Gwen nodded, getting the coded reference.
"I take it you didn't get to put on a suit and enjoy the nightlife like I know you do here in the Big Apple?" Gwen asked.
"Nah," Peter replied. "Only got to dress up the once and that was in some forest where hardly anyone could see. It was so cool, though, I was swinging around like Tarzan or something."
Doreen let loose a snorting laugh. "Tarzan wears a loincloth, you … don't."
"Hey, don't dis the duds," Peter shot back.
Gwen's eyes rapidly flicked back and forth between the two before widening in alarm and settling on Peter.
"She knows?" she hissed.
Peter's eyes were darting about even as his mouth was opening and closing, for once devoid of any quips or comments. A hand lightly grasping her wrist turned her head.
Harry was staring intently at her. "It's okay. Doreen knows how to keep a secret. She knows about me, too, remember?"
Gwen stared back at him for a long moment before nodding once.
"You will, won't you?" Gwen asked Doreen intently. "Keep Peter's secret."
"Of course," Doreen replied solemnly. "We all know each other's secrets and will keep them."
Again, Gwen's eyes narrowed. Her phrasing seemed slightly … off. As though Peter and Harry knew some secret about Doreen. Suddenly, her suspicions were running rampant.
"Where were you this past week?" Gwen asked.
Doreen's eyes switched to Harry and Gwen could see the pleading look on her face.
"I told you, Gwen, Doreen was off getting a different kind of education," Peter replied.
"And you'd know that, how?" Gwen asked, switching to stare at him.
"Um, er, she told me?" Peter replied unconvincingly.
"When?" Gwen challenged.
"Before you sat down?" he suggested.
Harry's groan switched Gwen's focus onto him. She sat back slightly in shock at unexpectedly seeing him with one hand rubbing his forehead while slightly shaking said head.
"You are a terrible liar, aren't you?" Harry half-asked, half-stated.
"Hey, its' Gwen!" Peter protested. "You know she's my weakness. Like kryptonite or something. I can't lie to her. Never could. She always knows. She's just spooky like that."
"Really?" Harry replied. "In that case, remind me to mention that fact to Clint and Nat so that they can spend some extra time with you at the Academy teaching you some of their spy skills."
"Really? That's be so cool," Peter replied excitedly. "I could be a spy. I'd be a great spy. I could get into places that others couldn't."
"That's not what I meant," Harry stated flatly.
"What about me? Can I learn that stuff, too?" Doreen asked.
Again, Harry groaned.
"Wait! What? You're in the AA, too?" Gwen asked.
"AA?" a confused Doreen repeated.
Gwen leaned in close to whisper, "Avengers Academy."
"Oh, ah, yeah?" she replied, before looking at both Harry and Peter. "What? Peter already said that he can't keep a secret from her. And you both trust her. So, I figured that I could trust her, too."
"Now you've got to tell me," Gwen stated.
"I think we'd better take this upstairs," Harry said. "You done?"
Gwen looked down at her mostly empty plate. While she could eat a couple more bites, her curiosity was in full swing now and there was no way that she'd be able to concentrate on the remainder of her meal.
"Yeah, I'm done," she said, pushing her plate away. "Let's go."
ooo00ooo
Jennifer huddled in the shadows, taking the occasional peek around the corner as she waited for the right moment to make her move. While she was no longer as … exposed as she had been, that didn't mean that her … greenness wasn't still obvious. Nor her size. There wasn't much that she could do to disguise that.
She'd been travelling at night, trying to avoid people as much as possible but it hadn't been easy. Things had become a little better after she'd … acquired some clothes. Really, that had been a priority. Trying to cross the county in a ripped hospital gown wasn't going to work. Not to mention that it was highly inappropriate and showed off a lot more than just the fact that she was green, including the fact that she was green all over.
Breaking into the department store had been child's play. Smashing the window with her elbow may have meant that she'd been cut by the broken glass, but that cut healed up barely a minute later. The alarm that sounded had also been easy to deal with – she simply squished the metal thing with her hand until it was a ball of red and stopped making any sound before dropping it.
The white and purple shirt that she'd found was tight, but it at least fit. For pants, she'd needed to go to the men's department to find ones that would fit. Well, sort of fit – they only went partway down her shins, after all. The great overcoat felt good, although it was very tight across her shoulders. A simple scarf covered her head. But when it came to shoes, that was a dud, they had nothing in her size, whatever number that happened to now be.
Jennifer knew that she wasn't far outside of Los Angeles and that was after a number of days of hiding and sneaking about. Where she needed to go was to New York. That was where the address of Bruce's friend was. But at her rate of travel, it'd take years to get there.
Thus, her present location.
Taking a quick look around the corner again, she noted that finally the coast was clear.
With her long legs and new, enhanced speed, getting across the open ground from the building to the shadows of the freight train didn't take long at all. Now, all she had to do was to get inside one of the cars and she could ride the thing all the way across the country.
After checking that there still wasn't anyone to see her, Jennifer ducked out and around to the door of the second last car. She frowned at the lock before simply grabbing it and twisting it off. Then, using her great strength, she pulled open the door, jumped inside and pulled the door closed once more.
The inside of this car was filled with pallets of boxes, but there was just enough room, if she moved things around slightly, to allow her to slip deeper into the car and to hide for the ride. It didn't bode well in terms of comfort, but Jennifer was willing to put up with that if it meant finding her cousin all that much quicker.
And the sooner she found Bruce, the sooner he could explain things and put her right again.
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