Thor had just risen from the couch when the encrypted phone vibrated again.
The attachment had been updated.
The list of missing personnel had grown from twenty-three to forty-one.
Yang Ming scrolled through the names, then placed the phone facedown on the table.
"Move all the backup plasma, refrigerated containers and all. Don't run around carrying the bags."
Thor stopped rubbing his eyes.
"How much?"
"All of it."
Footsteps came from the basement. Yang Ming opened the Defenders' channel and sent out the highest-priority assembly order.
[Assemble at the clinic. Bring communicators and first-aid kits. Do not connect to the S.H.I.E.L.D. network yet.]
Peter replied first.
[Aliens again?]
Yang Ming studied the surveillance screenshot Fury had sent afterward. A gray figure hovered amid shattered glass, his scepter pressed against Barton's chest.
[This one knows how to use tools.]
Nineteen minutes later, the clinic had run out of chairs.
When Peter climbed through the window, he nearly collided with Thor, who was turning with a refrigerated container in his arms. Both stepped aside, then both shifted the other way.
"Stop," Yang Ming said.
Both stopped.
"Plasma first."
Harry steadied a corner of the container, clearing a path for Thor. Gwen Stacy shut the window. Venom poked half his face out, saw Ebony Maw on the screen, and withdrew again.
"That doesn't look like a face that brings chocolate."
Mindy rested her gun across her knees and wiped the action with a cloth. Damon checked her magazines, took one away, and replaced it with another.
"Don't mix them up."
"I can tell them apart."
"Then you picked the wrong one just now."
Matt and Frank were the last to enter. Felicia shifted half a step aside, offering Frank the chair by the door. He remained standing.