Heroes Assemble!

The Afterparty

"Sir, Mister Potter and his party are in the elevator," Jarvis said into Tony's earpiece. "One appears to be the lawyer you expected, Matthew Murdock; the other is an unknown female."

"You know what to do," Tony subvocalized.

"Yes, Sir," Jarvis replied.

Grabbing his drink off of the top of the bar, Tony casually threaded his way through the group towards the elevator. These three were actually the last to arrive. Tony would almost think that they were trying to be fashionably late if it wasn't for the fact that they were right on time.

The rest of them, the other Avengers, had been early. Well, and Pepper, but she lived there with him. Sometimes. Oh, and then there was Selvig, but he'd come with Legolas and Romanoff.

A muted ding preceded the elevator door opening and Tony stepped forward.

"Found the place, did you?" he greeted.

Harry stepped from the elevator almost cautiously, his eyes darting about and spotting everyone almost automatically.

"Managed to find it, yeah," Harry replied. "Helped that it's the tallest building in the neighbourhood, although the fact that it doesn't say 'Stark' on the side anymore made it a bit confusing."

"Yeah, that is a bit of a problem. The good news is that I've got some ideas to fix that," Tony replied.

He was actually marginally impressed. The kid's answer had just enough sass in it to make it interesting without being rude.

"So, going to introduce me?" Tony prompted.

"Tony, I'd like you to meet my best friend Hermione Granger and my ... lawyer, Matt Murdock," Harry said. "Hermione, Matt, Tony Stark."

"Checking," Jarvis stated.

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Stark, thanks for inviting us," the young woman with the long wavy brown hair and ... was that intelligence in those sharp brown eyes? ... said.

"Mister Stark," the blind lawyer said, meeting his handshake unerringly.

"How'd you do that?" Tony asked. "Are you sure that you're blind? Those shades are just for show aren't they?"

"I can assure you that I am blind, Mister Stark," and there was almost a hint of a growl in that that made Tony pause momentarily.

"Don't mind Tony, his mouth tends to speak without him engaging any sort of filter," Pepper stated, having come up behind him and grabbed his arm only to squeeze just a little tighter than Tony thought was strictly necessary. "I'm Pepper, I try to run Tony's life and look after him."

"It's nice to meet you," Harry smiled.

"So, essentially, you're his carer?" Matt asked.

"Exactly, Mister Murdock!" a delighted Pepper replied. "That's exactly what I am."

"Yep, she cares so I don't have to. Oh, and don't call me 'Mister Stark'; makes me feel like the Old Man is around somewhere," Tony said with a shiver. "Come on, Gandalf and friends, let's introduce you around."

From behind him, he heard Harry whispering to Hermione.

"Gandalf?"

"It's from The Lord of the Rings. Books, Harry, I'll show you later. Just think 'Dumbledore'," she whispered back.

Making a mental note to research the name 'Dumbledore' later, or at least, to have Jarvis do it for him, Tony stopped on the edge of the seating area.