Griffin had been enjoying the evening—or, at least, he had been tolerating it. The Sentinels had gathered at the Tower for one of their usual post-mission debrief-slash-drinking nights, and while he wasn’t much for crowds these days, he figured he could handle a few hours of sitting around and listening to them swap stories.

But then, somehow, the topic had shifted.

And now, Griffin was listening—no, witnessing—a slow-motion car crash as the people around him took turns casually listing all the ways Grant had nearly gotten himself killed over the years.

“I still can’t believe you jumped out of a plane without a parachute,” Nat said, shaking her head as she swirled the drink in her hand. She looked unimpressed, but Griffin caught the slight twitch of amusement at the corner of her lips. “I mean, I can believe it, because it’s Grant, but still.”

Griffin ’s fingers tightened around his glass. “He what?”

“Oh, yeah, that was just before D.C.,” Sam added, smirking. “Right into the Indian Ocean.”

Griffin turned sharply to Grant, who had the audacity to look sheepish. “It wasn’t that high up.”

“It was a damn plane, Grant!”

Adrian snorted. “And that’s not even the craziest thing. Did we ever tell you about the time Steve and I fought an actual god?”

Griffin ’s grip tightened. “A god,” he repeated flatly.

“Yep. Blondie, big hammer, talks like he walked out of a Shakespeare play,” Adrian said, waving a hand. “Grant thought it would be a great idea to stand in the middle of a lightning storm and trade punches with him.”

Griffin could feel his blood pressure rising. “You fought Thor?”

Grant sighed. “I was trying to keep the peace.”

“That’s what you’re going with?” Adrian scoffed.

And then you spoke up, and Griffin didn’t even realize how bad it was going to get.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” you said, leaning forward. “You know he once crashed a plane into the ocean on purpose?”

The glass in Griffin’s hand shattered.

“Great,” Grant muttered. “Here we go.”

Griffin was already standing, shards of glass forgotten. “Pal, you and I are gonna talk.”