A couple of weeks pass as some of the Avengers settle in to their new base; the Black Knight, Herbie and Powerman move in, and even Thor and Power Princes reserve quarters for their periodic use. A large moving van delivers several loads from the Fantastiks building, and soon many of the niches in Herbie's lab are full of tools, parts, and other technical odds and ends. While not a resident, even Baron Zemo spends a significant amount of time here, working with Herbie in his lab.

After several incidents, Herbie installs a monitoring device in the elevator which disables the elevator doors to his level when Thor's goats are inside.

Near the end of the month, the Avengers each recieve invitations through the Mayor's office to attend a speech being given by Senator Leiber; currently up for re-election, and rumored by some to be the leading democratic candidate against President Kirby in '68. Powerman and Power Princess readily accept, and the Black Knight and Thor also agree to appear.

Herbie's very reluctant to go to a public function such as this. He tries to dust of the holographic inducer and looks at the mirror at a staticky reflection of a trenchcoated Humphrey Bogart. He shakes his head in disbelief. He sighs with a deep rumble, about to refuse the invitation. Then he thinks that there might be free hor d'ourves...

Senator Leiber is pleased as punch that the Avengers are coming to his speech, and his staff arrange for town cars to come and pick you up at your headquarters. "You have got to be kidding me," grumbles Herbie the Super Ape, after a period of silence, standing and staring at the town car.

"Well," politetly coughs the driver in an attempt to fill the awkward silence. "I can . . .uh, try to move the seat forward."

"Don't bother," sighs the Super-Ape, "I possess my own means of transportation."

Moments later, he flies to the convention on his hover-platform.

The Avengers are transported to the Stern Auditorium at Columbia University, where the speech is to take place. The town cars pull up to the front, where uniformed members of the NYPD are conducting crowd control. The usual crew of reporters and their photographer appendages are out front, and Herbie tries to avoid the flashes of cameras and the microphones, until a question prompts his immediate responce. He takes a second glance, and launches into a speech supporting the animal rights issues that compose Lieber's platform. Herbie moves into the Auditorium, satisified, but the reporters look at one another quizzically-- Herbie's overtly verbose and erudite vocabulary had eclipised the standard level of discourse appropriate for prime time news.

As the Avengers are ushered inside, a call comes over the police band - three different banks are under simultaneous assault. Two of the banks are being hit by what appear to be uniformed normal humans using heavy weaponry, and the third is being held up by super-powered assailants!

Wasting no time, the Black Knight speaks up. "Seems like we only have one choice, let Powerman and his non-super-powered police take the regular bank robbers and some of the rest of us go and deal with the super-powered robbers. I'm sure he'd like to take them, too, but the other two banks should keep him happy..."

Zemo disagrees with the Knight. "Thor, the Knight, and I shall take out the super powered villains. Power Princess and the ape can handle one of the banks while the policeman Cage can handle the other." Zemo doesn't want to put the Power Princess in danger and feels that Cage may not be suited for action against a super-powered foe. However, he is confident that Herbie can protect the girl from doing anything too foolish.

The Black Knight nods. "It's not often that you're right, but you are this time, " he says, following with a mumbled "Get these amateurs out from under our skirts while we do our thing!"

Thor blinks a few times in stunned surprise. Black Knight and Zemo in total agreement?

"Let's go." he says.

Seemingly in agreement (and in record time), the Avengers disperse. A police officer at the wheel, Zemo, Thor, and the Black Knight climb into one of the NYPD vans and speed off, sirens blazing, towards the furthest-away bank robbery, up near the United Nations on the west side of Manhatten.

Powerman rounds up his team, composed of the elite Special Weapons and Tactics squad, and head off to the bank robbery in progress in the financial district just south of Central Park. On the way, he raids the supply cabinets for several cannisters of tear gas, smoke gas, several pairs of handcuffs, and a gas mask, while the SWAT team's tactical officer reports that Powerman has been placed in overall tactical command of his team, cutting through a pund of red tape at the Police Chief's express orders.

Herbie is joined on his hover-platform by Power Princess as the photographers snap pictures of their deployment to the bank in Hell's Kitchen.