as she brought over a pot of coffee and filled her stainless-steel mug.
"With Pepper Potts. Do you know how many times I've stood her up?" Tony shook his head helplessly.
"Oh, sorry." Natasha set the coffeepot in front of Tony and took a sip. "But you know how serious today's attempt to steal the Cosmic Cube and Loki's scepter was. And then there's that zombie who came out of nowhere."
"I don't know where he came from either, but the scans show that the virus spread through his bodily fluids is far beyond anything on Earth," Tony said.
It wasn't that he didn't trust his fellow Avengers. It was that S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was now no different from Hydra headquarters.
Besides, he knew their habits as well as he knew the hair on his own legs. Those people wouldn't be able to resist stripping every last secret off him.
"Why not invite Natasha along?" Nick Fury pushed open the frosted-glass door and walked in. "Garen should like a mature beauty like her. She's prettier than Jennifer."
"Motherfucker." Tony rolled his eyes.
He'd known it would come to this. Anyone who cared to investigate could find out that Ge Xiaolun had once stayed at Stark Tower.
But judging by what Fury had said, they'd been watching him for days. Jennifer.
Playboy had only had one cover girl named Jennifer, in last July's issue.
"S.W.O.R.D.?"
"No. You're better off not asking about that."
Tony's expression turned serious. "They don't belong to any organization on Earth. I promise you, they'll be friends, not enemies."
Nick Fury's dark face betrayed nothing.